Marine Mammals; Incidental Take of Polar Bears in the Southern Beaufort Sea; Seismic Exploration Activities by SAExploration, Inc.

SAExploration, Inc. supports the proposed incidental take regulations for polar bears but argues that certain specific requirements are unnecessary and unsupported by science. The company advocates for the removal of mandatory third aerial infrared surveys and handheld FLIR technology, while requesting that the one-mile exclusion zone be reduced to 805 meters.

The Alaska Oil and Gas Association (AOGA) supports the proposed incidental take regulations for seismic exploration by SAExploration, Inc., but requests specific modifications. They argue that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should abandon its flawed predictive modeling in favor of observed industry data and simplify the Letter of Authorization (LOA) process.

EnerGeo Alliance, a trade association representing the geophysical services industry, supports the issuance of the incidental take regulations (ITR) for polar bears but argues that the current predictive model is flawed. They contend that the model relies on overly conservative assumptions and urge the Fish and Wildlife Service to prioritize empirical evidence and historical monitoring data over the current unvalidated framework.

The State of Alaska, through the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, supports the proposed incidental take regulations (ITR) for polar bears during seismic exploration by SAExploration, Inc. The State argues that the activities will have a negligible impact on polar bear stocks and emphasizes that oil and gas development is critical to the state's economy and national energy security.