The web site for the 4th International Conference on the Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life is now open here. The site will contain updated information on the meeting as plans progress. The meeting will take place in Dublin, Ireland, July 10-16, 2014 and will follow in the tradition of the earlier meetings in Nyborg, Cork, and Budapest in providing opportunities to present and learn about the latest research, and to meet and network with colleagues from around the world interested in the topic. A focus of the meeting is to enable investigators interested in all animal groups, all sound sources, and all potential effects to meet and interact. The meeting also has a strong representation from industry, government, and environmental groups.
The U.S. Department of the Navy has prepared and filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Supplemental Overseas Environmental Impact Statement. This draft SEIS analyzes the potential impact of SURTASS LFA sonar on the five common bottlenose dolphin stocks comprising the Hawaiian Islands Stock Complex (Kauai/Niiahu, Oahu, 4-Islands, Hawaii Island, and Hawaii Pelagic).
Public comment period on this draft Navy SEIS will end December 8, 2014.
Click here to read Federal Register notice of this draft Navy SEIS.
In response to a federal court order, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has released its Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Chukchi Sea Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Lease Sale 193.
BOEM prepared this revised analysis in accordance with the April 24, 2014, remand order of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska. The original EIS for Lease Sale 193 was published in 2007 and the sale was conducted in 2008. Subsequent legal challenges and federal court decisions remanded the sale back to BOEM for further analysis, specifically related to the agency’s estimates of production levels from likely offshore oil fields that might be developed in the Chukchi Sea.
An article in the New Zealand Herald discusses presentations at the 2014 New Zealand Petroleum Summit. One presenter, James Willis, criticized current regulation of oil and gas seismic. According to the Herald article, Mr. Willis “said rules were becoming increasingly inflexible despite the Government’s aim of attracting more players to New Zealand….’Nobody denies that we need regulation, but in proportion. I think there has been a lack of proportion in the nature and extent of EPA examination…’”
The abstract submission deadline for European Cetacean Society Malta Conference is open until November 3, 2014. Details at this link.
The Conference dates are March 23-25, 2015. The workshop dates are March 21-25, 2015. The venue for both is the lntercontinental MALTA, in St. Julians.
The Canadian National Energy Board has approved a five-year seismic testing scheme that a group of related Norwegian companies proposes for the waters of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait off eastern Nunavut. This approval is being litigated in Canada. The deadline for filing evidence at the Federal Court of Canada to support or oppose seismic testing off the coast of Baffin Island has expired, with at least two parties in the case submitting sworn affidavits to shore up their positions.
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has published notice of its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for proposed Lease Sale 244 in the Cook Inlet Program Area. The EIS will focus on the potential effects of leasing, exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas in the proposed lease sale area. In addition to the no-action alternative (i.e., not holding the lease sale), other alternatives may be considered, such as deferring additional areas within the Cook Inlet proposed lease sale area.
The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has published its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to analyze the environmental impacts of issuing Incidental Take Authorizations pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act for the taking of marine mammals incidental to anthropogenic activities in the waters of Cook Inlet, Alaska.
NMFS will hold a public scoping meeting to begin the EIS scoping process in Anchorage, AK, on Monday, November 3, 2014, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Loussac Library’s Wilda Marston Theater located at 3600 Denali Street, Anchorage, AK 99503. Written and oral comments will be accepted at the public meeting.
The Natural Resources Defense council has filed with the U.S. Natural Marine Fisheries Service “A petition to list the Gulf of Mexico Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The petition is dated September 18, 2014. It states that
The JIP on E&P Sound and Marine life has issued a Request for Proposals call on the following topic: An expert Panel review of hearing weighting functions for Marine mammals.
The RFP document can be downloaded from:
http://www.soundandmarinelife.org/media/54252/jip22_phaseiii_rfp14-03_weighting-function_30sept2014.pdf
The final date for submissions is 31 October 2014.
