[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 96 (Tuesday, May 19, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28637-28638]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-12048]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R5-FHC-2015-N092; FF05F24400-FXFR13350500000]


Information Collection Request Sent to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for Approval; Horseshoe Crab Tagging Program

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) have sent an Information 
Collection Request (ICR) to OMB for review and approval. We summarize 
the ICR below and describe the nature of the collection and the 
estimated burden and cost. This information collection is scheduled to 
expire on May 31, 2015. We may not conduct or sponsor and a person is 
not required to respond to a collection of information unless it 
displays a currently valid OMB control number. However, under OMB 
regulations, we may continue to conduct or sponsor this information 
collection while it is pending at OMB.

DATES: You must submit comments on or before June 18, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Send your comments and suggestions on this information 
collection to the Desk Officer for the Department of the Interior at 
OMB-OIRA at (202) 395-5806 (fax) or [email protected] 
(email). Please provide a copy of your comments to the Service 
Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, MS BPHC, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803 
(mail), or [email protected] (email). Please include ``1018-0127'' in 
the subject line of your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request additional information 
about this ICR, contact Hope Grey at [email protected] (email) or 703-
358-2482 (telephone). You may review the ICR online at http://www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to review Department of the 
Interior collections under review by OMB.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Information Collection Request

    OMB Control Number: 1018-0127.
    Title: Horseshoe Crab Tagging Program.
    Service Form Number(s): 3-2310 and 3-2311.
    Type of Request: Extension of currently approved collection.
    Description of Respondents: Tagging agencies include Federal and 
State agencies, universities, and biomedical companies. Members of the 
general public provide recapture information.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Frequency of Collection: On occasion when horseshoe crabs are 
tagged and when horseshoe crabs are found or captured.

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                                          Number of       Number of
               Activity                    annual          annual         Completion time per      Annual burden
                                         respondents      responses             response               hours
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FWS Form 3-2310......................           1,160           2,750  10 minutes...............             458
FWS Form 3-2311......................              18              18  95 hours *...............           1,710
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    Totals...........................           1,178           2,768  .........................           2,168
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* Average time required per response is dependent on the number of tags applied by an agency in 1 year. Agencies
  tag between 25 and 9,000 horseshoe crabs annually, taking between 2 to 5 minutes per crab to tag, record, and
  report data. Each agency determines the number of tags it will apply.

    Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: None.
    Abstract: Horseshoe crabs play a vital role commercially, 
biomedically, and ecologically along the Atlantic coast. Horseshoe 
crabs are commercially harvested and used as bait in eel and conch 
fisheries. Biomedical companies along the coast also collect and bleed 
horseshoe crabs at their facilities. Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate is 
derived from crab blood, which has no synthetic substitute, and is used 
by pharmaceutical companies to test sterility of products. Finally, 
migratory shorebirds also depend on the eggs of horseshoe crabs to 
refuel on their migrations from South America to the Arctic. One bird 
in particular, the red knot, feeds primarily on horseshoe crab eggs 
during its stopover. Effective January 12, 2015, the red knot was 
listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
    In 1998, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), a 
management organization with representatives from each State on the 
Atlantic Coast, developed a horseshoe crab management plan. The ASMFC 
plan and its subsequent addenda established mandatory State-by-State 
harvest quotas, and created the 1,500-square-mile Carl N. Shuster, Jr., 
Horseshoe Crab Sanctuary off the mouth of Delaware Bay.
    Restrictive measures have been taken in recent years, but 
populations are increasing slowly. Because horseshoe crabs do not breed 
until they are 9 years or older, it may take some time before the 
population measurably increases. Federal and State agencies, 
universities, and biomedical companies participate in a Horseshoe Crab 
Cooperative Tagging Program. The Maryland Fishery Resources Office, 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, maintains the information that we 
collect under this program and uses it to evaluate migratory patterns, 
survival, and abundance of horseshoe crabs.
    Agencies that tag and release the crabs complete FWS Form 3-2311 
(Horseshoe Crab Tagging) and provide the Service with:
     Organization name.
     Contact person name.
     Tag number.
     Sex of crab.
     Prosomal width.
     Capture site, latitude, longitude, waterbody, State, and 
date.
    Members of the public who recover tagged crabs provide the 
following information using the online submission

[[Page 28638]]

form (http://www.fws.gov/crabtag/) or via a toll-free telephone number:
     Tag number.
     Whether or not tag was removed.
     Condition of crab.
     Date captured/found.
     Crab fate.
     Finder type.
     Capture method.
     Capture location.
     Reporter information.
     Comments.

If the public participant who reports the tagged crab requests 
information, we send data pertaining to the tagging program and tag and 
release information on the horseshoe crab that was found or captured.

Comments Received and Our Responses

    Comments: On February 10, 2015, we published in the Federal 
Register (80 FR 7490) a notice of our intent to request that OMB renew 
approval for this information collection. In that notice, we solicited 
comments for 60 days, ending on April 13, 2015. We did not receive any 
comments.

Request for Public Comments

    We again invite comments concerning this information collection on:
     Whether or not the collection of information is necessary, 
including whether or not the information will have practical utility;
     The accuracy of our estimate of the burden for this 
collection of information;
     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 on respondents.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. Before including your address, phone number, email 
address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you 
should be aware that your entire comment, including your personal 
identifying information, may be made publicly available at any time. 
While you can ask OMB in your comment to withhold your personal 
identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that it 
will be done.

    Dated: May 13, 2015.
Tina A. Campbell,
Chief, Division of Policy, Performance, and Management Programs, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-12048 Filed 5-18-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-55-P