Biological Opinion on Whittier Head of the Bay Cruise Ship Dock, Passage Canal, Whittier, Alaska

The proposed action involves the construction of a cruise ship berth and associated facilities on the western shore of Passage Canal, approximately 1.2 km northwest of downtown Whittier, Alaska. This opinion considers the effects of pile driving activities, including vibratory and impact pile driving and down-the hole drilling, and vessel transit of materials and construction barges through habitat occupied by Endangered Species Act-listed marine mammals. These actions have the potential to affect:

• endangered fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus)
• threatened Mexico distinct population segment (DPS) humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
• endangered Western North Pacific DPS humpback whale
• endangered North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica)
• endangered sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)
• endangered Western DPS Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus)
• Steller sea lion critical habitat
• Mexico DPS humpback whale critical habitat.

There is no critical habitat for WNP DPS humpback whales and North Pacific right whales in the action area.