Petition to List Lynn Canal Pacific Herring under the Endangered ...

NMFS (2005a) concluded that Berners Bay is critically important to the continued
existence of the Lynn Canal Herring population. Citing the negative impacts to herring
and their habitat, particularly the direct loss of spawning habitat, NMFS required the
action agencies, here the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers (USACOE), to implement mandatory mitigation and to reassess
portions of the project. Prior to the initiation of formal consultation, NMFS made
recommendations that were not well received by FHWA.
In the December 3, 2004 letter, and during informal consultation meetings with
the action agencies and applicant, NMFS recommended several measures to limit
adverse effects to listed marine mammals in Berners Bay and alleviate the need
for formal section 7 consultation. Namely, these consisted of avoiding usage of
Berners Bay altogether and proceeding with previously permitted helicopter
transport; or, if transiting Berners Bay, using an alternate dock location to
Cascade Point and suspending vessel operations during the spring
eulachon/herring runs. As the action agencies and applicant did not accept these
recommendations, formal consultation was initiated on November 17, 2004,
pursuant to the request received on November 17, 2004.
(NMFS 2005: 5). In a NMFS summary attached to the formal consultation letter, the
agency made it clear that the entire Berners Bay ecosystem would suffer damage from the
mine developments, emphasizing the vulnerability and importance of the Pacific Herring.
The following are NMFS concerns as expressed orally in meetings with the action
agency and applicant during informal ESA consultation. In addition, NMFS
outlines recommended measures here as acceptable alternatives to the proposed
action. The recommendations included here would be the necessary mitigation
for NMFS to agree with the ‘not likely to adversely affect’ conclusion drawn by
the action agency. This discussion also responds to the mitigation measures
proposed in the joint USFS and ACOE BA/BE, many of which are important in
order to reduce impacts to marine mammals but would require further
precautionary activities, time or area constraints, or additional complementary
measures to adequately reduce risk.
(NMFS 2005a). Further impacts on herring will result from the daily operations and
required travel of mine workers. NMFS noted this as an additional consequence of the
mine:
The proposed crew shuttle route across the bay, an almost straight line from
Cascade Point to the Slate Creek Cove terminal site, will take the ferry directly
through areas where large schools of eulachon and herring are known to aggregate
prior to spawning in March and April. Individual adult herring and eulachon
schools are likely to be exposed to vessel activities repeatedly throughout the
spring months as the schools stage along the shoreline near Slate Creek Cove and
Cascade Point in preparation for spawning.
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