(a) The Holder of a Letter of Authorization issued pursuant to Sec. Sec. 216.106 and 218.238 must:
(1) Conduct visual monitoring from the ship's bridge during daylight hours (30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset) during operations that employ SURTASS LFA sonar in the active mode. The SURTASS vessels shall have lookouts to maintain a topside watch with standard binoculars (7x) and with the naked eye.
(2) Use low frequency passive SURTASS sonar to listen for vocalizing marine mammals; and
(3) Use the HF/M3 active sonar to locate and track marine mammals in relation to the SURTASS LFA sonar vessel and the sound field produced by the SURTASS LFA sonar source array, subject to the ramp-up requirements in Sec. 216.234(e).
(b) Monitoring under paragraph (a) of this section must:
(1) Commence at least 30 minutes before the first SURTASS LFA sonar transmission;
(2) Continue between transmission pings; and
(3) Continue either for at least 15 minutes after completion of the SURTASS LFA sonar transmission exercise or, if marine mammals are exhibiting unusual changes in behavioral patterns, for a period of time until behavior patterns return to normal or conditions prevent continued observations.
(c) Holders of Letters of Authorization for activities described in Sec. 218.230 are required to cooperate with the National Marine Fisheries Service and any other federal agency for monitoring the impacts of the activity on marine mammals.
(d) Holders of Letters of Authorization must designate qualified on-site individuals to conduct the mitigation, monitoring and reporting activities specified in the Letter of Authorization.
(e) Holders of Letters of Authorization will continue to assess data from the Marine Mammal Monitoring Program and work toward making some portion of that data, after appropriate security reviews, available to scientists with appropriate clearances. Any portions of the analyses conducted by these scientists based on these data that are determined to be unclassified after appropriate security reviews will be made publically available.
(f) Holders of Letters of Authorization will continue to explore the feasibility of coordinating with other fleet assets and/or range monitoring programs to include the use of SURTASS towed horizontal line arrays to augment the collection of marine mammal vocalizations before, during, and after designated exercises.
(g) Holders of Letters of Authorization will collect ambient noise data and will explore the feasibility of declassifying and archiving the ambient noise data for incorporation into appropriate ocean noise budget efforts.
(h) Holders of Letters of Authorization will convene a Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) to analyze different types of monitoring/research that could increase the understanding of the potential effects of low-frequency active sonar transmissions on beaked whales and/or harbor porpoises.
(i) Holders of Letters of Authorization must conduct all monitoring required under the Letter of Authorization.