Air Force Requests Authorization to Harass Marine Mammals During Munitions Training

Eglin AFB, Florida  The Air Force made a request to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for a renewal of an authorization to harass marine mammals, incidental to conducting air-to-surface gunnery missions in the Gulf of Mexico. The military readiness training exercises involve the firing of 25mm, 40mm, and 105mm projectiles into the water. In the request, the Air Force asked for continued authorization to fire high explosive rounds so that a surface splash is produced for visual scoring purposes. However, the Air Force stated that it will use training rounds that contain significantly less amount of explosives to mitigate the effects on marine life during training missions at night when a splash is not visible.

The request published in the Federal Register outlines what an average training mission entails and discusses the potential impacts to marine mammals as a result of training. In terms of munitions, an average training exercise planned for the Gulf of Mexico involves 30 to 90 mins of actual ordnance firing. Training exercises include firing munitions from an AC-130 like the one shown the image below. The firing of the 25mm guns includes approximately 500 to 1,000 rounds of ammunition fired into a focused target area. The firing of the 40mm rounds is done in bursts with approximately 20 rounds fired per burst also into a focused area. The firing of the 105mm projectiles is done in single shots. In a typical mission, approximately twenty 105mm projectiles are fired into the water range.

A total of 29 species of marine mammals are documented as occurring in Federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. According to the request, marine mammals at or near the surface could potentially be harassed, injured or killed by exploding and non-exploding projectiles, and falling debris. However, based on an analyses conducted by the Air Force during their previous request, it was concluded that the gunnery exercises are not likely to result in any injury or mortality to marine mammals. As a result of this analysis, the NMFS is proposing to reissue a 1-year authorization to take marine mammals by Level B harassment incidental to the gunnery exercises.

Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to re-issue (i.e. extend) the authorization to Eglin AFB for a period of 1 year. The comment response period ends on 29 June. Contact information for submitting comments can be found in the Federal Register announcement, which can be viewed using the download link below.