[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 53 (Friday, March 18, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14836-14837]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-06187]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


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: Groundfish Tagging Program.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0276.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular (extension of a currently approved 
information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 440.
    Average Hours per Response: Return of a regular tag, 5 minutes; 
return of an internal archival tag, 20 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 89.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for extension of a currently 
approved information collection.
    The groundfish tagging program provides scientists with information 
necessary for effective conservation, management, and scientific 
understanding of the groundfish fishery off Alaska and the Northwest 
Pacific. The program area includes the Pacific Ocean off Alaska (the 
Gulf of Alaska, the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area, and the 
Alexander Archipelago of Southeast Alaska), California, Oregon, and 
Washington. Fish movement information from recovered tags is used in 
population dynamics models for stock assessment. There are two general 
categories of tags. Simple plastic tags (spaghetti tags) are external 
tags approximately two inches long, printed with code numbers. When a 
tag is returned, the tag number is correlated with databases of 
released, tagged fish to determine the net movement and growth rate of 
the tagged fish. Archival tags are microchips with sensors encased in 
plastic cylinders that record the depth, temperature or other data, 
which can be downloaded electronically from the recovered tags. The 
groundfish tagging and tag recovery program is part of the fishery 
resource assessment and

[[Page 14837]]

data collection that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 
conducts under the Magnuson-Stevens Act authority as codified in 16 
U.S.C. 1801 (a)(8).
    Affected Public: Not-for-profit institutions; state, local, or 
tribal government; business or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    This information collection request may be viewed at reginfo.gov. 
Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce collections 
currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.

    Dated: March 15, 2016.
Sarah Brabson,
NOAA PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2016-06187 Filed 3-17-16; 8:45 am]
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