Federal permit would allow harassment of 112 sea otters during Unalaska harbor work

Unalaska is set to replace aging harbor infrastructure at Robert Storrs Harbor, and federal wildlife officials say the work could injure or disturb up to 112 threatened northern sea otters. The project is proposed for authorization for up to one year, with pile driving planned on up to 100 nonconsecutive days within that window. The public has 30 days from the notice's Aug. 11 Federal Register publication, through Sept. 10, 2026, to comment before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decides whether to issue the proposed incidental harassment authorization.

The agency estimates up to 32 instances of Level A harassment, meaning potential injury such as permanent hearing damage, and 273 instances of Level B harassment, meaning behavioral disruption. Combined, those total up to 305 harassment events, affecting up to 112 individual otters, or 0.22% of the Southwest Alaska stock of 51,935 animals. That stock is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The proposed authorization covers only take by harassment and does not authorize lethal take. The Service proposes a finding that the project would have no more than a negligible impact on the stock. It will conduct its own intra-service consultation under section 7 of the act and has prepared a draft environmental assessment, preliminarily concluding no environmental impact statement is required.

The project replaces moorage at the harbor, in Expedition Inlet next to Expedition Island in Iliuliuk Harbor. Along with new high-density polyethylene floats, the work includes upgraded access and utilities and an expanded upland parking area. The city plans to remove 33 old steel piles and install 44 new ones using vibratory driving, impact driving and down-the-hole rock socket drilling, plus install and later remove five temporary steel piles used to guide the permanent piles into place. PND Engineers Inc. filed the original request in June 2025, with a revised version arriving April 2, 2026.

The Service rejected bubble curtains and other noise-dampening methods as impracticable given the harbor's limited workspace. Required measures include a 10-meter shutdown zone during in-water work, soft starts before impact driving, daylight-only work and protected species observers empowered to halt operations. The city must submit monthly monitoring reports and a final report within 90 days after the authorization expires.

The Service found no unmitigable adverse impact on subsistence use, noting five sea otters have been harvested in the Captains Bay area since 2015 and that firearm use is prohibited inside city limits. No Alaska Native community has raised concerns to date, but the Service and city plan to contact potentially affected subsistence communities. If concerns remain, the city must develop a cooperation plan with the Service and stakeholders. Peter Fasbender, the Service's assistant regional director for fisheries and ecological services in the Alaska Region, signed the notice.

Such authorizations are routinely sought for Alaska coastal construction. Federal regulators have handled similar requests this year for the City of Kodiak's St. Herman Harbor rebuild and for a cruise ship terminal on Douglas Island near Juneau.

Comments are due within the 30-day window through regulations.gov or U.S. mail only, and must include Docket No. FWS-R7-ES-2026-2576. Mailed comments go to Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R7-ES-2026-2576, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB (JAO/3W), 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803. Email, fax and hand delivery will not be accepted.