[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 39 (Tuesday, February 28, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12006-12007]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-4605]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of 
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 
U.S.C. chapter 35).
    Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
    Title: West Coast Groundfish Trawl Economic Data.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0618.
    Form Number(s): NA.
    Type of Request: Regular submission (revision of a current 
information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 252.
    Average Hours per Response: 8 hours.
    Burden Hours: 2,016.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for a revision of a current 
information collection.
    This information collection is needed in order to meet the 
monitoring requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA). In 
particular, the Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) needs 
economic data on all harvesters, first receivers, shorebased 
processors, catcher processors, and motherships participating in the 
West Coast groundfish trawl fishery.
    The currently approved collection covers collection of data for the 
2009, 2010, and 2011 operating years. Data from the 2009 and 2010 
operating years provides information on the economic condition of the 
fishery prior to the implementation of catch share management in 
January 2011, and has been collected by the NWFSC. Data for the 2011 
operating year, which will provide information on the first year of 
operation under the catch share regime, will be collected from all 
catcher vessels registered to a limited entry trawl endorsed permit, 
catcher processors registered to catcher processor permits, and 
motherships registered to mothership permits, first receivers, and 
shorebased processors that received round or head-and-gutted Individual 
Fishing Quota (IFQ) groundfish or whiting from a first receiver.
    Based on review of the completed economic data collection (EDC) 
forms submitted for the 2009 and 2010 operating years as well as 
discussions with survey respondents, the NWFSC seeks to modify the four 
forms which are used in this information collection. These 
modifications clarify instructions, make the requests for information 
more consistent with the accounting/bookkeeping systems used by survey 
recipients, and continue to facilitate meeting MSA requirements for 
evaluation of the economic effect of catch share management on the West 
Coast groundfish limited entry trawl fishery.
    As stated in 50 CFR 660.114, the EDC forms due on September 1, 2012 
will provide data for the 2011 operating year.
    The definition of the survey population is different for 2011 data, 
to account for differences between the requirements for the baseline 
collection and ongoing collections as defined in the regulations. To 
capture vessel improvements and repairs to vessels that did not harvest 
any groundfish or were operated by lessees, in the 2011 data 
collection, as well as to collect more complete information about 
shoreside operations that do not process fish, completion of each form 
in its

[[Page 12007]]

entirety will be required for all owners of vessels registered to a 
limited entry trawl endorsed permit, a mothership permit, or a catcher 
processor permit, owners of a first receiver site license, and owners 
or lessees of a shorebased processor that received round or headed-and-
gutted IFQ species groundfish or whiting from a first receiver. This is 
in contrast to the 2009 and 2010 data collection which allowed entities 
that did not harvest or process any groundfish to complete only the 
first four pages of the forms.
    Other minor modifications to the catcher vessel forms include 
asking for information about lease dates of the vessel, and the 
addition of several expense categories based on feedback from the 2009 
and 2010 data collections. The first receiver and shorebased processor 
form was modified to better align with accounting practices and to 
clarify the information required for reporting fish purchases. There 
were no other changes to the mothership or catcher processors forms.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    OMB Desk Officer: [email protected].
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Jennifer Jessup, Departmental Paperwork Clearance 
Officer, (202) 482-0336, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 
[email protected]).
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to [email protected].

    Dated: February 23, 2012.
Gwellnar Banks,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2012-4605 Filed 2-27-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P