[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 166 (Tuesday, August 27, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68590-68591]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-19307]


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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; Individual Fishing Quotas for Pacific Halibut and Sablefish in 
the Alaska 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 April 5, 2024, 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: Individual Fishing Quotas for Pacific Halibut and Sablefish 
in the Alaska Fisheries.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0272.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission (extension and revision of a 
current information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 3,442.
    Average Hours per Response: Application for IFQ/CDQ Hired Master 
Permit, 1 hour; Application for IFQ/CDQ Registered Buyer Permit, 30 
minutes; Application for Replacement of Certificates or Permits, 30 
minutes; Application for Eligibility to Receive QS/IFQ by Transfer, 2 
hours; QS Holder: Identification of Ownership Interest, 2 hours; 
Application for Transfer of QS, 2 hours; Application for Transfer of 
QS/IFQ by Self Sweep Up, 2 hours; Application for Medical Transfer of 
IFQ, 1.5 hours; Application for Temporary Transfer of Halibut/Sablefish 
IFQ, 2 hours; (emergency) Application for Temporary Transfer of 
Halibut/Sablefish IFQ, 2 hours; Annual Report for CDQ IFQ Transfers, 40 
hours; QS/IFQ Beneficiary Designation Form, 30 minutes; Appeals, 4 
hours; IFQ Administrative Waiver, 6 minutes; Prior Notice of Landing, 
15 minutes; IFQ Departure Report, 15 minutes; Transshipment 
Authorization, 12 minutes; Dockside sales, 6 minutes; Application for a 
Non-profit Corporation to be Designated as a Recreational Quota Entity, 
200 hours; Application for Transfer of Quota Share To or From a 
Recreational Quota Entity, 2 hours; Recreational Quota Entity Annual 
Report, 40 hours; NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region eFISH On-line Services 
User Authorization Form, 30 minutes.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 11,239.
    Needs and Uses: The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), 
Alaska Regional Office, is requesting renewal and revision of this 
currently approved information collection that contains requirements 
for the Pacific Halibut and Sablefish Individual Fishing Quota Program 
(IFQ Program). Minor editorial changes were made to the forms to 
improve clarity and consistency. The Application for IFQ/CDQ Hired 
Master Permit was revised to remove an unnecessary checkbox. Four 
transfer applications were revised to collect information on fees paid, 
which is required by regulations, to remove the need to submit a copy 
of the permit, and to no longer require a separate form for each 
transfer. The revisions do not change the burden hours or costs of 
these forms. The NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region eFISH On-line Services 
User Authorization Form, which had been inadvertently omitted from this 
collection, has been added and does not significantly increase the 
burden or cost for this information collection.
    This information collection for the IFQ Program is required to 
manage commercial halibut and sablefish fishing under the Magnuson-
Stevens Act, the Halibut Act, and under 50 CFR parts 300 and 679. 
Commercial halibut and sablefish fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska and 
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands are managed primarily under the IFQ 
Program. The IFQ Program is managed under the authority of the Northern 
Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 (16 U.S.C. 773c; Halibut Act), with respect 
to Pacific halibut, and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.; Magnuson-Stevens Act), with 
respect to sablefish. Regulations implementing the IFQ Program are set 
forth at 50 CFR part 679. A key objective of the IFQ Program is to 
support the social and economic character of the fisheries and coastal 
fishing communities where many of these fisheries are based. 
Participation in the IFQ Program is limited to persons that hold quota 
share (QS), although there are several very limited provisions for 
``leasing'' of annual IFQ. QS is a transferable permit that was 
initially issued to persons who owned or leased vessels that made legal 
commercial fixed-gear landings of Pacific halibut or sablefish in the 
waters off Alaska from 1988 through 1990. NMFS annually issues eligible 
QS holders an IFQ fishing permit that authorizes participation in the 
IFQ fisheries. Those to whom IFQ permits are issued may harvest their 
annual allocation at any time during the eight plus-month IFQ halibut 
and sablefish seasons.
    More information on the IFQ Program is provided on the NMFS Alaska 
Region website at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/sustainable-fisheries/pacific-halibut-and-sablefish-individual-fishing-quota-ifq-program.
    Some of the collection instruments in this information collection 
are used by participants in the Western Alaska Community Development 
Quota (CDQ) Program. The purpose of the CDQ Program is to provide 
eligible western Alaska villages with the opportunity to participate 
and invest in fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 
Management Area (BSAI); to support economic development in western 
Alaska; to alleviate poverty and provide

[[Page 68591]]

economic and social benefits for residents of western Alaska; and to 
achieve sustainable and diversified local economies in western Alaska. 
In fitting with these goals, NMFS allocates a portion of the annual 
catch limits for a variety of commercially valuable marine species in 
the BSAI to the CDQ Program. Pacific halibut is one of these species. 
More information on the CDQ Program is provided on the NMFS Alaska 
Region website at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/sustainable-fisheries/community-development-quota-cdq-program. Information 
collection requirements for the CDQ Program are also approved under OMB 
Control Number 0648-0269.
    This information collection contains the forms used by participants 
in the IFQ Program to apply for, renew, or replace permits; transfer or 
lease IFQ and QS; determine compliance with IFQ program requirements; 
and designate a beneficiary for a QS holder. Two of the permit 
applications are also used by participants in the CDQ Program. This 
information collection also contains annual reports and other 
collections submitted by telephone or other methods and that do not 
have forms.
    The type of information collected includes information on the 
applicants, transferors, transferees, permits, IFQ or QS types and 
owners, beneficiaries, vessels, business operations, medical 
declarations, landings, gear types, products, and harvests and harvest 
areas.
    This information is used to identify and authorize participants in 
the halibut and sablefish fisheries, to track and transfer quota share, 
to limit transfers to authorized participants, and to monitor quota 
share balances and harvest in these fisheries.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations; Not-
for-profit institutions.
    Frequency: Varies upon situation and documents requirements.
    Respondent's Obligation: Based on completed form the following 
obligation may occur: Voluntary, Required to Obtain or Retain Benefits, 
and Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.; Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 
1982, 16 U.S.C. 773c.
    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 0648-0272.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024-19307 Filed 8-26-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P