[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 180 (Tuesday, September 19, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64414-64415]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-20277]


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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; American Lobster--Annual Trap Transfer Program

    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, 2023 during a 60-day comment period. This 
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Commerce.
    Title: American Lobster--Annual Trap Transfer Program.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0673.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular (extension of a current information 
collection).
    Number of Respondents: 204.
    Average Hours Per Response: 10 minutes.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 17.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for an extension of a currently 
approved information collection.
    The American lobster resource and fishery are cooperatively managed 
by the states and NMFS under the authority of the Atlantic Coastal 
Fisheries Cooperative Management Act, according to the framework 
established by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) 
in Amendment 3 of its Interstate Fishery Management Plan (ISFMP). This 
collection of information is in response to several addenda to 
Amendment 3 of the ISFMP that work to reduce trap fishing effort 
through limited entry fishing and trap allocation limit reductions. The 
Trap Transfer Program is intended to foster economic flexibility for 
the lobster industry while reducing fishing effort on the American 
lobster resource. The regulations implementing the FMP in the EEZ are 
specified at 50 CFR part 697.
    This collection of information is being conducted to help mitigate 
the economic burden of scheduled trap allocation reductions in Lobster 
Conservation Management Areas 2 and 3 on Federal lobster permit holders 
through the Annual Lobster Trap Transfer Program, which allows all 
qualified Federal lobster permit holders to buy and sell trap 
allocation from Areas 2, 3, or Outer Cape Cod. NMFS collects 
application forms from Lobster permit holders who wish to transfer trap 
allocation from these areas during a 2-

[[Page 64415]]

month period (from August 1 through September 30) each year; and the 
revised allocations resulting from the transfers become effective for 
each participating lobster permit at the start of the following Federal 
lobster fishing year, on May 1. Both the seller and buyer of the traps 
are required to sign the application form, date the document, and 
clearly show that the seller has sufficient allocation to transfer and 
that the buyer has sufficient room under the applicable trap cap. There 
were no modifications to this collection.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: As-needed.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to Obtain or Retain Benefits.
    Legal Authority: Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management 
Act (16 U.S.C. 5101 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 0648-0673.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2023-20277 Filed 9-18-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P