Biological Opinion Ice Exercise 2020

For this document, the action agencies are the United States Navy (Navy) and the NMFS Office of Protected Resources, Permits and Conservation Division (Permits Division). The Navy proposes to conduct military exercises in the Arctic. The Permits Division plans to issue an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) pursuant to section 101(a)(5)(D) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as amended (MMPA) (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), to the Navy for harassment of marine mammals incidental to the proposed activities (83 FR 40234). When issued, the IHA will be valid from February 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021. The IHA will authorize the incidental harassment of two ESA-listed pinniped species, the threatened Beringia DPS bearded seal and threatened Arctic ringed sea.  

The consulting agency for this proposal is NMFS’s Alaska Region (AKR). This document represents our biological opinion on the proposed actions and their effects on endangered and threatened species.