[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 237 (Tuesday, December 10, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67432-67433]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-26572]


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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: Alaska Council Cooperative Annual Reports.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0678.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular.
    Number of Respondents: 19.
    Average Hours Per Response: Alaska Crab Rationalization Program 
Cooperative Annual Report, 47 hours; Annual Rockfish Cooperative 
Report, 37 hours; Annual Amendment 80 Cooperative Report, 18 hours; 
Amendment 80 Halibut Prohibited Species Catch (PSC) Management Plan, 
12.5 hours; Amendment 80 Halibut Bycatch Avoidance Progress Report, 
12.5 hours; American Fisheries Act (AFA) Catcher Vessel 
Intercooperative Agreement, 48 hours; American Fisheries Act Annual 
Catcher Vessel Intercooperative Report, 40 hours; American Fisheries 
Act Cooperative Annual Report, 16 hours.
    Burden Hours: 695.
    Needs and Uses: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council 
(Council) has developed several cooperative programs as options in 
larger catch share programs for the federally managed fisheries off 
Alaska. As part of these cooperative programs, the Council has either 
recommended that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) require 
the cooperative managers to submit an annual written report detailing 
various activities of the cooperative, or the Council has requested 
that cooperative managers voluntarily submit an annual report to the 
Council. These reports are intended to be a resource for the Council 
and the public to track the effectiveness of the cooperative and its 
ability to meet the Council's goals. Additionally, they are a tool for 
the cooperatives to provide feedback on a catch share program and how 
the cooperative element is functioning.
    In general, the cooperative managers present the cooperative 
reports during the April Council meeting. Regulations do not require 
cooperative managers to present cooperative reports to the Council; 
however, they are encouraged to do so, and this has been common 
practice for many cooperative representatives. Public dissemination of 
the annual cooperative reports and presentation of an overview of the 
reports at the April Council meeting each year provides stakeholders 
and members of the public the opportunity to provide public comment to 
the Council about the cooperatives and the catch share programs.
    Some of the cooperative annual reports are required in Federal 
regulation and others are requested by the Council as a voluntary 
annual submission. This information collection covers both the 
mandatory and voluntary components of the cooperative annual reports.
    This information collection contains the following reports.
     The Alaska Crab Rationalization Program Cooperative Annual 
Report allows the Council to determine if the cooperatives are taking 
adequate action to facilitate the transfer of quota share (QS) to 
active participants and control QS lease rates, or if potential future 
regulatory action may be needed to address these concerns. This report 
is voluntary.
     The Annual Rockfish Cooperative Report provides 
information to the Council and NMFS about how the catch share program 
and its associated cooperative elements are functioning. This is 
particularly important as the Council is evaluating reauthorization of 
the Rockfish Program in 2019 and 2020. This report is mandatory.
     The Annual Amendment 80 Cooperative Report provides 
information to the Council and NMFS about how the catch share program 
is functioning, and if potential future changes may be needed. This 
report is mandatory.
     The Amendment 80 Halibut Prohibited Species Catch (PSC) 
Management Plan informs the Council of an Amendment 80 cooperative's 
plan to use voluntary, non-regulatory methods to avoid halibut bycatch 
in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) groundfish fisheries. 
This report is voluntary.
     The Amendment 80 Halibut Bycatch Avoidance Progress Report 
allows each sector in the BSAI groundfish fisheries to inform the 
Council of its progress on voluntary, non-regulatory methods used 
within its fishery cooperatives to avoid halibut bycatch in the BSAI 
groundfish fisheries. This report is voluntary.
     The American Fisheries Act (AFA) Catcher Vessel Inter-
cooperative Agreement provides information to NMFS, the Council, and 
the public about inter-cooperative fishery allocations, PSC 
allocations, transfers of allocations and PSC, monitoring methods, and 
bycatch reduction methods. This report is voluntary.
     The American Fisheries Act Annual Catcher Vessel Inter-
cooperative Report provides detailed information about how sideboard 
limits and PSC are being used to determine if program objectives are 
being satisfactorily met; provides the Council and the public with a 
simple means of evaluating the AFA catcher vessel fleets' aggregate 
fishing performance under the AFA regulations;

[[Page 67433]]

and provides a broader understanding of catcher vessel cooperative 
activities. This report is voluntary.
     The American Fisheries Act Cooperative Annual Report 
provides information to the Council about how each cooperative 
allocated pollock, other groundfish species, and prohibited species 
among the vessels in the cooperative; the catch of these species by 
area by each vessel in the cooperative; information about how the 
cooperative monitored fishing by its members; and a description of any 
actions taken by the cooperative to penalize vessels that exceeded the 
catch and prohibited species catch allocations made to the vessel by 
the cooperative. The purpose of this report is to provide the Council 
with information about the on-going operations and performance of the 
cooperatives on which to base its decisions about management of the 
Bering Sea pollock fishery. This report is mandatory.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Reports are voluntary or mandatory as 
specified in each report's description above.
    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.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2019-26572 Filed 12-9-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P