[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 33 (Tuesday, February 19, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Page 11626]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-03680]



[[Page 11626]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of 
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 
U.S.C. chapter 35).
    Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
    Title: Economic Surveys of U.S. Commercial Fisheries.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0369.
    Form Number(s): NA.
    Type of Request: Regular submission (revision and extension of a 
current information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 10,380.
    Average Hours per Response: 2 hours.
    Burden Hours: 21,000 (for the three-year approval period).
    Needs and Uses: This request is for an extension and revision of a 
currently approved generic collection.
    Economic data for selected United States (U.S.) commercial 
fisheries will be collected for each of the following groups of 
operations, based on pre-approved questions: (1) Processors, including 
onshore plants, floating processing plants, mothership vessels, and 
catcher/processor vessels; (2) first receivers of fish, including 
dealers, wholesalers, and auctions; (3) catcher vessels; and (4) for-
hire vessels. Companies associated with these groups will be surveyed 
for expenditure, earnings, effort, ownership, and employment data; and 
basic demographic data on fishing and processing crews. These economic 
data collection programs contribute to legally mandated analyses 
required under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
Act (MFCMA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 (EO 
12866 and EO 13563) as well as a variety of state statutes including 
Florida Statute 120.54, Hawaii Revised Statute 201M-2, New Jersey 
Permanent Statutes 52:14B-19 and Oregon Revised Statutes 183.335 and 
183.540.
    In general, questions will be asked concerning ex-vessel and 
wholesale prices and revenue, variable and fixed costs, expenditures, 
effort, ownership, dependence on the fisheries, and fishery employment. 
The data collection efforts will be coordinated to reduce the 
additional burden for those who participate in multiple fisheries. 
Participation in these data collections will be voluntary.
    Program change: We are adding questions for first receivers to this 
collection.
    The data will be used for the following three purposes: (1) To 
monitor the economic performance of these fisheries through primary 
processing; (2) to analyze the economic performance effects of current 
management measures; and (3) to analyze the economic performance 
effects of alternative management measures. The measures of economic 
performance to be supported by this data collection program include the 
following: (1) Contribution to net national benefit; (2) contribution 
to income of groups of participants in the fisheries (i.e., fishermen, 
vessel owners, processing plant employees, and processing plant 
owners); (3) employment; (4) regional economic impacts (income and 
employment); and (5) factor utilizations rates. As required by law, the 
confidentiality of the data will be protected.
    Data collections will focus each year on a different component of 
the U.S. commercial fisheries, with only limited data collected in 
previously surveyed components of these fisheries. The latter will be 
done to update the models that will be used to track economic 
performance and to evaluate the economic effects of alternative 
management actions. This cycle of data collection will facilitate 
economic performance data being available and updated for all the 
components of the U.S. commercial fisheries identified above.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: One time for each survey.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    OMB Desk Officer: [email protected].
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Jennifer Jessup, Departmental Paperwork Clearance 
Officer, (202) 482-0336, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 
[email protected]).
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to [email protected].

    Dated: February 12, 2013.
Gwellnar Banks,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2013-03680 Filed 2-15-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P