Composite Training Unit Exercises and Joint Task ... - Govsupport.us

COMPTUEX/JTFEX EA/OEA Final Chapter 4(Cummings et al., 1986). Bryde’s whales are easier to approach when feeding (Gallardo et al., 1983).Preliminary information on the diving of Bryde’s whales shows dives up to 15 minutes (Tershy et al.,1993).The exposures depicted in Table 4.3-9 would not necessarily occur to 2 different individuals. The sameindividual could experience behavioral disruption more than once over the course of a year, particularly ifthe animal is resident in the area of the range. Thus, the estimated number of individual Bryde’s whalesexperiencing Level B harassment may be fewer than 2. Mitigation measures detailed in Chapter 5 wouldfurther reduce the potential for any effect on Bryde’s whales. The Navy therefore concludes that theproposed action would not affect annual rates of recruitment or survival for Bryde’s whales, and wouldnot have a significant impact on this species and stock.Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus)The abundance estimate of the eastern North Pacific gray whales stock is 26,635 (CV = 0.1006). Themodeling efforts and harassment analysis for mid-frequency active sonar estimate that no Level Aharassment of gray whales would occur. The analysis estimates that up to 64 incidents of non-injuriousbehavioral harassment (Level B harassment) may be experienced by gray whales on annual basis (Table4.3-10). No gray whales would be exposed to impulsive noise or pressures from underwater detonationsthat would cause TTS or physical injury.Table 4.3-10. Raw Annual Acoustic Model Output of Gray WhaleBehavioral173-