Federal wildlife officials are reviewing a proposed one-year authorization for pile work at Robert Storrs Harbor in Unalaska, Alaska, that the government estimates could disturb up to 112 sea otters.
The City of Unalaska plans to remove 33 steel piles, install and later remove five temporary piles, and install 44 permanent piles. The proposed notice allows for pile-related activity on as many as 100 nonconsecutive days.
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the word take can include harassment. The proposal does not estimate that 112 animals would be killed; it models potential disturbance and possible injury-level exposure from construction noise.
The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates 32 instances of Level A harassment affecting 32 sea otters and 273 instances of Level B harassment affecting as many as 112 otters. Event counts can exceed the number of individual animals because the same animal may be exposed more than once.
Level A harassment covers exposure with the potential to injure a marine mammal, while Level B covers disturbance that can alter behavioral patterns. Those regulatory categories do not mean that every modeled exposure will produce an observed effect.
The service compares the maximum 112 individuals with its estimated southwest Alaska stock of 51,935 sea otters, or about 0.22%. It uses that comparison, proposed mitigation and monitoring measures to support its preliminary negligible-impact finding.
Mitigation described in the notice includes defined monitoring and shutdown zones, trained observers and work restrictions when animals enter specified areas. The final authorization could alter those conditions after public review.
The authorization would cover only the activity, period and limits described in the final record. It would not remove other federal, state or local construction requirements.
Comments are due Sept. 10, 2026. Until the Fish and Wildlife Service issues a final decision, the exposure estimates and authorization terms remain proposed.