[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 185 (Tuesday, September 26, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66046-66048]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-20832]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R3-FAC-2023-N078; FF03F43100-XXXF1611NR; OMB Control Number 1018-
0179]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget; Sea Lamprey Control Program

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we, 
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are proposing to renew an 
information collection, without change.

[[Page 66047]]


DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
October 26, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be submitted within 30 days of 
publication of this notice at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting 
``Currently under Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the 
search function. Please provide a copy of your comments to the Service 
Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, MS: PRB (JAO/3W), 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-
3803 (mail); or by email to [email protected]. Please reference ``1018-
0179'' in the subject line of your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Madonna L. Baucum, Service Information 
Collection Clearance Officer, by email at [email protected], or by 
telephone at (703) 358-2503. Individuals in the United States who are 
deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 
711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay 
services. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay 
services offered within their country to make international calls to 
the point-of-contact in the United States.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) and 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), we 
provide the general public and other Federal agencies with an 
opportunity to comment on new, proposed, revised, and continuing 
collections of information. This helps us assess the impact of our 
information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting 
burden. It also helps the public understand our information collection 
requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format.
    On June 26, 2023, we published in the Federal Register (88 FR 
41414) a notice of our intent to request that OMB approve this 
information collection. In that notice, we solicited comments for 60 
days, ending on August 25, 2023. In an effort to increase public 
awareness of, and participation in, our public commenting processes 
associated with information collection requests, the Service also 
published the Federal Register notice on Regulations.gov (Docket No. 
FWS-R3-FAC-2023-0096) to provide the public with an additional method 
to submit comments (in addition to the typical [email protected] email 
and U.S. mail submission methods). We received one comment in response 
to that notice which did not address the information collection 
requirements. No response to that comment is required.
    As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent 
burdens, we are again soliciting comments from the public and other 
Federal agencies on the proposed ICR that is described below. We are 
especially interested in public comment addressing the following:
    (1) Whether or not the collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including 
whether or not the information will have practical utility;
    (2) The accuracy of our estimate of the burden for this collection 
of information, including the validity of the methodology and 
assumptions used;
    (3) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (4) How might the agency minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on those who are to respond, including through the use of 
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., 
permitting electronic submission of response.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. 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 can 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.
    Abstract: Service staff at the Service's Marquette and Ludington 
biological stations fulfill U.S. obligations under the Convention on 
Great Lakes Fisheries Between the United States of America and Canada, 
Washington, 1954, and the Great Lakes Fishery Act of 1956 (16 U.S.C. 
931 et seq.). The Service works with State, Tribal, and other Federal 
agencies to monitor progress towards fish community objectives for sea 
lampreys in each of the Great Lakes, and also to develop and implement 
actions to achieve these objectives. Activities are closely coordinated 
with those of State, Tribal, and other Federal and provincial 
management agencies, nongovernmental organizations, private landowners, 
and the public. Our primary goal is to conduct ecologically sound and 
publicly acceptable integrated sea lamprey control.
    The Sea Lamprey Control Program is administered and funded by the 
Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) and implemented by two control 
agents, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Fisheries and Oceans 
Canada, who often partner on larger projects. The sea lamprey 
(Petromyzon marinus), a parasitic fish species native to the Atlantic 
Ocean, parasitizes other fish species by sucking their blood and other 
bodily fluids. Having survived through at least four major extinction 
events, the species has remained largely unchanged for more than 340 
million years. The sea lamprey differs from many other fishes, in that 
it does not have jaws or other bony structures, but instead has a 
skeleton made of cartilage. Sea lampreys prey on most species of large 
Great Lakes fish such as lake trout, salmon, lake sturgeon, whitefish, 
burbot, walleye, and catfish.
    In the 1800s, sea lampreys invaded the Great Lakes system via locks 
and shipping canals. Their aggressive behavior and appetite for fish 
blood wreaked havoc on native fish populations, decimating an already 
vulnerable lake trout fishery. The first recorded observation of a sea 
lamprey in the Great Lakes was in 1835 in Lake Ontario. For a time, 
Niagara Falls served as a natural barrier, confining sea lampreys to 
Lake Ontario and preventing them from entering the remaining four Great 
Lakes. However, in the early 1900s, modifications were made to the 
Welland Canal, which bypasses Niagara Falls and provides a shipping 
connection between Lakes Ontario and Erie. These modifications allowed 
sea lampreys access to the rest of the Great Lakes system. Within a 
short time, sea lampreys spread throughout the system: into Lake Erie 
by 1921, Lakes Michigan and Huron by 1936 and 1937, and Lake Superior 
by 1938. Sea lampreys were able to thrive once they invaded the Great 
Lakes, because of the availability of excellent spawning and larval 
habitat, an abundance of host fish, a lack of predators, and their high 
reproductive potential--a single female can produce as many as 100,000 
eggs.
    The Sea Lamprey Control Program (SLCP) maintains an internal 
database. In existence for more than 20 years, it contains information 
critical to the delivery and evaluation of an integrated control 
program to manage invasive sea lamprey populations in the five Great 
Lakes. The storage of data in this database not only documents the 
history of the SLCP since inception in 1953, but

[[Page 66048]]

it also provides data to steer assessment and control of invasive sea 
lamprey populations in the Great Lakes in partnership with the GLFC. We 
provide annual population data to Federal and State regulatory agencies 
to inform critical evaluations used to receive the appropriate permits 
to allow us to conduct sea lamprey control actions.
    The SLCP database maintains the points of contact for landowners to 
request landowner permission to access their land for treatment. The 
Service collects basic contact information for the landowner (name, 
home address, phone number, cell phone number, and email address), 
along with alternate contact information, whether they allow access to 
their land, methods of transportation allowed on property, whether a 
gate key or gate combination is needed to access the land, whether the 
landowner irrigates the land, and an opportunity to ask additional 
questions about treatment or sea lamprey management.
    Title of Collection: Sea Lamprey Control Program.
    OMB Control Number: 1018-0179.
    Form Number: None.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals, private sector, and 
State/local/Tribal governments.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 640.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 640.
    Estimated Completion Time per Response: 5 minutes.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 53 (rounded).
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Frequency of Collection: Annually.
    Total Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: None.
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required 
to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid OMB control number.
    The authority for this action is the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

Madonna Baucum,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-20832 Filed 9-25-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P