Marine Mammals; Incidental Take of Polar Bears During Specified Activities; North Slope, Alaska

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, propose to revise a portion of our regulations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act pertaining to incidental take of marine mammals. Existing regulations authorize the nonlethal, incidental, unintentional take by harassment of small numbers of polar bears from the Southern Beaufort Sea stock and Pacific walruses during year-round oil and gas industry activities in the Beaufort Sea (Alaska and the Outer Continental Shelf) and adjacent northern coast of Alaska. Such take may result from oil and gas exploration, development, production, and transportation activities occurring through August 5, 2026. The proposed revisions would authorize incidental take by Level A harassment of polar bears in addition to the incidental Level B harassment of polar bears and Pacific walruses already authorized in the existing regulations. No lethal take is or would be authorized. We request comments on these proposed regulations.