[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 64 (Friday, April 3, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18193-18194]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-07584]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


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: Data Collection and Verification for the Marine Projected 
Areas Inventory.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0449.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular (request for revision and extension of a 
currently approved information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 67.
    Average Hours per Response: 30 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 29.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for a revision and extension of an 
approved data collection effort to provide ocean managers, users and 
other interested parties with accurate, objective and useful 
information about the location, purpose, management and human uses of 
marine protected areas in the coastal

[[Page 18194]]

and marine waters of the United States. To this end, NOAA's National 
Marine Protected Areas Center (MPA Center), part of the Office of 
National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS), proposes to continue and augment an 
ongoing effort to inventory all U.S. MPAs.
    The MPA Center was established under Executive Order 13158, which 
directs NOAA and the Department of the Interior to work collaboratively 
with state, federal, territorial and tribal partners to enhance ocean 
conservation and management throughout the nation's system of MPAs. The 
Marine Protected Areas Inventory--a publicly available, online, spatial 
database that provides detailed and unique information on MPAs 
nationwide--is fundamental to this goal. Required by Executive Order 
13158, the Inventory provides access to data and summary products on 
over 1,600 MPA sites across different management programs and all 
levels of government. The MPA Inventory is accessible via the MPA 
Center's Web site, marineprotectedareas.noaa.gov.
    The MPA Inventory data collection continues the periodic and 
voluntary solicitation of site-specific descriptive data from all MPAs 
in the U.S. Typically, an individual MPA site would complete an online 
site data form once, and then update it if necessary to reflect changes 
in boundaries, regulations, management approaches, etc. The MPA 
Inventory is frequently used by ocean managers, users, scientists and 
others to better understand place-based management of U.S. waters.
    In addition to continuing to manage and share descriptive 
information on U.S. MPAs, the MPA Center proposes to contact State and 
Federal MPA managers to solicit and facilitate their participation in a 
voluntary survey about conditions and trends in recreational uses of 
their sites. Data addressing the nature, trends, drivers and 
implications of recreational uses will be collected from U.S. MPA 
managers electronically over a period of 6 weeks using an online survey 
instrument. Individual managers' responses will remain confidential and 
the results aggregated to illustrate meaningful general trends rather 
data specific to a single MPA. Important patterns and lessons learned 
from this data collection will be shared directly with MPA managers 
around the country to assist in their management of some of the 
nation's most treasured ocean and coastal areas.
    Affected Public: State, local and tribal governments.
    Frequency: On occasion and biannually.
    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: March 30, 2015.
Sarah Brabson,
NOAA PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-07584 Filed 4-2-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-NK-P