[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 48 (Monday, March 11, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17418-17419]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-05132]
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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; Alaska American Fisheries Act Reports
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 October 3, 2023 during a 60-day comment period.
This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
Title: Alaska American Fisheries Act Reports.
OMB Control Number: 0648-0401.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Request: Regular submission (extension of a current
information collection, revision).
Number of Respondents: 11.
Average Hours per Response: AFA Cooperative Contract 8 hours;
Bering Sea Pollock Fishery Incentive Plan Agreement 50 hours; Bering
Sea Pollock Fishery IPA Annual Report 80 hours; IPA administrative
appeals 4 hours.
Total Annual Burden Hours: 358 hours.
Needs and Uses: The National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS),
Alaska Region, requests revision and extension of a currently approved
information collection for American Fisheries Act reporting
requirements.
NMFS Alaska Region manages the groundfish fisheries of the Bering
Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area in the Exclusive Economic Zone
off Alaska. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council)
prepared the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea
and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP) under the authority of the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 16 U.S.C.
1801 et seq., and other applicable laws. Regulations implementing the
FMP are at 50 CFR part 679.
The Bering Sea pollock fishery is managed under the American
Fisheries Act (AFA). The purpose of the AFA was to tighten U.S.
ownership standards for U.S. fishing vessels under the Anti-reflagging
Act and to provide the Bering Sea pollock fleet the opportunity to
conduct its fishery in a more rational manner while protecting non-AFA
participants in the other fisheries. The AFA established sector
allocations in the Bering Sea pollock fishery, determined eligible
vessels and processors, allowed the formation of cooperatives, set
limits on the participation of AFA vessels in other fisheries, and
imposed special catch weighing and monitoring requirements on AFA
vessels.
This information collection contains the annual and periodic
reporting requirements for AFA cooperatives. These requirements include
reports about on-going fishing operations of the cooperatives and
reports focused on efforts to minimize salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea
pollock fishery. These reporting requirements are at 50 CFR 679.21 and
679.61.
This information is used to manage the Bering Sea pollock fishery,
to evaluate the salmon bycatch management measures, and to provide the
public with information about how the program operates and information
about bycatch reduction under this program. This information collection
provides the Council and NMFS with information about the organization
and fishing operations of the AFA cooperatives, allocations to the AFA
cooperatives, and the effectiveness of the Chinook salmon and chum
salmon bycatch management measures. This information is necessary to
ensure long-term conservation and abundance of salmon and pollock,
maintain a healthy marine ecosystem, and provide maximum benefit to
fishermen and communities that depend on salmon and pollock.
[[Page 17419]]
The following changes have been made to this information
collection. The AFA Annual Cooperative Report is removed from this
collection because it was added to OMB Control Number 0648-0678 (Alaska
Council Cooperative Annual Reports) in 2019 and was intended to be
removed from OMB Control Number 0648-0401. The Incentive Plan Agreement
(IPA) and the IPA Annual Report are renamed the Bering Sea Pollock
Fishery Incentive Plan Agreement (IPA) and the Bering Sea Pollock
Fishery IPA Annual Report, respectively to clarify the fishery that
they are associated with.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
Frequency: Annually as needed.
Respondent's Obligation: Required to Obtain or Retain Benefits;
Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act; American Fisheries Act. 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., and
other applicable laws. Regulations implementing the FMP are at 50 CFR
part 679.
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 0648-0401.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024-05132 Filed 3-8-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P