[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 186 (Wednesday, September 25, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50409-50412]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-20767]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Basic 
Requirements for Special Exception Permits and Authorizations To Take, 
Import, and Export Marine Mammals, Threatened and Endangered Species, 
and for Maintaining a Captive Marine Mammal Inventory Under the Marine 
Mammal Protection Act, the Fur Seal Act, and/or the Endangered Species 
Act

AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort 
to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public 
and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on 
proposed and/or continuing information

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collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before November 25, 
2019.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Adrienne Thomas, PRA Officer, 
NOAA, 151 Patton Avenue, Room 159, Asheville, NC 28801 (or via the 
internet at [email protected]). Comments will generally be posted 
without change. All Personally Identifiable Information (for example, 
name and address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be 
publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or 
otherwise sensitive or protected information. You may submit 
attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe 
PDF file formats.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the information collection instrument and instructions should 
be directed to Amy Sloan or Carrie Hubard, NOAA Fisheries Office of 
Protected Resources, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, 
(301) 427-8401, [email protected] or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    This request is for a revision and extension of a currently 
approved information collection.
    The Marine Mammal Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.; MMPA), 
Fur Seal Act (16 U.S.C. 1151 et seq.; FSA), and Endangered Species Act 
(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.; ESA) prohibit certain activities affecting 
marine mammals and endangered and threatened species, with exceptions. 
Pursuant to Section 104 of the MMPA and Section 10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA, 
special exception permits may be obtained for scientific research and 
enhancing the survival or recovery of a species or stock of marine 
mammals or endangered or threatened species. Section 104 of the MMPA 
also provides for Letters of Confirmation under a General Authorization 
for scientific research and permits for commercial and educational 
photography of marine mammals that involve only Level B harassment of 
marine mammals; permits for capture and/or import of marine mammals for 
public display; and inventory reporting pertaining to marine mammals in 
public display facilities.
    The regulations pertaining to permits and associated reporting 
requirements under the MMPA and FSA are at 50 CFR part 216; the 
regulations for permit requirements under the ESA are at 50 CFR part 
222. The required information in this collection is used to make the 
determinations required by the MMPA, FSA, ESA and their implementing 
regulations prior to issuing a permit; to establish appropriate permit 
conditions; to evaluate the impacts of the proposed activity on 
protected species; and, to ensure compliance with the Acts. The marine 
mammal inventory forms ensure compliance with MMPA reporting 
requirements and allow NMFS to maintain the National Inventory of 
Marine Mammals (NIMM), as required by the MMPA.
    This information collection applies to certain protected species 
for which NMFS is responsible: Cetaceans (whales, dolphins and 
porpoises) and pinnipeds (seals and sea lions); and, for ESA scientific 
research and enhancement permits: Sawfish (largetooth and smalltooth), 
sea turtles (in water), sturgeon (Atlantic and shortnose), and certain 
foreign ESA-listed species. This information collection may be used for 
future ESA-listed species.
    We propose to revise the currently-approved special exception 
permit application instructions to: (1) Improve readability by changing 
the font, adding color, removing jargon, eliminating extraneous text, 
incorporating bullets and numbered lists, and reorganizing sentence 
structure; (2) be more user-friendly by consolidating pages, shortening 
and moving background information to the end, and removing sections 
that don't apply to specific permit types; (3) eliminate the 
requirement for applicants to provide scientific names of protected 
species; (4) update the information required to use unmanned aircraft 
systems; (5) reduce time spent asking for additional information from 
applicants by eliminating the requirement for proposed take numbers to 
be included in both the narrative and table sections of the 
application; (6) require most permit personnel to use a specialized 
qualifications form instead of submitting resumes, thus reducing time 
spent clarifying personnel experience; (7) provide examples of 
qualification forms for different personnel types; (8) provide detailed 
procedure options for those requesting parts permits; (9) put questions 
about potential effects to the environment in plain language; (10) 
improve organizational structure of the public display instructions, 
since those applicants do not submit via our online system; and (11) 
include examples of take tables for import and capture from the wild in 
the public display instructions. In addition, we propose to remove the 
requirement that permit applicants provide the name and contact 
information of Authorized Recipients who may receive protected species 
parts. Moving forward, we propose to allow permit holders to designate 
their own Authorized Recipients, which will give them more flexibility 
and autonomy and will save time by removing the need to request an 
authorization letter. We also propose to make photography and parts 
permit applications accessible via our online application system known 
as APPS (Authorizations and Permits for Protected Species; https://apps.nmfs.noaa.gov).
    The MMPA requires NMFS to establish and maintain an inventory of 
marine mammals in zoos and aquariums. On February 15, 2019, we 
published a Federal Register notice (84 FR 4443) seeking comment on 
policies and procedures for implementing NMFS' National Inventory of 
Marine Mammals (NIMM). We extended the public comment period to July 
31, 2019 (84 FR 15593). After review and consideration of public 
comments (available at: https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NOAA-NMFS-2019-0012), we are proposing certain inventory reporting revisions. 
Public access to NIMM is not the subject of this notice and is not 
addressed here. We will provide a separate opportunity to comment on 
public access to NIMM. This notice only pertains to inventory reporting 
requirements.
    In addition to providing holders of marine mammals (i.e., Owners 
and Facilities) electronic forms to complete and submit marine mammal 
inventory information via email, fax, or mail (as is currently done), 
we propose to make the online inventory, NIMM, accessible to holders of 
marine mammals for those who would like to report their inventory 
information online. We propose revisions to the current inventory form 
known as the marine mammal data sheet (MMDS) to (1) define birth and 
clarify that a birth must be reported if the marine mammal is born 
alive, no matter how long it lives; (2) clarify that stillbirths are 
not required to be reported; and (3) standardize reporting of cause of 
death (when determined) to include a simple, two-tier system that 
reflects the primary body system or circumstance of the cause of death 
(Tier 1) with the significant findings underlying that body system or 
circumstance (Tier 2). This information could also be entered in the 
online format noted above. Below we respond to comments received 
regarding these three points during the February 15 to July 31, 2019 
comment period on NIMM.

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    Birth and Stillbirth: Several commenters opposed the reporting of 
stillbirths, suggested we modify our proposed definition of birth to 
clarify it only pertains to live animals, and remove any reference to 
reporting stillbirths in the cause of death section of the MMDS. We 
have done so in the proposed revised MMDS. One comment suggested that a 
stillbirth should be reported as a birth and that such information has 
scientific and welfare value. While we acknowledge that information in 
the inventory is of value to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal 
and Plant Health Inspection Service (the agency with oversight for the 
humane handling care, treatment and transportation of marine mammals), 
we believe that the intent of the inventory is to track individual 
marine mammals over their lifetime. The inventory requires both birth 
and death information for each animal. We interpret this to imply that 
a marine mammal must be born alive to enter the inventory. We also 
propose to clarify on the MMDS that a birth of a live marine mammal 
must be reported regardless of how long the animal lives, as some zoos 
and aquariums have interpreted the requirement to report births as only 
including marine mammals in the inventory if they live for 30 days.
    Cause of Death: Some commenters supported the proposed two-tier 
system cause of death reporting as a ``much-needed improvement'' and an 
``innovative method of standardizing and reporting'' to allow ``enough 
detail to accurately characterize the event.'' We received suggestions 
to improve the accuracy of the cause of death information, which we 
have incorporated into the revised MMDS. Once a body system or 
circumstance is selected for the underlying cause of death (Tier 1), 
multiple selections can be made from the associated Tier 2 level. 
However, because we are seeking the primary body system or circumstance 
to be reported, and due to associated programming challenges, we 
propose that only a single Tier 1 factor may be selected at this time.
    We also received opposing comments to the use of the two-tier 
system, including that it exceeded the required statement of ``cause of 
death,'' was ``too complicated,'' should only have one tier, and could 
only be based on findings that would be developed through a necropsy. 
We first clarify that we do not require necropsy reports be submitted 
to the inventory to report cause of death. The MMPA states that cause 
of death must be reported ``when determined,'' implying that analyses 
be performed (such as necropsy and tissue analysis, as is standard when 
determining cause of death), before reporting it to the inventory. As 
one commenter noted, cause of death reporting has been ``uneven and 
variable'' via ad libitum reports of death as provided in a text field. 
For example, we have received reports with vague information such as 
``expired after a prolonged illness'' compared to reports with 
information such as ``metastatic squamous cell carcinoma.'' The two-
tier system provides a mechanism to provide a standardized, simple 
statement of the cause of death (e.g., Liver [Tier 1 Body System]; 
Cancer/Neoplastic--Primary [Tier 2 Significant Finding]).
    Additional Comments: Regarding additional comments we received such 
as on historical information in NIMM and providing a mechanism for zoos 
and aquariums to verify the accuracy of their information in NIMM, we 
propose to address those comments in a separate notice prior to making 
NIMM available for online reporting by marine mammal holders. As 
mentioned previously, public access to NIMM will be addressed in a 
separate notice.

II. Method of Collection

    Currently-approved permit applications, permit report form 
information, and inventory forms are available as downloadable Word or 
PDF versions online at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permits-and-forms#protected-resources or via email. Respondents may submit all 
applications, forms, and reports by email, facsimile, or mail. 
Respondents may currently also submit scientific research and 
enhancement permit applications (including parts permit applications) 
and Letters of Intent under the General Authorization online via APPS. 
Reports for most permits can be submitted online via APPS.
    Under the proposed revision, in addition to the modes of access and 
submission listed above, photography permit applications would be made 
available online via APPS, a simplified parts permit application module 
would be developed in APPS, and marine mammal inventory reporting would 
be made available online via NIMM.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0648-0084.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Review: Regular submission (revision and extension of 
previously-approved collection).
    Affected Public: Individuals; Business or other for-profit 
organizations; Not-for-profit institutions; State, Local, or Tribal 
government; Federal government.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 415. This is the estimated total 
number, annually, of persons or organizations anticipated to (1) apply 
for an MMPA, FSA, and/or ESA permit or authorization; (2) submit annual 
permit reports and modification requests; and (3) submit marine mammal 
inventory reports. This number is, respectively, based on (1) the 
number of permit applications anticipated to be received annually (from 
reviewing data from 2016-2018); (2) the number of current permit 
holders required to submit annual reports and who may request to modify 
their permit; and (3) the total number of currently active marine 
mammal facilities subject to inventory reporting requirements.
    Estimated Time per Response: The estimated average amount of time 
it takes to complete each information collection instrument is as 
follows. Scientific research permit applications, 50 hours; public 
display permit applications, 30 hours; photography permit applications, 
10 hours; General Authorization Letters of Intent, 10 hours; major 
permit modification requests, 35 hours; minor permit modification 
requests, 3 hours; scientific research permit reports, 12 hours; 
scientific research parts only permit reports, 8 hours; General 
Authorization reports, 8 hours; public display permit reports, 2 hours; 
photography permit reports, 2 hours; public display inventory 
reporting, 2 hours; and general record keeping, 2 hours per each type.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 6,711.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $1,000 in recordkeeping/
reporting costs. This represents costs for mailing in applications, 
forms, and reports. The majority of respondents use electronic 
submission formats but some still mail in applications, forms, and 
reports. This estimate excludes time required to complete the 
applications, forms, and reports, and any equipment such as computers 
needed to complete them.

IV. Request for Comments

    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden 
(including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information; 
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information

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on respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of this information 
collection; they also will become a matter of public record.

Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental Lead PRA Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, 
Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2019-20767 Filed 9-24-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P