[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 66 (Thursday, April 6, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20492-20493]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-07236]


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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; West Coast Groundfish Trawl Economic Data

AGENCY: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites 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. The 
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment 
preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed 
information collection must be received on or before June 5, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments to 
Adrienne Thomas, NOAA PRA Officer, at [email protected]. Please 
reference OMB Control Number 0648-618 in the subject line of your 
comments. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise 
sensitive or protected information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed 
to Erin Steiner, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, 2725 Montlake 
Blvd. E, Seattle, WA 98103, (206) 860-3202 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract

    This request is for revision and renewal of a currently approved 
information collection. This information collection is needed in order 
to meet the monitoring requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA). 
In particular, the Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) needs 
economic data on all harvesters, quota share permit owners, first 
receivers, shorebased processors, catcher processors, and motherships 
participating in the West Coast groundfish trawl fishery. The current 
approval covers collection of data for the 2019-2021 operating years. 
The renewed approval will cover years 2022-2024. Data will be collected 
from all catcher vessels registered to a limited entry trawl endorsed 
permit, quota share permit owners, catcher processors registered to 
catcher processor permits, motherships registered to mothership 
permits, first receivers, and shorebased processors that received round 
or head-and-gutted IFQ groundfish or whiting from a first receiver to 
provide the necessary information for analyzing the effects of the West 
Coast Groundfish Trawl Catch Share Program.
    As stated in 50 CFR 660.114, the EDC forms due on September 1, 
2023, will provide data for the 2022 operating year. Changes are being 
proposed to three forms: the quota share owner form, the first receiver 
and shorebased processor form, and the catcher vessel form.
    Two changes are proposed for the quota share owner form. First, the 
question ``Is this permit owned solely by a non-profit?'' will be 
removed from the survey as it was determined that sufficient 
information is available from other sources to make this question 
redundant. The second proposed change is to replace the survey's third 
question with a series of shorter questions guiding the participant to 
provide the correct information. This change will clarify which 
information should be reported for each type of respondent and will 
reduce the need for lengthy instructions section describing how the 
participant should answer. The series of questions are:
    A. ``Which types of quota transactions were associated with QSXXXX 
in 2022? Check all that apply'' This question helps the participant 
determine whether any earnings need to be reported on the survey. If 
appropriate categories are checked, they will be asked question B.
    B. ``How much did this quota share account earn from leasing quota 
in year 2022?'' Participants will answer this question with a dollar 
amount. To ensure there is no duplicate reporting, participants will be 
asked question C:
    C. ``Did you record any earnings from 2021 quota leasing on an EDC 
form?'' If participants answer ``No,'' they will be prompted to affirm 
that their response to question B was correct and submit the survey. If 
they answer ``Yes,'' they will be asked to respond to question D.
    D. ``How much in quota lease earnings did you record on your EDC 
form(s)? Participants will answer with a numerical value and proceed to 
question E.
    E. ``Please confirm your total quota lease earnings in 2021 was 
`Response to question B + `Response to question D.' After confirming, 
participants will then submit the survey.
    We anticipate no additional burden with this change because the new 
structure of the survey will generate fewer incorrect responses and 
survey administrators will no longer need to contact participants 
outside of the survey to confirm that they did not provide duplicate 
responses across survey forms.
    First receiver and shorebased processor form changes are more 
extensive. The purpose of the changes are fourfold: remove requests for 
information that are not used in development of a Pacific Fishery 
Management Council Fishery Management Plan, consolidate questions where 
additional detail is no longer required, clarify handling of 
intercompany transfers and inventory, and collect more accurate 
information about hourly wages.
    First, we propose a complete removal of Question 18: ``Provide the 
following information about the landing origin of groundfish received 
at this facility.'' Throughout the eleven years of the program, these 
data have not been used in the Council process and we do not

[[Page 20493]]

anticipate using this information in the future.
    Second, we propose consolidating the fishery-level detail requests 
from Question 19: ``Fish Received. In the table below provide the 
weight and cost of fish received.'' For groundfish species, the 
existing form requests weight not paid for, weight paid for, and cost 
of fish by species group for three fisheries (LE Trawl, LE Fixed Gear, 
and Other) as well as Non-vessel sources. In the revised form, the 
table will be consolidated to only request Vessel sources and Non-
vessel sources. This will be a net reduction of 72 data entry cells on 
the form (12 species groups x removal of 2 fisheries x 3 fields). We 
will no longer request this information because fishery-detail 
information can be obtained from other sources.
    Third, we propose revising how intercompany transfers and inventory 
are reported on the form. Similar to the quota share owner survey, 
there are extensive instructions on handling these two topics, but 
reporting errors are extremely common. To facilitate accurate reporting 
of intercompany transfers, we will remove a column dedicated to 
transfer information from Question 19 and remove instructions about 
recording transfers in Question 20. Then, all of the transfer-related 
information will be moved to a separate question/table. This change 
will make the survey instructions easier to understand, allow companies 
that do not have intercompany transfers to skip the question entirely, 
and will make it easier to detect and remedy mistakes. Similarly, there 
are extensive instructions on how to record inventory in Question 20 on 
the existing form, but no dedicated field for inventory. Instead, 
participants are currently instructed to add inventory to the other 
sales categories. We propose adding a new line for each species group 
to record the inventory volume and value. Similar to the changes to 
transfers in Question 19 and 20, the new structure of Question 20 
clarifies how to complete the form and facilitates identifying and 
resolving errors. Finally, this change will provide new important 
information about inventory volumes across years, providing better 
information about the status of the processing sector to the Pacific 
Fishery Management Council.
    Lastly, a common performance metric for fisheries programs is 
hourly wage payments to processing workers. In the current form, we 
request the total number of workers and total hours worked for the week 
that includes the 12th of each month and total annual compensation 
payments. To calculate hourly wages, we must extrapolate to the total 
hours worked for the year. Through conversations with participants, it 
has become apparent that within-month employment can have high 
variability and our extrapolations are not always accurate. We propose 
requesting the equivalent compensation value for each of the one-week 
windows to allow for a more accurate calculation of hourly wages. This 
additional field will also allow us to generate an estimate of within-
month employment variability.
    The only proposed change to the Catcher Vessel survey form is to 
remove two questions. In 2018, at the request of participants in the 
trawl catch share program, two additional questions were added, 
Question 17: ``Do you track capitalized expenditures and expenses on 
fishing gear by type (e.g., midwater trawl gear, groundfish bottom 
trawl gear)?'' and Question 18: ``Provide the 2021 total capitalized 
expenditures and expenses associated with each type of fishing gear 
used in West Coast Fisheries (Washington, Oregon, and California).'' 
Since the implementation of the questions in 2018, there has only been 
one ``Yes'' out nearly 700 total responses to Question 17 and therefore 
no further information about gear-specific costs have been collected. 
Therefore there will be no information loss associated with removal of 
these two questions and there will be a small reduction in total burden 
hours.

II. Method of Collection

    Vessel, first receiver, and shorebased processor forms may be 
submitted via mail or electronically. All quota share owner survey 
forms must be submitted online as part of the quota share permit 
renewal system.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0648-0618.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Review: Regular submission (Revision and extension of a 
current information collection).
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit and not-for-profit 
organization.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 352.
    Estimated Time per Response: 8 hours for catcher processors, 
catcher vessels, and motherships, 1 hour for quota share permit owners, 
and 20 hours for first receivers and shorebased processors.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,209.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $3,668.45 in recordkeeping/
reporting costs.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: 50 CFR 660.114.

IV. Request for Comments

    We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau 
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is 
necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether 
the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy 
of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed 
collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden 
on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. We will include or summarize each comment in our request 
to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, phone 
number, email address, or other personal identifying information in 
your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--including 
your personal identifying information--may be made publicly available 
at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold your 
personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2023-07236 Filed 4-5-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P