[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 188 (Monday, September 28, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60765-60766]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-21353]


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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Applications and Reporting Requirements for the Incidental 
Take of Marine Mammals by Specified Activities (Other Than Commercial 
Fishing Operations) Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and 
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of 
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on June 22, 2018 (83 FR 29212) during a 60-day comment 
period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public 
comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.
    Title: Applications and Reporting Requirements for the Incidental 
Take of Marine Mammals by Specified Activities (other than Commercial 
Fishing Operations) Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0151.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission (Revision to an existing 
information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 188.
    Average Hours per Response: Incidental Harassment Authorization 
(IHA) Application: 281 hours; IHA Interim Report: 30 hours; IHA Draft 
Annual Report: 140 hours; IHA Final Annual Report: 28 hours; Letter of 
Authorization (LOA) Initial Application: 1200 hours; LOA Annual 
Application: 70 hours; LOA Draft Annual Report: 225 Hours; LOA Draft 
Final Report: 225 hours; LOA Final Annual Report: 70 hours; LOA Draft 
Comprehensive Report: 640 hours; LOA Comprehensive Final Report: 300 
hours; Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Draft Annual Report: 140 hours; GOM Final 
Annual Report: 28 hours. Response times will vary for the public based 
upon the complexity of the requested action.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 25,973.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for a revision of a currently 
approved information collection.
    The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA; 16 U.S.C. 1361 et. 
seq.) prohibits the ``take'' of marine mammals unless otherwise 
authorized or exempted by law. Among the provisions that allow for 
lawful take of marine mammals, sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the 
MMPA direct the Secretary of Commerce to allow, upon request, the 
incidental, but not intentional, taking of small numbers of marine 
mammals by U.S. citizens who engage in a specified activity (other than 
commercial fishing), within a specified geographical region if, after 
notice and opportunity for public comment, we find that the taking will 
have a negligible impact on the affected species or stock(s) and will 
not have an immitigable adverse impact on the availability of the 
species or stock(s) for subsistence uses (where relevant). NMFS also 
must set forth the permissible methods of taking; other means of 
effecting the least practicable adverse impact on the species or stock 
and its habitat (mitigation); and requirements pertaining to the 
monitoring and reporting of such taking. NMFS Office of Protected 
Resources leads the process for the agency.
    Issuance of an incidental take authorization (Authorization) under 
section 101(a)(5)(A) or 101(a)(5)(D) of the MMPA requires three sets of 
information collection: (1) A complete application for an 
Authorization, as set forth in our implementing regulations at

[[Page 60766]]

50 CFR 216.104, which provides the information necessary for us to make 
the necessary statutory determinations, including estimates of take and 
an assessment of impacts on the affected species and stocks; (2) 
information relating to required monitoring; and (3) information 
related to required reporting. These collections of information enable 
us to: (1) Evaluate the proposed activity's impact on marine mammals; 
(2) arrive at the appropriate determinations required by the MMPA and 
other applicable laws prior to issuing the authorization; and (3) 
monitor impacts of activities for which we have issued Authorizations 
to determine if our predictions regarding impacts on marine mammals 
remain valid.
    On June 22, 2018, NMFS published a Federal Register Notice (83 FR 
29212) notifying the public of a proposal to issue 5-year incidental 
take regulations that would allow for the take of marine mammals 
incidental to geophysical survey activities conducted by industry 
operators in Federal waters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM). NMFS does 
not anticipate that the proposed regulations will substantially add to 
the burden to individual private applicants for incidental take 
authorizations. In fact, we expect individual applicant's information 
collection burdens will be substantially less than the typical 
applicant under the existing OMB Control Number. This is due to the 
fact that the application for these regulations (the first information 
collection burden noted above) was completed by the Bureau of Ocean 
Energy Management (BOEM) instead of individual applicants. The other 
difference we expect related to these proposed regulations is that 
there will be a larger number of applicants/respondents than accounted 
for in the existing OMB Control Number. The proposed rule forecasts 
that 95 to 151 geophysical surveys will take place annually on average 
over the five years of the proposed regulations in the GOM that would 
be subject to potential information collection requirements.
    Affected Public: Not-for-profit institutions; state, local, or 
tribal governments; businesses or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency:
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA, 16 
U.S.C. 1361 et. seq.).
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB 
Control Number 0648-0151.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2020-21353 Filed 9-25-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P