[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]
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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: 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