[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 160 (Monday, August 19, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42904-42906]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-17725]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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: West Coast Region Seattle Federal Fisheries Permits.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0203.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission (extension of a currently 
approved collection).
    Number of Respondents: 552.
    Average Hours per Response: Permit renewals: 20 minutes; Permit 
transfers: 30 minutes; Sablefish Ownership

[[Page 42905]]

Interest form: 5 minutes; EFP Applications: 32 hours; EFP Trip 
Notifications: 2 minutes; EFP Harvest Plans: 16 hours; EFP Data 
Reports: 2 hours; EFP Summary Reports: (interim report) 4 hours; (final 
report) 20 hours; Letters of Acknowledgement: 6 hours; Exempted 
Educational Activity Authorization, 6 hours.
    Burden Hours: 2,024 hours.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for a revision and extension of a 
currently approved information collection.
    The Magnuson-Stevens Act (16 U.S.C. 1801) provides that the 
Secretary of Commerce is responsible for the conservation and 
management of marine fisheries resources in Exclusive Economic Zone (3-
200 miles) of the United States (U.S.). NOAA Fisheries, Northwest 
Region manages the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery in the Exclusive 
Economic Zone (EEZ) off Washington, Oregon, and California under the 
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan. The regulations 
implementing the Pacific Groundfish Fishery require that those vessels 
participating in the limited entry fishery to be registered to a valid 
limited entry permit. Participation in the fishery and access to a 
limited entry permit has been restricted to control the overall harvest 
capacity.
    NOAA Fisheries seeks comment on the extension of permit information 
collections required for: (1) Renewal and transfer of Pacific Coast 
Groundfish limited entry permits; (2) implementation of certain 
provisions of the sablefish permit stacking program as provided for at 
50 CFR 660.231 and 660.25; and (3) issuing and fulfilling the terms and 
conditions of certain exempted fishing permits (EFPs). The regulations 
implementing the limited entry program are found at 50 CFR part 660, 
subpart G.
    Also, NOAA Fisheries requires an information collection to 
implement certain aspects of the sablefish permit stacking program 
which prevents excessive fleet consolidation. As part of the annual 
renewal process, NOAA Fisheries requires a corporation or partnership 
that owns or holds (as vessel owner) a sablefish endorsed permit to 
provide a complete ownership interest form listing all individuals with 
ownership interest in the entity. Similarly, any sablefish endorsed 
permit transfer involving registration of a business entity requires an 
ownership interest form if either the permit owner or vessel owner is a 
corporation or partnership. This information is used to determine if 
individuals own or hold sablefish permits in excess of the limit of 
three permits. Also, for transfer requests made during the sablefish 
primary season (April 1st through October 31st), the permit owner is 
required to report the remaining tier pounds not yet harvested on the 
sablefish endorsed permit at the time of transfer.
    Applicants for an exempted fishing permit (EFP) must submit written 
information that allows NOAA Fisheries and the Pacific Fishery 
Management Council to evaluate the proposed exempted fishing project 
activities and weigh the benefits and costs of the proposed activities. 
The Council makes a recommendation on each EFP application and for 
successful applicants, NOAA Fisheries issues the EFPs which contains 
terms and conditions for the project including various reporting 
requirements. The information included in an application is specified 
at 50 CFR 600.745(b)(2) and the Council Operating Procedure #19. Permit 
holders are required to file preseason harvest plans, interim and/or 
final summary reports on the results of the project, and in some cases 
individual vessels and other permit holders are required to provide 
data reports (i.e., logbooks and/or catch reports). The results of EFPs 
are commonly used to explore ways to reduce effort on depressed stocks, 
encourage innovation and efficiency in the fishery, provide access to 
constrained stocks by directly measuring the bycatch associated with 
such strategies, and evaluate/revise current and proposed management 
measures.
    Letters of Acknowledgement (LOAs) and Exempted Educational Activity 
Authorizations (EEAAs) were historically collected under OMB control 
number 0648-0309. To reduce burden estimates, National Marine Fisheries 
Service (NMFS) Headquarters proposed to move LOAs and EEAAs to their 
respective region's permit family-of-forms collections. OMB control 
number 0648-0309 will need to remain in place until all of the regions 
have moved the necessary elements into the respective regional PRA 
collections.
    NMFS may grant exemptions from fishery regulations for educational 
or other activities (e.g., using non-regulation gear). A NMFS Regional 
Administrator or Director may authorize, for limited testing, public 
display, data collection, exploratory fishing, compensation fishing, 
conservation engineering, health and safety surveys, environmental 
cleanup, and/or hazard removal purposes, the target or incidental 
harvest of species managed under an FMP or fishery regulations that 
would otherwise be prohibited. An EEAA is a permit issued by the 
Regional Office to accredited educational institutions that authorize, 
for educational purposes, the target or incidental harvest of species 
managed under a fisheries management plan or fishery regulations that 
would otherwise be prohibited. EEAAs are generally of limited scope and 
duration and authorize the take of the amount of fish necessary to 
demonstrate the lesson. Regulations at 50 CFR 600.745(b) supplement 
existing information collections required by the various fishery 
management plans establishing minimum standards for these activities. 
Researchers are requested to submit reports of their scientific 
research activity after its completion.
    An EEAA is a permit issued by the Regional Office to accredited 
educational institutions that authorize, for educational purposes, the 
target or incidental harvest of species managed under an FMP or fishery 
regulations that would otherwise be prohibited. EEAAs are generally of 
limited scope and duration, and authorize the take of the amount of 
fish necessary to demonstrate the lesson. Researchers are requested to 
submit reports of their scientific research activity after its 
completion.
    LOAs are required under Section 101(a)(5)(A) of the Marine Mammal 
Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972 for the incidental take of marine mammals 
during fisheries surveys and related research activities conducted by 
the Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC), NMFS. Management of 
certain marine mammals falls under the jurisdiction of the NMFS under 
the MMPA and Endangered Species Act (ESA) and mechanisms exist under 
both the ESA and MMPA to assess the effect of incidental takings and to 
authorize appropriate levels of take.
    Affected Public: Primary respondents are businesses or other for-
profit organizations (e.g., groundfish fishermen, fishing companies, 
and partnerships), state fisheries agencies, non-profit institutions, 
or fishing associations who sponsor research carried out under exempted 
fishing permits.
    Frequency: Reporting would generally occur annually, but could 
occur monthly or semi-annually depending on the information requested.
    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

[[Page 42906]]

information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.

Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental Lead PRA Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, 
Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2019-17725 Filed 8-16-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P