Effective: Marine Mammals; Incidental Take of Polar Bears and Pacific Walruses in the Beaufort Sea and North Slope of Alaska

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has finalized incidental take regulations (ITRs) under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) for the Alaska Oil and Gas Association (AOGA) and 8 Star Alaska, LLC. These regulations authorize the unintentional take of small numbers of polar bears and Pacific walruses during year-round oil and gas exploration, development, production, and transportation activities on the North Slope of Alaska and the Beaufort Sea. The rule is effective from October 19, 2026, through October 19, 2031. The FWS determined that the authorized activities will have a negligible impact on the Southern Beaufort Sea (SBS) polar bear stock and the Pacific walrus population, and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on subsistence use by Alaska Natives. The rule mandates specific mitigation measures, including aerial infrared (AIR) surveys to detect maternal polar bear dens, a 1.6-km (1-mile) operational mitigation zone around known dens, and requirements for monitoring and reporting interactions. This final rule reflects changes from the proposed regulations, including the removal of a requirement for a third AIR survey, which was deemed not practicable, and the clarification of the Letter of Authorization (LOA) process. The FWS utilized both its own predictive modeling and AOGA's weight-of-evidence approach to estimate potential take, concluding that the authorized activities will affect only small numbers of animals relative to their total population sizes.