[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 27 (Thursday, February 10, 2005)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 7022-7024]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-2531]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

15 CFR Part 902 and 50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 031125294-5018-03; I.D. 102903C]
RIN 0648-AP42


Fisheries Off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; 
Highly Migratory Species Fisheries; Data Collection Requirements for 
U.S. Commercial and Recreational Charter Fishing Vessels

AGENCY:  National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION:  Final rule; effectiveness of collection-of-information 
requirements.

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SUMMARY:  NMFS announces approval by the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) of collection-of-information requirements pertaining to 
permits, logbooks, vessel monitoring systems (VMS), and pre-trip 
notifications contained in the final rule to implement the approved 
portions of the U.S. West Coast Highly Migratory Species Fishery 
Management Plan (HMS FMP). The HMS FMP was partially approved on 
February 4, 2004, and the final rule to implement the approved portions 
of the HMS FMP was published in the Federal Register on April 7, 2004. 
At that time, the HMS FMP final rule contained collection-of-
information requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) 
that were undergoing OMB review. This action announces receipt of OMB 
approval of data collections in the HMS FMP final rule for HMS permits, 
recordkeeping and reporting (daily logbooks), VMS, and pre-trip 
notification requirements for West Coast based U.S. fishing vessels 
targeting HMS. The intent of this notice is to inform the public of the 
effective date of the requirements approved by OMB.

DATES:  This rule is effective February 10, 2005. Title 50 Sec.  
660.707 permits, Sec.  660.708 reporting and recordkeeping, Sec.  
660.712(d) VMS, and Sec.  660.712(f) pre-trip notification of the final 
rule for the U.S. West Coast Highly Migratory Species Fishery 
Management Plan

[[Page 7023]]

published on April 7, 2004 (69 FR 18444), are effective on April 11, 
2005.

ADDRESSES:  Copies of the HMS FMP may be obtained from Donald O. 
McIsaac, Executive Director, Pacific Fishery Management Council, 7700 
NE Ambassador Place, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97220-1384. Copies of the 
HMS FMP final rule, the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), 
the Final Regulatory Impact Review (RIR), and the Final Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis (FRFA) are available from NMFS, Southwest Regional 
Office, 501 West Ocean Boulevard, Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 90802. 
Copies of the Small Entity Compliance Guide for the HMS FMP final rule 
are available on the Southwest Region, NMFS website http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov. Written comments regarding the burden-hour estimates 
or other aspects of the collection-of-information requirements 
contained in this final rule should be submitted to Rodney A. McInnis, 
Regional Administrator, NMFS, Southwest Regional Office at the above 
address. These comments may also be submitted by e-mail to [email protected], or to the Federal e-rulemaking portal http://www.regulations.gov, or faxed to 202-395-7285.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Craig Heberer, Sustainable Fisheries 
Division, Southwest Region, NMFS, 562-980-4034 or 760-431-9440, ext. 
303.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 7, 2004 (69 FR 18444), NMFS 
published a final rule that implemented the approved portion of the HMS 
FMP establishing, among other measures, data collection and reporting 
requirements for U.S. West Coast commercial and recreational charter 
fishing vessels targeting HMS. The HMS FMP final rule contained 
collection-of-information requirements that could not be enforced prior 
to approval by the OMB under the PRA. Delayed enforcement of these 
sections were announced in the April 7, 2004, HMS FMP final rule 
pending OMB approval of the proposed collections-of-information. In the 
HMS FMP final rule, NMFS requested comments on the reporting burden 
estimate or any other aspect of the collection-of-information 
requirements. No comments were received on the collection-of-
information requirements. OMB has approved the collections-of-
information requirements codified at 50 CFR 660.707 for permits; Sec.  
660.708 for recordkeeping and reporting; Sec.  660.712(d) for a vessel 
monitoring system, and Sec.  660.712(f) for pre-trip notification. 
These sections are effective April 11, 2005 and will be enforced 
beginning on that date. Section 660.707 requires a HMS permit with an 
endorsement for a specific gear for all commercial and recreational 
charter fishing vessels fishing for HMS. Section 660.708 requires all 
HMS permit holders to maintain and submit to NMFS a daily logbook of 
catch and effort in the HMS fisheries. Section 660.712(d) requires the 
holder of a HMS permit registered for use of longline gear to carry a 
vessel monitoring system (VMS) onboard the vessel after the date 
scheduled for installation by the NMFS. Section 660.712(f) requires 
that an operator of a vessel registered for use of longline gear must 
notify NMFS at least 24 hours prior to embarking on a fishing trip 
regardless of the intended area of fishing. The OMB has not yet cleared 
the vessel identification requirements detailed in 50 CFR 660.704, and 
those requirements will be dealt with in a future Federal Register 
document. Pursuant to the PRA, part 902 of title 15 CFR displays 
control numbers assigned to NMFS information collection requirements by 
OMB. This part fulfills the requirements of section 3506(c)(1)(B)(i) of 
the PRA, which requires that agencies display a current control number, 
assigned by the Director of OMB, for each agency information collection 
requirement. This final rule codifies OMB control numbers for 0648-0204 
for Sec.  660.707 and 0648-0498 for Sec. Sec.  660.708, 660.712(d), and 
660.712(f).

Classification

    The Regional Administrator, NMFS, Southwest Region determined that 
the data collection requirements implemented by this final rule are 
necessary for the conservation and management of the U.S. West Coast 
HMS fisheries and are consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act and other applicable law.
    The data collection requirements implemented by this final rule 
have been determined to be not significant for purposes of Executive 
Order 12866.
    NMFS, pursuant to section 604 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act 
(RFA), prepared a FRFA in support of the HMS FMP final rule published 
April 7, 2004. The FRFA described the economic impact that this final 
rule, along with other non-preferred alternatives, will have on small 
entities, including HMS commercial and recreational charter fishing 
vessels affected by this action. The contents of the FRFA and the 
incorporated documents (the IRFA, the RIR, and the FEIS) are not 
repeated here. A copy of these documents is available upon request (see 
ADDRESSES).
    Under this HMS FMP final rule there will be no Federal fee borne by 
the fishing industry for the required HMS permit. Industry costs arise 
from the time required to recover the necessary information and 
complete the permit forms. The permit requirement under this final rule 
will establish an initial one-time reporting burden of 562.9 hours for 
the 1,337 participating vessels (an average of 0.42 hours/per vessel). 
Permits are valid for 2 years, so the additional annualized burden is 
281.5 hours for initial permit issuance.
    This final rule requires all surface hook and line fishing vessels 
targeting HMS to maintain and submit logbooks for fishing in the U.S. 
EEZ and on the adjacent high seas areas covered under the HSFCA if they 
do not already submit logbooks under another regulation. This final 
rule establishes an annual reporting burden of 2,661 hours for the 887 
participating vessels (887 vessels x 3 trips per year x 1 hour per trip 
to report).
    For VMS, the reporting burden for the longline fleet is estimated 
to be 324.6 hours based on 20 longline vessels making 6 trips each 
year, with an average of 15 days at sea for each trip (24 reports/day x 
24 sec/report).
    This final rule contains new collection-of-information requirements 
approved by OMB under the PRA. Public reporting burden for these 
collections of information are estimated to average as follows:
    1. Twenty to thirty five minutes for a permit application depending 
on the extent of correction of information on application forms and of 
new information to be submitted on those forms,
    2. Five minutes for filling out the HMS log each day,
    3. Five minutes for a pre-trip notification by longline vessel 
operators,
    4. Four hours for installation of a VMS on longline vessels,
    5. Two hours for maintenance of the VMS system,
    6. Twenty four seconds for each electronic report submitted via the 
satellite based VMS.
    These estimates include the time for reviewing instructions, 
searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data 
needed, and completing and reviewing the collection information. Public 
comment is sought regarding: whether this collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information shall have practical utility; the 
accuracy of the burden estimate;

[[Page 7024]]

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology. Send comments or 
any other aspects of the collections of information to NMFS (see 
ADDRESSES).
    Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law, no person is 
required to respond to, and no person shall be subject to penalty for 
failure to comply with, a collection of information subject to the 
requirements of the PRA, unless that collection of information displays 
a currently valid OMB control number.

Small Entity Compliance Guide

    Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness 
Act of 1996 states that for each rule or group of related rules for 
which an agency is required to prepare a FRFA, the agency shall publish 
one or more guides to assist small entities in complying with the rule, 
and shall designated such publications as ``small entity compliance 
guides.'' The agency shall explain the actions a small entity is 
required to take to comply with a rule or group of rules. As part of 
this rulemaking process, a small entity compliance guide was prepared 
for the HMS FMP final rule. This guide will be posted on the NMFS SWR 
website (http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov) and a hard copy will be sent to all 
interested parties upon request (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).

List of Subjects

15 CFR Part 902

    Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

50 CFR Part 660

    Permits and Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: February 4, 2005.
Rebecca Lent,
Deputy Assistant Administrator or Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.

0
For the reasons set out in the preamble, 15 CFR chapter IX, Part 902, 
is amended as follows:

15 CFR Chapter IX

PART 902--NOAA INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUIREMENTS UNDER THE 
PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT: OMB CONTROL NUMBERS

0
1. The authority citation for part 902 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.


0
2. In Sec.  902.1, the table in paragraph (b) under 50 CFR is amended 
by adding in numerical order entries for Sec.  Sec.  660.707, 660.708, 
and 660.712(d) and (f) as follows:


Sec.  902.1  OMB Control numbers assigned pursuant to the Paperwork 
Reduction Act.

* * * * *
    (b)* * *

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                                              Current OMB control number
 CFR part or section where the information     (All numbers begin with
     collection requirement is located                  0648-)
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                                * * * * *
 
50 CFR                                       ...........................
                                * * * * *
660.707                                      -0204
660.708                                      -0498
660.712(d) and (f)                           -0498
                                * * * * *
 
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[FR Doc. 05-2531 Filed 2-9-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S