[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 126 (Thursday, June 30, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42666-42667]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-15522]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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: Greater Atlantic Region Permit Family of Forms.
OMB Control Number: 0648-0202.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Request: Regular (extension of a currently approved
information collection).
Number of Respondents: 135, 938.
Average Hours per Response:
Vessel Permits
Vessel permit application: 45 minutes; vessel permit renewal forms:
30 minutes; initial dealer permit applications: 15 minutes; dealer
permit renewal forms: 5 minutes; initial and renewal vessel operator
permit applications: 1 hour; obtaining and submitting a dealer or
vessel owner email address: 5 minutes; limited access vessel
replacement applications: 1.5 hours; and applications for retention of
limited access permit history: 1.5 hours.
VMS Requirements
Installing a VMS unit: 1 hour; confirming VMS connectivity: 5
minutes; VMS certification form: 5 minutes; VMS installation for
Canadian herring transport vessels: 1 hour and 20 minutes; email to
declare their entrance and departure from U.S. waters: 15 minutes;
automatic polling of vessel position using the VMS unit: 0 minutes;
area and DAS declarations: 5 minutes; declaration of days-out of the
gillnet fishery for monkfish and NE multispecies vessels: 5 minutes;
Good Samaritan DAS credit request: 30 minutes; entangled whale DAS
credit request: 30 minutes; DAS credit for a canceled trip due to
unforeseen circumstances, but have not yet begun fishing: 5 minutes to
request via the VMS unit and 10 minutes to request via the paper form;
VMS catch reports: 5 minutes; VMS power down exemption: 30 minutes.
Observer Program Call-In Requirements
Requests for observer coverage are estimated to require either 2 or
10 minutes per request, depending on the program for which observers
are requested.
Exempted Fisheries Programs
Letter of Authorization (LOA) to participate in any of the
exemption programs: 5 minutes; Charter/Party Exemption Certificate for
GOM Closed Areas: 5 minutes; limited access sea scallop vessels state
waters DAS exemption program or state waters gear exemption program: 2
minutes; withdraw from either state waters exemption program prior to
the end of the 7-day designated exemption period requirement: 2
minutes; request for change in permit category designation: 5 minutes;
request for transit to another port by a vessel required to remain
within the GOM cod trip limit: 2 minutes; gillnet category designation,
including initial requests for gillnet tags: 10 minutes; requests for
additional tags: 2 minutes; notification of lost tags and requests for
replacement tag numbers: 2
[[Page 42667]]
minutes; attachment of gillnet tags: 1 minute; initial lobster area
designations: 5 minutes; requests for additional tags: 2 minutes; and
notification of lost tags: 3 minutes; requests for state quota
transfers in the bluefish, summer flounder and scup fisheries: 1 hour;
GOM cod trip limit exemption: 5 minutes; vessel owner single letter
option: 5 minutes.
Burden Hours: 18,125.
Needs and Uses: This request is for extension of a current
information collection.
Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act,
the Secretary of Commerce has the responsibility for the conservation
and management of marine fishery resources. Much of this responsibility
has been delegated to NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
Under this stewardship role, the Secretary was given certain regulatory
authorities to ensure the most beneficial uses of these resources. One
of the regulatory steps taken to carry out the conservation and
management objectives is to collect information from users of the
resources.
The Secretary has enacted rules to issue permits to individuals and
organizations participating in federally controlled fisheries. Permits
are necessary to: (1) Register fishermen, fishing vessels, fish dealers
and processors; (2) list the characteristics of fishing vessels and/or
dealer/processor operations; (3) exercise influence over compliance
(e.g., withhold issuance pending collection of unpaid penalties); (4)
maintain contact lists for the dissemination of important information
to the industry; (5) register participants to be considered for limited
entry; and (6) provide a universe for data collection samples.
Identification of fishery participants, their gear types, vessels, and
expected activity levels is an effective and necessary tool in the
enforcement of fishery regulations.
This collection also includes the requirement for participants in
certain fisheries to use onboard vessel monitoring systems (VMS) and to
notify NMFS before fishing trips for the purpose of observer placement.
Other permitting in this collection includes the written request to
participate in any of the various exemption programs offered in the
Greater Atlantic region. Exemption programs may allow a vessel to fish
in an area that is limited to vessels of a particular size, using a
certain gear type, or fishing for a particular species. This collection
also contains paperwork required for vessel owners to request gillnet
and lobster trap tags through the Greater Atlantic region permit
office.
Lastly, vessel owners that own multiple vessels, but would like to
request communication from NMFS be consolidated into one mailing (and
not separate mailings for each vessel), may request the single letter
vessel owner option to improve efficiency of their business practice.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations;
individuals or households; state, local or tribal governments.
Frequency: On occasion, weekly, monthly, annual and every three
years.
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
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: June 27, 2016.
Sarah Brabson,
NOAA PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2016-15522 Filed 6-29-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P