NWRTC Draft EIS- CRC Comment Feb09 FINALx
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NWRTC Draft EIS- CRC Comment Feb09 FINALx

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Submitted 10 March 2009 Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest 1101 Tautog Circle, Suite 203 Silverdale, WA 98315‐1101 ATTN: Mrs. Kimberly Kler ‐ NWTRC EIS  Re: Comments on the NWRTC Draft EIS/OEIS  Our company, Cascadia Research Collective, is a small non‐profit organization based in Olympia, WA.  We have been conducting studies of marine mammals both here in the Pacific Northwest and in numerous other regions for nearly thirty years.  We have specifically reviewed the marine mammal section of the Draft EIS for the Northwest Range Training Complex and wish to provide comments on some of the content. We generally find the draft EIS/OEIS to be thorough and well‐written, and commend the degree of analysis used to extrapolate potential effects based on available data.  However, while we acknowledge that for much of the OPAREA there are limited data available, the EIS makes several assumptions regarding occurrence and abundance of local cetacean species that appear inaccurate and should be reviewed.  We also believe that the rate of ship strike represented in the EIS is lower than actual data suggest, and that the increased risk of ship strike inherent in expanded naval operations should not be discounted.  Finally, we wish to provide an opinion on the efficacy of the mitigation measures proposed ...

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Submitted10March2009NavalFacilitiesEngineeringCommandNorthwest1101TautogCircle,Suite203Silverdale,WA983151101ATTN:Mrs.KimberlyKlerNWTRCEISRe:CommentsontheNWRTCDraftEIS/OEISOurcompany,CascadiaResearchCollective,isasmallnonprofitorganizationbasedinOlympia,WA.WehavebeenconductingstudiesofmarinemammalsbothhereinthePacificNorthwestandinnumerousotherregionsfornearlythirtyyears.WehavespecificallyreviewedthemarinemammalsectionoftheDraftEISfortheNorthwestRangeTrainingComplexandwishtoprovidecommentsonsomeofthecontent.WegenerallyfindthedraftEIS/OEIStobethoroughandwellwritten,andcommendthedegreeofanalysisusedtoextrapolatepotentialeffectsbasedonavailabledata.However,whileweacknowledgethatformuchoftheOPAREAtherearelimiteddataavailable,theEISmakesseveralassumptionsregardingoccurrenceandabundanceoflocalcetaceanspeciesthatappearinaccurateandshouldbereviewed.WealsobelievethattherateofshipstrikerepresentedintheEISislowerthanactualdatasuggest,andthattheincreasedriskofshipstrikeinherentinexpandednavaloperationsshouldnotbediscounted.Finally,wewishtoprovideanopinionontheefficacyofthemitigationmeasuresproposed.CetaceanSpeciesOccurrenceThedraftEISreliesheavilyonthecalculateddensityofmarinemammalspeciesintheregiontodeterminethepopulationwidelevelofimpactnavalactivitiesarelikelytohave.Whilethetextsuggestsspatialmodelingwasconductedsufficienttoidentifytherangeofdensitiesexpectedforeachspecies,thedensitiesreportedinTable3.91areaveragedacrosstheentireregion,whichinresultsinexceedinglylowdensitiesforallbutthemostprevalentspecies.Subsequently,anumberofspeciesarecharacterizedas“Rare”thatinrealityhaveirregulardistributionswhichcancausethemtobelocallyabundantattimes,suchashumpbackwhalesoffnorthernWashingtonandBlueWhalesoffnorthernCalifornia(Seewww.cascadiaresearch.org/biblioforaccesstomanyofourpublicationsandtechnicalreportssummarizingstudiesofthesespeciesoffCalifornia,Oregon,andWashington).Further,weareconcernedthatthepopulationestimatesusedforspeciessuchasfinwhales,bluewhales,seiwhales,andspermwhalesmaybebiaseddownwardbythelackofsurveyeffortinoffshoreareas,andthatsimilarbiasesmayexistforotherspeciesduringwintermonthsastherehavebeenfewwintersurveysintheregionhistorically.Recentyearroundcombinedvisual/acousticmonitoringofftheoutercoastofWashington(Olesonetal.,2009)suggeststhathumpbackwhales,spermwhales,killerwhales,andgraywhalesmaybeencounteredwithgreaterregularitythantheestimatesinthedraftEISsuggest,andthatthetakelevelsanticipatedforthesespeciesmaybeunrealisticallylow.Further,bothsatellitetelemetryandanoffshoresightinginJanuary2009suggestthatbluewhales,althoughstillquiterareinthe
northernpartsoftheOPAREA,maybeexpandingtheirrangenorthintoWashingtonwatersforthefirsttimeinmanyyears.Thetextacknowledgesthesmall,seasonallyresidentpopulationofgraywhalesinthestudyarea,butitisuncleartowhatdegreethesewhalesareaccountedforinthefinaltakesummaries.Whilethevastmajorityofthelargeeasterngraywhalepopulationwillmigratethroughtheareaduringwintermonths,seasonalresidentwhales(alsoknownasthepacificcoastfeedingaggregation)arepresentwellintosummerandfall,andoccasionallyaggregateresultinginhigherthanexpecteddensitieslocally(Olesonetal.2009).FromJunethroughSeptember2007,groupsof1015individualgraywhaleswereobservedfeedingupto15nmfromshoreofftheCentralWashingtoncoast,inwaterdeeperthanconsideredtypicalforwestcoastgraywhales.ThesewhaleswerewithintheproposedQuinaltUnderwaterTestingRangeexpansionarea.Wefeelitisworthdrawingspecificattentiontothesewhalesforanumberofreasons,includingtheirsmallpopulationsizewithapparentlylowrecruitmentlevelsfromtheoveralleasterngraywhalepopulation,whichputsthematgreaterriskofpopulationleveleffectsfromanthropogenicimpacts.Also,modelslikelydidnotaccountforthepresenceofthesewhalesoffshoreduringsummermonths,anditisunclearifmodelsaccountedfortheminshoreandalongtheStraitsofJuandeFuca,wheretheyalsooccur.Finally,itwasnotnotedanywhereinthetextthatgraywhalesarebenthicforagers,andthereforearesusceptibletoaccidentalingestionofexpendedmaterialswherevertheymightencounterthemthroughouttheirhabitat.IncidenceofshipstrikesintheregionUndersection3.9.1.1thedraftEISstates“Althoughmarinemammalmortalityfromshipstrikeshasbeendocumented,theincidencenumbersarepresentlyverylow(generallyontheorderofzerotofivedocumentedrecordsdependingonthespecies)andinfrequent.“.Thesourceofthisreferenceisunclear,butauthorsshouldseeDouglasetal.2008foramorecomprehensivereviewofshipstrikedatafromWashingtonState.Thispaperidentifies19vesselrelatedstrandingsintheregion.Whilewerecognizethatnavaltrafficrepresentsasmallpercentageoftotalvesseltraffic,andthatduetoanumberoffactorscitednavalvesselsarelesslikelytocollidewithmarinemammalsthanlargecommercialships,wedonotfeelthiseffectshouldbedisregarded.AfinwhalewasstruckandkilledbyaNavyvesselintheSOCALOPAREArecently,duringdaylighthoursandinapparentlygoodvisibility,presumablywhileallprescribedmitigatorymeasureswereemployed.MitigationWeagreethatitisimportantfortheNavytoundertakemitigationmeasurestotheextenttheyarepossible,butwefindthedocumentdoesnotadequatelyacknowledgethelimitationsoftheproposedmitigationformanymarinemammalspecies.WeacknowledgethetrainingNavylookoutsreceiveandtheirexperienceindetectingobjectsatsea,butmaintainthatmanyspeciesofmarinemammalsaredifficulttodetectatthesurfaceinanythinglessthanidealsightingconditions,evenbyhighlyexperiencedmarinemammalobservers.Reducedhorizontalvisibilityduetoseastate,atmosphericconditions,swellheight,timeofdayorotherfactorsarecommon,ifnotpredominant,intheoffshoreareasfromWashingtontoNorthernCalifornia.GiventhattheNavydoesnotlimitoperationsdueto
restrictedvisibility,therewilllikelybyaconsiderableamountoftrainingtimewhenvisualmitigationtechniquesarenoteffectiveforlimitingtheexposureofmarinemammalstonavalactivities.Thereareseveralspeciesofmarinemammalsintheregionwhosebehaviorand/orphysicalcharacteristicsseverelylimittheabilitytodetectthemvisually,eveningoodconditions.The30minutevisualsurveyconductedinadvanceofmanyoperations,aswellasthe30minuterestrictiononsonaruseifananimalisdetected,willlikelybeinsufficienttodeterminethepresenceorabsenceofdeepdivingspeciessuchasspermwhalesandbeakedwhalesthatroutinelydiveforanhourormore.Inthecaseofsonarusebyavesselremainingwithininalimitedarea,beakedwhalesinparticularmoveverylittleduringlongdives,soalthoughtheywouldnotberesightedwithin30minutestheymaybewellwithin1,000yardsofthevesselduringthistime.Insummary,weappreciatethelengthstowhichtheNavyhasgonetoassesstheimpactsitsactivitiesmayhaveontheenvironment.Marinemammalsarenotoriouslydifficulttomitigatefor,andthenavyhasdiscountedmostofthemethodsitconsidered,suchasregional,seasonal,orconditionsbasedrestrictions,duetotheirpotentialimpactonmilitaryreadiness.Theinherentlimitationsoftheproposedmitigationraisesthestandardbywhichimpactsshouldbeassessedandtakesrequestedformarinemammals.Inthisregionweareconcernedtheabundanceofseveralspeciesmaybeunderestimated,andareasoflocallyincreaseddensitymaynothavebeenrecognized.WesuggestthatthesenumbersbereviewedforaccuracyinlightofthemostrecentavailabledatapriortotheacceptanceofafinalEIS/OEISfortheregion.ReferencesDouglas,A.B.,J.Calambokidis,S.Raverty,S.J.Jeffries,D.M.Lambourn,andS.A.Norman.2008.IncidenceofshipstrikesoflargewhalesinWashingtonstate.JournaloftheMarineBiologicalAssociationoftheUnitedKingdom88:doi:10.1017/S0025315408000295.Oleson,E.M.,J,Calambokidis,E.Falcone,G.Schorr,andJ.A.Hildebrand.2009.AcousticandVisualMonitoringforCetaceansalongtheOuterWashingtonCoast.ReportNPSOC09001toNavalPostgraduateSchool,Monterey,Ca.45pp.
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