[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 12 (Tuesday, January 20, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Page 2681]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-00648]


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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: Protocol for Access to Tissue Specimen Samples from the 
National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0468.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular (extension of a currently approved 
information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 50.
    Average Hours per Response: Tissue requests and tissue submission, 
1 hour each; reporting on research, 2 hours.
    Burden Hours: 160.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for extension of a currently 
approved information collection.
    In 1989, the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank (NMMTB) was 
established by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Office of 
Protected Resources (OPR) in collaboration with the National Institute 
of Standards and Technology (NIST), Minerals Management Service (MMS), 
and the US Geological Survey/Biological Resources Division (USGS/BRD). 
The NMMTB provides protocols, techniques, and physical facilities for 
the long-term storage of tissues from marine mammals. Scientists can 
request tissues from this repository for retrospective analyses to 
determine environmental trends of contaminants and other substances of 
interest. The NMMTB collects, processes, and stores tissues from 
specific indicator species (e.g., Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, 
Atlantic white sided dolphins, pilot whales, harbor porpoises), animals 
from mass strandings, animals that have been obtained incidental to 
commercial fisheries, animals taken for subsistence purposes, biopsies, 
and animals from unusual mortality events through two projects, the 
Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP) and the 
Alaska Marine Mammal Tissue Archival Project (AMMTAP).
    The purposes of this collection of information are: 1) to enable 
NOAA to allow the scientific community the opportunity to request 
tissue specimen samples from the NMMTB and, 2) to enable the Marine 
Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP) of NOAA to 
assemble information on all specimens submitted to the Marine 
Environmental Specimen Bank (Marine ESB), which includes the NMMTB.
    Affected Public: Not-for-profit institutions; business or other 
for-profit organizations; state, local and tribal governments; 
individuals or households.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    This information collection request may be viewed at reginfo.gov. 
Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce collections 
currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.

    Dated: January 13, 2015.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-00648 Filed 1-16-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P