[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 216 (Friday, November 12, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62793-62794]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-24637]


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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; Greater Atlantic Region Permit 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 July 6, 2021 (86 FR 35493) 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: Greater Atlantic Region Permit Family of Forms.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0202.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission. Revision and extension of 
current information collection.
    Number of Respondents: 128,237.
    Average Hours Per Response: Varies.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 19,833.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for revision and extension of a 
current information collection. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act, the Secretary of Commerce has the 
responsibility for the conservation and management of marine fishery 
resources. Much of this responsibility has been delegated to NOAA's 
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Under this stewardship role, 
the Secretary was given certain regulatory authorities to ensure the 
most beneficial uses of these resources. One of the regulatory steps 
taken to carry out the conservation and management objectives is to 
collect information from users of the resources.
    The Secretary has enacted rules to issue permits to individuals and 
organizations participating in federally controlled fisheries. Permits 
are necessary to: (1) Register fishermen, fishing vessels, fish dealers 
and

[[Page 62794]]

processors; (2) list the characteristics of fishing vessels and/or 
dealer/processor operations; (3) exercise influence over compliance 
(e.g., withhold issuance pending collection of unpaid penalties); (4) 
maintain contact lists for the dissemination of important information 
to the industry; (5) register participants to be considered for limited 
entry; and (6) provide a universe for data collection samples. 
Identification of fishery participants, their gear types, vessels, and 
expected activity levels is an effective and necessary tool in the 
enforcement of fishery regulations.
    This collection is being revised to introduce a new online 
permitting system (FishOnline) to allow individuals and organizations 
to apply and renew their fishing vessel permits, operator permits, 
dealer permits, Letter of Authorization (LOA), and gillnet 
certificates. Also, automatic VMS polling is also being removed from 
the list of information collections as this does not pose any burden on 
the vessel captain or crew.
    This collection also includes the requirement for participants in 
certain fisheries to use onboard vessel monitoring systems (VMS) and to 
notify NMFS before fishing trips for the purpose of observer placement. 
Other permitting in this collection includes the written request to 
participate in any of the various exemption programs offered in the 
Greater Atlantic region.
    Exemption programs may allow a vessel to fish in an area that is 
limited to vessels of a particular size, using a certain gear type, or 
fishing for a particular species. This collection also contains 
paperwork required for vessel owners to request gillnet and lobster 
trap tags through the Greater Atlantic region permit office.
    Lastly, vessel owners that own multiple vessels, but would like to 
request communication from NMFS be consolidated into one mailing (and 
not separate mailings for each vessel), may request the single letter 
vessel owner option to improve efficiency of their business practice.
    Affected Public: Businesses and other for-profit organizations are 
primarily affected. Individuals or households, state, local or tribal 
governments, and the Federal Government are also affected.
    Frequency: on occasion, weekly, monthly, annually, every three 
years.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act.
    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 0648-0202.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-24637 Filed 11-10-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P