Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 147 / Monday, August 3, 2009 / Notices 38393 

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: Socioeconomics of Commercial 

Fishers and For Hire Diving and Fishing 

Operations in the Flower Garden Banks 

National Marine Sanctuary. 

OMB Control Number: None. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular submission. 

Number of Respondents: 80. 

Average Hours per Response: 3. 

Burden Hours: 240. 

Needs and Uses: The National Marine 

Sanctuaries Act (16 U.S.C. 1431, et seq.) 

authorizes the use of research and 

monitoring within National Marine 

Sanctuaries (NMS). In 1996, the Flower 

Gardens Bank National Marine 

Sanctuary (FGBNMS) was added to the 

system of NMS via 15 CFR part 922, 

subpart L. In 2001, Stetson Bank was 

added in a revision of 15 CFR part 922. 

The National Marine Sanctuaries Act 

(NMSA) specifies that each NMS should 

revise their management plans on a fiveyear cycle. The FGBNMS has begun the 

management plan review process. The 

NMSA also allows for the creation of 

Sanctuary Advisory Councils (SACs). 

SACs are comprised of representatives 

of all NMS stakeholders. Management 

Plan Review (MPR) is a public process 

and the SACs, along with a series of 

public meetings, are used to help scope 

out issues in revising the management 

plans and regulations. SAC Working 

Groups are often used to evaluate 

management or regulatory alternatives. 

In the current MPR for the FGBNMS, 

two major issues have emerged: 

Boundary expansion and research-only 

areas. In addition, several new or 

modified regulations are being 

considered to meet specific needs for 

diver safety and resource protection (no 

anchoring/mooring buoy use 

requirement and a more stringent 

pollution discharge regulation). 

To address each of these issues, a 

socioeconomic panel composed of 

NOAA staff and social scientists from 

other agencies, or from universities, will 

develop information and tools to assess 

the socioeconomic impacts of 

management strategies and regulatory 

alternatives. The information and tools 

developed in this process will also 

provide the necessary information for 

meeting agency requirements for 

socioeconomic impact analyses under 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA), Executive Order 12086 

(Regulatory Impact Review) and an 

Initial and Final Regulatory Flexibility 

Analysis (impacts on small businesses). 

The first step in the assessment process 

will be to interview three key sanctuary 

user groups—commercial fishers, for 

hire recreational dive operations and for 

hire recreational fishing operations 

(charter and party/head boat 

operations)—with questions focusing 

on: (1) General information, economic 

information and trip costs; and (2) 

knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of 

sanctuary management strategies and 

regulations. 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations. 

Frequency: One-time only. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary. 

OMB Desk Officer: David Rostker, 

(202) 395–3897. 

Copies of the above information 

collection proposal can be obtained by 

calling or writing Diana Hynek, 

Departmental Paperwork Clearance 

Officer, (202) 482–0266, Department of 

Commerce, Room 7845, 14th and 

Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, 

DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 

dHynek@doc.gov). 

Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice to David Rostker, OMB Desk 

Officer, FAX number (202) 395–7285, or 

David_Rostker@omb.eop.gov. 

Dated: July 28, 2009. 

Gwellnar Banks, 

Management Analyst, Office of the Chief 

Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. E9–18366 Filed 7–31–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–NK–P 

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: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS) Observer Programs’ 

Information That Can Be Gathered Only 

Through Questions. 

OMB Control Number: None. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular submission. 

Number of Respondents: 4,323. 

Average Hours per Response: One 

hour and 20 minutes, including predeployment information, information 

gathered directly from captain/crew 

during trips, reimbursement requests 

and observer evaluations. 

Burden Hours: 17,455. 

Needs and Uses: NOAA’s National 

Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 

deploys fishery observers on United 

States commercial fishing vessels and to 

fish processing plants in order to collect 

biological and economic data. NMFS 

has at least one observer program in 

each of its six Regions. These observer 

programs provide the only reliable or 

most effective method for obtaining 

information that is critical for the 

conservation and management of living 

marine resources. Observer programs 

primarily obtain information through 

direct observations by employees or 

agents of NMFS or through nonstandardized oral communication in 

connection with such direct 

observations; and such collections are 

not generally subject to the Paperwork 

Reduction Act (PRA). However, 

observer programs also collect the 

following information that requires 

clearance under the PRA: (1) 

Standardized questions of fishing vessel 

captains/crew or fish processing plant 

managers/staff, which include gear and 

performance questions, safety questions, 

and trip costs, crew size and other 

economic questions; (2) questions asked 

by observer program staff/contractors to 

plan observer deployments; (3) forms 

that are completed by observers and that 

fishing vessel captains are asked to 

review and sign; (4) questionnaires to 

evaluate observer performance; (5) 

information used to ensure that the data 

for a specific trip are not provided to an 

individual (e.g., fisherman) who does 

not have authority to obtain that data 

under the confidentiality requirements 

of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(MSA) and/or the Marine Mammal 

Protection Act (MMPA); and (6) 

information on reimbursement forms. 

NMFS has received PRA clearances for 

the second and fourth types of 

collections for some observer programs 

(OMB Control Numbers 0648–0423 and 

0648–0202 for deployment questions, 

and 0648–0550 and 0648–0536 for 

observer evaluations); those burden 

hours are now included in this national, 

comprehensive PRA submission. 

The information collected will be 

used to: (1) Monitor catch and bycatch; 

(2) understand the population status 

and trends of fish stocks and protected 


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