[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 247 (Thursday, December 26, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70960-70961]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-27739]


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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: Gulf of Mexico Electronic Logbook.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0543.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular (extension of a currently approved 
information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 1,410.
    Average Hours per Response: 3.
    Burden Hours: 4,230.
    Needs and Uses: The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act authorizes the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council 
(Council) to prepare and amend fishery management plans for any fishery 
in waters under its jurisdiction. The National Marine Fisheries Service 
(NMFS) manages the commercial shrimp fishery in Federal waters of the 
Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) under the Fishery Management Plan for the Shrimp 
Fishery of the Gulf.
    The electronic logbook (ELB) regulations for the Gulf shrimp 
fishery may be found at 50 CFR 622.51(a)(2). These regulations require 
vessel owners or operators issued a Federal commercial permit for Gulf 
shrimp to participate in the NMFS-sponsored ELB reporting program. 
There are approximately 1,410 valid or renewable Federal permits to 
commercially harvest shrimp from Federal waters in the Gulf. Reporting 
through a vessel's ELB, such owners or operators must provide 
information regarding the size and number of shrimp trawls deployed, 
the

[[Page 70961]]

type of bycatch reduction device, and turtle excluder device used for 
each trip. The ELB unit automatically collects fishing effort data and 
transmits those data via a cellular phone connection activated when the 
vessel is within non-roaming cellular range. Compliance with the ELB 
reporting requirements is required to renew the Gulf shrimp permit.
    Monitoring shrimp vessels is challenging for NMFS when they operate 
together with many other fishing vessels of differing sizes, gears 
types, and fishing capabilities. Monitoring is made even more 
challenging by seasonal variability in shrimp abundance and price and 
the broad geographic distribution of the fleet. ELBs provide a precise 
means of estimating the amount of shrimp fishing effort. Using ELBs to 
estimate fishing effort serves an important role to help estimate 
bycatch in the Gulf shrimp fleet.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: On occasion when fishing.
    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 this notice publication by 
email to [email protected] or by fax to (202) 395-5806.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2019-27739 Filed 12-23-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P