83522 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 246 / Tuesday, December 22, 2020 / Notices 

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; Non-Commercial Permit and 

Reporting Requirements in the Main 

Hawaiian Islands Bottomfish Fishery 

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 August 24, 

2020, during a 60-day comment period. 

This notice allows for an additional 30 

days for public comments. 

Agency: NOAA National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

Title: Non-commercial Permit and 

Reporting Requirements in the Main 

Hawaiian Islands Bottomfish Fishery. 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0577. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular submission 

(extension of a currently approved 

collection). 

Number of Respondents: 100. 

Average Hours per Response: 15 

minutes per permit application; 2 hours 

per appeal of denied permit; 20 minutes 

per logbook form. 

Total Annual Burden Hours: 69. 

Needs and Uses: Each boat-based noncommercial fisherman and vessel owner 

who fishes for bottomfish management 

unit and ecosystem component species 

in the federal waters of the main 

Hawaiian Islands must obtain a noncommercial bottomfish fishing permit 

from the NMFS or hold a State of 

Hawaii Commercial Marine License. 

Each permitted vessel owner or operator 

must submit a logsheet report after the 

conclusion of every fishing trip. The 

permit is required for all vessel owners, 

operators, and fishermen. The 

information from the permit and 

logsheet are used by NMFS, the Western 

Pacific Fishery Management Council, 

and federal enforcement agencies to 

monitor and manage the fishery. 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households; business or other for-profit 

organizations. 

Frequency: As required. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory. 

Legal Authority: 50 CFR 665. 

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 https://

www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 

Find this particular information 

collection by selecting ‘‘Currently under 

Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or 

by using the search function and 

entering either the title of the collection 

or the OMB Control Number 0648–0577. 

Sheleen Dumas, 

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of 

the Chief Information Officer, Commerce 

Department. 

[FR Doc. 2020–28174 Filed 12–21–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XA721] 

Endangered Species; File No. 23861 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; issuance of permit. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

NMFS has issued an Incidental Take 

Permit (ITP) (No. 23861) to Midwest 

Biodiversity Institute (MBI), pursuant to 

the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 

1973, as amended, for the incidental 

take of shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser 

brevirostrum), Gulf of Main Distinct 

population segment (GOM DPS) 

Atlantic sturgeon, or the New York 

Bight (NYB DPS) of Atlantic sturgeon. 

(A. oxyrinchus) and the GOM DPS 

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) 

associated with the otherwise lawful 

sampling of non-ESA listed fish in the 

Lower Kennebec River. The permit is 

issued for a duration of 10 years. 

ADDRESSES: The incidental take permit, 

final environmental assessment, and 

other related documents are available on 

the NMFS Office of Protected Resources 

website at https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/ 

incidental-take-permit-midwestbiodiversity-institute. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Celeste Stout, phone: (301) 427–8436 or 

email: celeste.stout@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 9 

of the ESA and Federal regulations 

prohibit the ‘taking’ of a species listed 

as endangered or threatened. The ESA 

defines ‘‘take’’ to mean harass, harm, 

pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, 

capture, or collect, or to attempt to 

engage in any such conduct. NMFS may 

issue permits, under limited 

circumstances to take listed species 

incidental to, and not the purpose of, 

otherwise lawful activities. Section 

10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA provides for 

authorizing incidental take of listed 

species. NMFS regulations governing 

permits for threatened and endangered 

species are promulgated at 50 CFR 

222.307. 

Background 

NMFS received a permit application 

from MBI on January 31, 2020. Based on 

our initial review of the application and 

conservation plan, we requested further 

information and clarification. On March 

30, 2020, MBI submitted a revised and 

complete application for the take of 

ESA-listed shortnose sturgeon, Atlantic 

sturgeon and Atlantic salmon due to the 

sampling of non-ESA listed fish in the 

Lower Kennebec River. MBI proposes to 

continue an 18 yearlong (2002–19) 

systematic assessment of the fish 

assemblages at seven sites in an 

approximate 17.5 mile (28.2 km) reach 

of the Lower Kennebec River and three 

sites in a 6 mile (9.7 km) reach of the 

Sebasticook River. MBI will conduct 

boat electrofishing where electric 

current is generated by a Smith-Root 

Generator Powered Pulsator and 

transmitted into the water by an 

electrode array suspended from the bow 

of 16–18 foot long (25–29 km) jon boats 

or a 16 foot long inflatable Wing raft. 

NMFS determined that the application 

contained sufficient information for 

review and consideration under section 

10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA. NMFS then 

provided an opportunity for public 

review of MBI’s application and 

Conservation Plan. On April 17, 2020, 

NMFS published a notice of receipt 

(NOR) of the MBI application in the 

Federal Register (85 FR 21413). The 

comment period ended on May 18, 2020 

and six comments were received. Two 

of these comments did not pertain to the 

notice and four were considered 

relevant. Two of these comments 

consisted of uploaded letters. The first 

was from the Maine Council of the 

Atlantic Salmon Federation and the 

Maine Council of Trout Unlimited and 

the second was from The Nature 


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