[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 251 (Friday, December 30, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Page 96440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-31716]



[[Page 96440]]

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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: American Lobster--Annual Trap Transfer Program.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0673.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular (revision and extension of a currently 
approved information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 204.
    Average Hours Per Response: 10 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 17.
    Needs and Uses: This is a request for revision and extension of a 
currently approved information collection.
    The American lobster resource and fishery are cooperatively managed 
by the states and NMFS under the authority of the Atlantic Coastal 
Fisheries Cooperative Management Act, according to the framework set 
forth by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) in 
Amendment 3 of its Interstate Fishery Management Plan (ISFMP). This 
collection of information is in response to several addenda to 
Amendment 3 of the ISFMP that work to reduce trap fishing effort 
through limited entry fishing and trap allocation limit reductions. 
This program is intended to help control fishing efforts while 
increasing economic flexibility in the American lobster trap fishery.
    Currently, Federal lobster permit holders qualified to fish with 
trap gear in Lobster Conservation Management Areas 2 and 3 are 
undergoing scheduled annual trap allocation reductions of 5 percent per 
year until 2021 (Area 2) and 2020 (Area 3). In 2015, in an effort to 
help mitigate the initial economic burden of these reductions, NMFS and 
state agencies implemented the Lobster Trap Transfer Program that 
allows all qualified Federal lobster permit holders to buy and sell 
trap allocation from Areas 2, 3, or Outer Cape Cod. Each transaction 
includes a conservation tax of 10 percent, which deducts a number of 
traps equal to 10 percent of the total number of traps with each 
transfer, permanently removing them from the fishery.
    NMFS collects annual application forms from Lobster permit holders 
who wish to buy and/or sell Area 2, 3, or Outer Cape trap allocation 
through the Trap Transfer Program. The transfer applications are only 
accepted during a 2-month period (from August 1 through September 30) 
each year, and the revised allocations for each participating lobster 
permit resulting from the transfers become effective at the start of 
the following Federal lobster fishing year, on May 1. Both the seller 
and buyer of the traps are required to sign the application form, which 
includes each permit holder's permit and vessel information, the number 
of traps sold, and the revised number of traps received by the buyer, 
inclusive of the amount removed according to the transfer tax. The 
parties must date the document and clearly show that the transferring 
permit holder has sufficient allocation to transfer and the permit 
holder receiving the traps has sufficient room under any applicable 
trap cap. This information allows NMFS to process and track transfers 
of lobster trap allocations through the Trap Transfer Program, and 
better enables the monitoring and management of the American lobster 
fishery as a whole.
    Originally, this collection was part of a new rulemaking action, 
and included efforts to obtain information from American lobster permit 
holders to implement a limited access permit program. NMFS used the 
information to qualify permit holders for participation in Area 2 and/
or the Outer Cape Area, and to allocate traps to each qualified permit. 
This limited access portion of the collection is complete and no longer 
necessary, so a revision is requested to remove it from the collection.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations; 
individuals or households; state, local or tribal governments.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
    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: December 27, 2016.
Sarah Brabson,
NOAA PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2016-31716 Filed 12-29-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P