Owl Ridge provided marine mammal support services for Buccaneer Alaska Operations, LLC (Buccaneer) for drilling operations at the Cosmopolitan lease site in Cook Inlet, Alaska, to ensure compliance with National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the USFWS regulations and permit conditions.
Owl Ridge prepared two IHA applications addressing marine mammals and a biological assessment addressing Steller’s eiders. Owl Ridge provided two crews of observers to perform full-time marine mammal monitoring. Observations were conducted from the platform of the Endeavour drill rig.
Owl Ridge coordinated the sound source verification studies relative to noise emanating from the drill rig and prepared a 90-day report detailing all drilling activities, marine mammal observations, sound source verifications, and mitigation measures conducted at the well site. To gather baseline data for future NEPA efforts, Owl Ridge conducted boat-based surveys for sea otters and Steller’s eider at the Cosmopolitan well site.