[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 227 (Monday, November 26, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60407-60408]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-25613]


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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: International Fisheries Trade to Include Shrimp and Abalone.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-xxxx.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular (request for a temporary new information 
collection).
    Number of Respondents: 651.
    Average Hours Per Response: International Fisheries Trade Permit, 5 
minutes; data entry, 1 hour.
    Burden Hours: 70,054.
    Needs and Uses: The Seafood Traceability Program (see 50 CFR 
300.320-300.325) is the first phase of a risk-based traceability 
program, which establishes permit, reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements needed to prevent illegally harvested and misrepresented 
seafood from entering into U.S. Commerce. In the development of the 
Seafood Traceability Program rule, 13 ``priority'' species were 
identified as being most at risk for Illegal, Unreported, and 
Unregulated (IUU) fishing and misrepresentation, and are the only 
species currently subject to this program. For two of those species 
(abalone and shrimp), NMFS stayed program requirements indefinitely (50 
CFR 300.324(a)(3)). See 81 FR 88975 (December 9, 2016). A final rule 
was published on April 24, 2018 (83 FR 17762) which lifted the stay and 
established a compliance date of

[[Page 60408]]

December 31, 2018 for shrimp and abalone.
    NMFS had stayed requirements for abalone and shrimp because gaps 
existed in the collection of traceability information for domestic 
aquaculture-raised shrimp and abalone, which is currently largely 
regulated at the state level. During development of the Seafood 
Traceability Program, NMFS explored the possibility of working with its 
state partners to establish reporting and recordkeeping requirements 
for aquaculture traceability information that could be shared with 
NMFS. However, this did not prove to be a viable approach. See 81 FR at 
88977-78. In the Seafood Import Monitoring Program final rule, NMFS 
explained that ``[A]t such time that the domestic reporting and 
recordkeeping gaps have been closed, NMFS will then publish an action 
in the Federal Register to lift the stay of the effective date for 
Sec.  300.324(a)(3) of the rule pertaining to shrimp and abalone. 
Adequate advance notice to the trade community would be provided'' to 
ensure all affected parties have sufficient time to come into 
compliance.
    On March 23, 2018, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 
(Pub. L. 115-141) was signed by the President and became law. Section 
539 of Division B of the Act directed the Secretary of Commerce to, 
within 30 days, ``lift the stay on the effective date of the final rule 
for the Seafood Traceability Program published by the Secretary on 
December 9, 2016, (81 FR 88975 et seq.) for the species described in 
Sec.  300.324(a)(3) of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations: provided 
that the compliance date for the species described in Sec.  
300.324(a)(3) of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, shall occur not 
later than December 31, 2018.'' A final rule was issued to implement 
the Act (83 FR 17762, April 24, 2018) and provides that shrimp and 
abalone will be subject to the requirements of the Seafood Traceability 
Program under 50 CFR 300.324(a)(3), with a compliance date December 31, 
2018.
    The Program consists of two components: (1) Reporting of harvest 
events at the time of entry; and (2) permitting and recordkeeping 
requirements with respect to both harvest events and chain of custody 
information. See 50 CFR 300.324 and id. Sec. Sec.  300.320-300.323 and 
300.325. Application of the program's reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements to shrimp and abalone will enable audits of imports to be 
conducted to determine the origin of the products and confirm that they 
were lawfully acquired.
    The final rule to lift the stay on shrimp and abalone contains a 
collection-of-information requirement subject to review and approval by 
OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). OMB had previously 
approved the information collection requirements for the Seafood 
Traceability Program under Control Number 0648-0739, but the burden 
estimates did not include the requirements for shrimp and abalone given 
the stay. The requirements for permitting, reporting and recordkeeping 
for imports of shrimp and abalone will be submitted to OMB for 
approval.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: One time and on occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    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: November 19, 2018.
Sarah Brabson,
NOAA PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2018-25613 Filed 11-23-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P