[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 8, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12937-12939]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-04849]


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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; Economic Surveys of Specific U.S. Commercial Fisheries

    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 September 28, 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: Economic Surveys of Specific US Commercial Fisheries.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0773.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission [revision of a currently 
approved collection].
    Number of Respondents: 1,655.
    Average Hours per Response:
    NWFSC: West Coast Limited Entry Groundfish Fixed Gear Fisheries 
Economic Data Collection: 3 hours.
    NWFSC: West Coast Open Access Groundfish, Non-tribal Salmon, Crab,

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and Shrimp Fisheries Economic Data Collection: 3 hours.
    PIFSC: American Samoa Longline Fishery Economic Data Collection: 1 
hour.
    PIFSC: Hawaii Pelagic Longline Fishery Economic Data Collection: 1 
hour.
    PIFSC: Hawaii Small Boat Fishery Economic Data Collection: 45 
minutes.
    PIFSC: American Samoa Small Boat Fishery Economic Data Collection: 
45 minutes.
    PIFSC: American Samoa, Guam, and The Commonwealth of The Northern 
Mariana Islands Small Boat-Based Fisheries Economic Data Collection (an 
add-on to a creel survey): 10 minutes.
    PIFSC: Mariana Archipelago Small Boat Fleet Economic Data 
Collection: 45 minutes.
    SEFSC: USVI F Small-Scale Commercial Fisheries Economic Data 
Collection: 15 minutes.
    SEFSC: Puerto Rico Small-Scale Commercial Fisheries Economic Data 
Collection: 1 hour.
    SEFSC: Gulf of Mexico Inshore Shrimp Fishery Economic Data 
Collection: 28 minutes.
    SEFSC: U.S. South Atlantic Region Golden Crab Fishery Economic Data 
Collection: 30 minutes.
    SWFSC: West Coast Coastal Pelagic Fishery Economic Data Collection: 
3 hours.
    SWFSC: West Coast Swordfish Fishery Economic Data Collection: 30 
minutes.
    SWFSC: West Coast North Pacific Albacore Fishery Economic Data 
Collection: 1 hour.
    NEFSC: Northeast Commercial Fishing Business Economic Data 
Collection: 1 hour.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,757.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for a revision and extension of a 
currently approved collection.
    The Office of Science and Technology is sponsoring the collection. 
Economic surveys will be conducted in selected commercial fisheries for 
the East Coast, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, West Coast, Hawaii, and the 
U.S. Pacific Islands territories.
    The requested information will include different components of 
operating costs/expenditures, earnings, employment, ownership, vessel 
characteristics, effort/gear descriptors, employment, and demographic 
information for the various types of fishing vessels operating in the 
16 U.S. commercial fisheries or groups of fisheries listed below.

1. West Coast Limited Entry Groundfish Fixed Gear Fisheries
2. West Coast Open Access Groundfish, Non-tribal Salmon, Crab, and 
Shrimp Fisheries
3. American Samoa Longline Fishery
4. Hawaii Pelagic Longline Fishery
5. Hawaii Small Boat Fishery
6. American Samoa Small Boat Fishery
7. American Samoa, Guam, and The Commonwealth of The Northern Mariana 
Islands Small Boat-Based Fisheries
8. Mariana Archipelago Small Boat Fleet
9. USVI F Small-Scale Commercial Fisheries
10. Puerto Rico Small-Scale Commercial Fisheries
11. Gulf of Mexico Inshore Shrimp Fishery
12. U.S. South Atlantic Region Golden Crab Fishery
13. West Coast Coastal Pelagic Fishery
14. West Coast Swordfish Fishery
15. West Coast North Pacific Albacore Fishery
16. Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Fisheries

    A variety of laws, Executive Orders (EOs), and NOAA Fisheries 
strategies and policies include requirements for economic data and the 
analyses they support. When met adequately, those requirements allow 
better-informed conservation and management decisions on the use of 
living marine resources and marine habitat in federally managed 
fisheries. Obtaining these data improves the ability of NOAA Fisheries 
and the Regional Fishery Management Councils (Councils) to monitor, 
explain and predict changes in the economic performance and impacts of 
federally managed commercial fisheries. Measures of economic 
performance include costs, earnings, and profitability (net revenue); 
productivity and economic efficiency; capacity; economic stability; the 
level and distribution of net economic benefits to society; and market 
power. The economic impacts include sector, community or region-
specific, and national employment, sales, value-added, and income 
impacts. Economic data are required to support more than a cursory 
effort to comply with or support the following laws, EOs, and NOAA 
Fisheries strategies and policies:

1. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA)
2. The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA)
3. The Endangered Species Act (ESA)
4. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
5. The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)
6. E.O. 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review)
7. E.O. 13771 (Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs)
8. E.O. 12898 (Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in 
Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations)
9. E.O. 13840 (Ocean Policy to Advance the Economic, Security, and 
Environmental Interests of the United States)
10. The NOAA Fisheries Guidelines for Economic Reviews of Regulatory 
Actions
11. The NOAA Fisheries Strategic Plan 2019-2022 (Strategic Plan)
12. The NOAA Fisheries Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management (EBFM) Road 
Map
13. The NOAA Fisheries National Bycatch Reduction Strategy
14. NOAA's Catch Share Policy

    Data collections will focus each year on a different set of the 16 
commercial fisheries or groups of fisheries. This cycle of data 
collection will facilitate economic data being available and updated 
for all those commercial fisheries.
    There will be an effort to coordinate the data collections in order 
to reduce the additional burden for those who participate in multiple 
fisheries. To further reduce the burden, the requested information for 
a specific fishery will be limited to that which is not available from 
other sources. Participation in these data collections will be 
voluntary.
    The proposed revisions to the information collection will: (a) Add 
an information collection for Northeast and Mid-Atlantic fisheries; (b) 
increase the burden hours to account for that addition information 
collection: (c) make minor changes to the survey forms that primarily 
provide flexibility with respect to when NMFS will conduct each of the 
16 information collections; and (d) extend it for three years. Though 
the information collection was recently renewed, an extension is 
requested at this time as no additional changes to the collection are 
anticipated before the current expiration date.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households and business or other 
for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: Every 3 to 8 years.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    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

[[Page 12939]]

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 0648-0773.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2022-04849 Filed 3-7-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P