[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 194 (Tuesday, October 12, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56693-56694]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-22096]


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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; Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Vessel 
Information Family of Forms

    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 April 21, 2021, during a 60-day comment period. 
This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Commerce.
    Title: Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Vessel 
Information Family of Forms.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0595.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular (extension of a currently approved 
collection).
    Number of Respondents: 225.
    Average Hours per Response: Western and Central Pacific Fisheries 
Commission Area Endorsement Application: 60 minutes; Foreign Exclusive 
Economic Zone (EEZ) Form: 90 minutes; International Maritime 
Organization (IMO) number application: 30 minutes.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 43.
    Needs and Uses: The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries 
Convention Implementation Act (WCPFCIA; 16 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.) and 
U.S. implementing regulations (50 CFR 300 Subpart O) authorize that all 
member States maintain and provide to the Commission on the 
Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the 
Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Commission or WCPFC) a list of 
vessels flagged by the member State and (1) authorized by the member 
State to be used for fishing for highly migratory fish stocks (HMS) on 
the high seas in the WCPFC Area, or (2) authorized by other States to 
be used for fishing for HMS in their areas of jurisdiction in the WCPFC 
Area, and to maintain and provide for each vessel on that list certain 
information on its characteristics and its owner and operator.
    Vessels in the first category already provide most of the required 
information under existing laws and regulations. All such vessels must 
be documented by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) or be state-
registered and must hold a valid High Seas Fishing Permit (issued under 
the authority of the High Seas Fishing Compliance Act (HSFCA). Under 
these existing documentation/registration and permitting requirements, 
the vessel owner or operator must comply with information collection 
requirements that fulfill most of the needs under the WCPFCIA. This 
information collection requirement serves to collect the few pieces of 
information required under the WCPFCIA that are not already collected 
via existing mechanisms, and a form customized for this category of 
vessels is used.
    Vessels in the second category already provide information as part 
of the USCG documentation or State registration processes, but such 
vessels do not need to hold High Seas Fishing Permits (unless they also 
fish on the high seas), so they will not necessarily be submitting the 
information collected via that permitting process. This information 
collection requirement serves to collect the pieces of information 
required under the WCPFCIA that are not already collected via existing 
mechanisms, and a form customized for this category of vessels is used.
    Under a 2013 Commission decision, an additional piece of 
information that the United States must provide to the Commission for 
both categories of vessels (but only for those whose tonnage is at 
least 100 gross register tons (GRT) or 100 gross tons (GT)) is the 
vessel's IMO number. An IMO number, also known as an IMO ship 
identification number, is a unique number issued for a ship or vessel 
under the ship identification number scheme established by the 
International Maritime Organization. Once issued, an IMO number will 
remain with the vessel for its life, regardless of changes to the 
vessel's name, flag, ownership, or other attributes. This information 
collection requirement serves to collect information based on a 
decision of the Commission made under Conservation and Management 
Measure (CMM) 2013-10, which requires each member of the Commission to 
ensure that IMO numbers are issued for the two above

[[Page 56694]]

listed categories of vessels. To satisfy this WCPFC requirement, NMFS 
requires that the owner of each subject vessel request and obtain an 
IMO number, which they can do by submitting certain information about 
the vessel and its ownership and management to the administrator of the 
IMO ship identification number scheme, which is a private third party 
not associated with the United States government or any other 
government. Although NMFS does not collect this information directly, 
the requirement to submit the information to the third party is covered 
by this information collection.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations; 
individuals or households.
    Frequency: The information included in both the WCPFC Area 
Endorsement application and Foreign EEZ form is collected once every 
five years. The information collected to obtain an IMO number is a one-
time collection.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: WCPFCIA; 16 U.S.C. 6901 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 0648-0595.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-22096 Filed 10-8-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P