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NOAA lets dock repairs continue in Berners Bay over whale, sea lion limits
NOAA’s fisheries office approved incidental take for the Kensington Dock Repair Project in Berners Bay, Alaska. The authorization runs through June 16, 2026, and covers humpback whales and Steller sea lions.
In Alaska's Berners Bay, Coeur Alaska's Kensington dock repairs now have a federal wildlife permit behind them. NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS, issued an incidental harassment authorization under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, or MMPA, and the clock runs for one year from notification, with June 16, 2026 as the outer limit.
Submit comments: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/incidental-take-authorization-kensington-dock-repair-project-berners-bay-alaska Effective date: 1 year from the date of notification by the IHA-holder, not to exceed 1 year from the date of issuance
For the project, that means the work can go forward, but only inside the boundaries NOAA set for incidental take of marine mammals.
A narrow legal lane
An incidental harassment authorization is not a blanket approval for construction. It is the tool NMFS uses when a lawful activity may incidentally disturb marine mammals, so long as the agency's limits and findings are in place.
That matters on a coast where repairs can overlap with wildlife. The permit gives the dock project a federal path forward without erasing the protections that still apply in the bay.
Marine mammals still draw the line
The notice covers incidental take of humpback whales and Steller sea lions. The practical point is simple: the repair work can proceed, but it has to stay within a one-year window and within NOAA's rules for how much disturbance is allowed.
The authorization was published in the Federal Register on June 22, 2026.
Agency: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce CFR parts: 216.103 Effective date: 1 year from the date of notification by the IHA-holder, not to exceed 1 year from the date of issuance Submit comments: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/incidental-take-authorization-kensington-dock-repair-project-berners-bay-alaska Contact: Krista Graham • Office of Protected Resources, NMFS • (301) 427-8401