environment
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.
Coeur Alaska can keep work moving on the Kensington dock repair project in Berners Bay under a one-year NOAA authorization. The permit limits incidental take of humpback whales and Steller sea lions while the repairs proceed.
- Coeur Alaska got a one-year federal permit for dock repairs in Berners Bay.
- NOAA approved the work under marine-mammal rules, not as an open-ended green light.
- The authorization expires no later than June 16, 2026.
- The notice covers incidental take of 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
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.
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.