Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment on the Issuance of Incidental Take Authorizations in Cook Inlet, Alaska

The National Marine Fisheries Service announces: (1) Its intent to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) to analyze the environmental impacts of issuing annual incidental harassment authorizations (IHAs) pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) for the taking of marine mammals incidental to anthropogenic activities in the waters of Cook Inlet, Alaska, for the 2017 season; and (2) its intent to continue an annual cycle for issuing MMPA IHAs in Cook Inlet such that companies planning to submit IHA applications for work to be conducted in Cook Inlet in 2017 do so by no later than October 15, 2016. Further, we refer prospective applicants to our new Technical Guidance for Assessing the Effects of Anthropogenic Sound on Marine Mammal Hearing (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/acoustics/ guidelines.htm), which should be used in the analysis of auditory effects.