Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 187 / Thursday, September 28, 2023 / Notices 66815 

Pinki Thakker, International Trade 

Specialist, U.S. Commercial 

Service—Kansas City, MO, U.S. 

Department of Commerce, 

Pinki.Thakker@trade.gov, Tel: 816– 

266–3853 

Carey Arun, Principal Commercial 

Officer, U.S. Commercial Service— 

U.S. Consulate General, Chennai, 

Caey.Arun@trade.gov 

Mala Venkat, Senior Commercial 

Specialist, U.S. Commercial 

Service—U.S. Consulate General, 

Chennai, Mala.Venkat@trade.gov 

Gemal Brangman, 

Director, Trade Events Management Task 

Force. 

[FR Doc. 2023–21170 Filed 9–27–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DR–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XD406] 

Marine Mammals; File No. 27424 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

Point Blue Conservation Science, 3820 

Cypress Drive No. 11, Petaluma, CA 

94954, (Responsible Party: Grant 

Ballard, Ph.D.), has applied in due form 

for a permit to conduct research on five 

species of pinnipeds. 

DATES: Written, telefaxed, or email 

comments must be received on or before 

October 30, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: The application and related 

documents are available for review by 

selecting ‘‘Records Open for Public 

Comment’’ from the ‘‘Features’’ box on 

the Applications and Permits for 

Protected Species (APPS) home page, 

https://apps.nmfs.noaa.gov, and then 

selecting File No. 27424 from the list of 

available applications. These documents 

are also available upon written request 

via email to NMFS.Pr1Comments@

noaa.gov. 

Written comments on this application 

should be submitted via email to 

NMFS.Pr1Comments@noaa.gov. Please 

include File No. 27424 in the subject 

line of the email comment. 

Those individuals requesting a public 

hearing should submit a written request 

via email to NMFS.Pr1Comments@

noaa.gov. The request should set forth 

the specific reasons why a hearing on 

this application would be appropriate. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Courtney Smith, Ph.D., or Shasta 

McClenahan, Ph.D., (301) 427–8401. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

subject permit is requested under the 

authority of the Marine Mammal 

Protection Act of 1972, as amended (16 

U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), the regulations 

governing the taking and importing of 

marine mammals (50 CFR part 216), and 

the Fur Seal Act of 1966, as amended 

(16 U.S.C. 1151 et seq.). 

The applicant requests a 5-year 

scientific research permit to study and 

monitor population trends, health, diet, 

ecology, and physiology of pinnipeds in 

the greater Gulf of the Farallones and 

San Francisco Bay region of California. 

Up to 210 northern elephant seals 

(Mirounga angustirostris) and 500 

northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) 

may be captured annually for marking, 

morphometrics, and biological 

sampling. An additional 1,355 elephant 

seals may be marked and swabbed 

without capture. Up to 1,500 harbor 

seals (Phoca vitulina), 800 northern 

elephant seals, 5,320 California sea lions 

(Zalophus californianus), 155 Steller sea 

lions (Eumetopias jubatus; Eastern 

distinct population segment), and 1,500 

northern fur seals may be taken or 

unintentionally harassed annually 

during ground or unmanned aircraft 

system surveys, for counts, observation, 

and scat collection. The applicant also 

requests up to five unintentional 

mortalities of northern elephant seals 

over the duration of the permit, with no 

more than two annually. 

In compliance with the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 

U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), an initial 

determination has been made that the 

activity proposed is categorically 

excluded from the requirement to 

prepare an environmental assessment or 

environmental impact statement. 

Concurrent with the publication of 

this notice in the Federal Register, 

NMFS is forwarding copies of the 

application to the Marine Mammal 

Commission and its Committee of 

Scientific Advisors. 

Dated: September 22, 2023. 

Amy Sloan, 

Acting Division Chief, Permits and 

Conservation Division, Office of Protected 

Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–21225 Filed 9–27–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

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; Electronic Logbook for the 

Commercial Shrimp Fishery in the Gulf 

of Mexico 

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 June 9, 2023, 

during a 60-day comment period. This 

notice allows for an additional 30 days 

for public comments. 

Agency: National Oceanic & 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

Title: Electronic Logbook for the 

Commercial Shrimp Fishery in the Gulf 

of Mexico. 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0543. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular 

submission—extension of a current 

information collection. 

Number of Respondents: 610. 

Average Hours per Response: 2 hours. 

Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,220. 

Needs and Uses: This request is for 

extension of a current information 

collection. The Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) authorizes 

the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management 

Council (Council) to prepare and amend 

fishery management plans for any 

fishery in waters under its jurisdiction. 

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS) manages the 

commercial shrimp fishery in Federal 

waters of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) 

under the Fishery Management Plan for 

the Shrimp Fishery of the Gulf. The 

electronic logbook (ELB) regulations for 

the Gulf shrimp fishery may be found at 

50 CFR 622.51(a)(2). The ELB is a device 

that records the position of the vessel 

every ten minutes. The tracks of the 

vessels can be examined to determine 

when and where shrimp trawling is 

occurring. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
66816 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 187 / Thursday, September 28, 2023 / Notices 

As of May 1, 2023, there are 

approximately 1,319 valid or renewable 

Federal permits to commercially harvest 

shrimp from the exclusive economic 

zone (EEZ) in the Gulf. Monitoring 

shrimp vessels, operating together with 

many other fishing vessels of differing 

sizes, gears types used, and fishing 

capabilities, is made even more 

challenging by seasonal variability in 

shrimp abundance and price, and the 

broad geographic distribution of the 

fleet. ELBs provide a precise means of 

estimating the amount of shrimp fishing 

effort. Using ELBs to estimate fishing 

effort serves an important role to help 

estimate bycatch in the Gulf shrimp 

fleet. 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations. 

Frequency: Twice Annually (every 6 

months). 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

Obtain or Retain a Service or Benefit. 

Legal Authority: Fishing Regulation 

50 CFR 622.51(a)(2). 

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 www.reginfo.gov/ 

public/do/PRAMain. Find this 

particular information collection by 

selecting ‘‘Currently under 30-day 

Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or 

by using the search function and 

entering either the title of the collection 

or the OMB Control Number 0648–0543. 

Sheleen Dumas, 

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of 

the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, 

Commerce Department. 

[FR Doc. 2023–21176 Filed 9–27–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

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; NMFS Alaska Region Vessel 

Monitoring System (VMS) Program 

AGENCY: National Oceanic & 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of information collection, 

request for comment. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Commerce, in accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(PRA), invites 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. The purpose of this 

notice is to allow for 60 days of public 

comment preceding submission of the 

collection to OMB. 

DATES: To ensure consideration, 

comments regarding this proposed 

information collection must be received 

on or before November 27, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit written comments to 

Adrienne Thomas, NOAA PRA Officer, 

at NOAA.PRA@noaa.gov. Please 

reference OMB Control Number 0648– 

0445 in the subject line of your 

comments. Do not submit Confidential 

Business Information or otherwise 

sensitive or protected information. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

specific questions related to collection 

activities should be directed to Gabrielle 

Aberle, National Marine Fisheries 

Service, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau AK 

99802–1668, or 907–586–7356. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

The National Marine Fisheries 

Services (NMFS), Alaska Regional 

Office, is requesting extension of a 

currently approved information 

collection for the NMFS Alaska Region 

Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) 

Program. There are no proposed changes 

to this information collection. 

NMFS requires the owners and 

operators of selected vessels 

participating in federally managed 

groundfish and crab fisheries off Alaska 

to obtain, install, and maintain an 

operational, NMFS-approved Vessel 

Monitoring System (VMS). VMS units 

automatically transmit the location of a 

vessel several times per hour using a 

Global Positioning System satellite. The 

VMS unit is passive and automatic, 

requiring no reporting effort by the 

vessel operator. A communications 

service provider receives the 

transmission and relays it to NMFS 

Office for Law Enforcement (OLE). 

Tracking vessel location using VMS is 

required to monitor compliance with 

area-specific catch allocations, to 

monitor compliance with requirements 

to redeploy or remove fishing gear from 

commercial fishing grounds, and to 

monitor compliance with complicated 

time and area closures in the Gulf of 

Alaska (GOA) and Bering Sea and 

Aleutian Islands (BSAI) designed to 

protect Steller sea lion or essential fish 

habitat. The VMS requirements are 

found at 50 CFR parts 679 and 680. 

VMS is an essential component of 

monitoring and management for 

complicated, geographically widespread 

fishing closures. Given the large size 

and remoteness of the area in which 

Alaska fisheries occur, and the limited 

enforcement infrastructure available, 

determining a vessel’s location depends 

crucially on VMS reports. When a VMS 

track is examined, information can be 

inferred about whether a vessel is 

actively fishing, the type of gear being 

used, and the fisheries that are open. 

NMFS uses information from VMS to 

identify where vessels are operating, to 

organize patrols so as to increase the 

number of fishing vessels visually 

examined, or to focus examination of 

vessels of greatest concern, and as 

evidence in prosecutions. 

II. Method of Collection 

Automatic GPS position reporting 

starts after VMS transceiver installation 

and power activation on board the 

vessel. The unit is pre-configured and 

tested for NMFS VMS operations. The 

VMS unit is passive and automatic, 

requiring no reporting effort by the 

vessel operator. 

III. Data 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0445. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Review: Regular submission 

(extension of a current information 

collection). 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households; Business or other for-profit 

organizations. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

550. 

Estimated Time per Response: VMS 

installation, maintenance, and 

troubleshooting, 12 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 2,476 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Cost to 

Public: $812,668. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

Obtain or Retain Benefits. 

Legal Authority: 16 U.S.C.1801 et. 

seq.; 16 U.S.C. 773–773k. 

IV. Request for Comments 

We are soliciting public comments to 

permit the Department/Bureau to: (a) 

Evaluate whether the proposed 

information collection is necessary for 

the proper functions of the Department, 

including whether the information will 

have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the 

accuracy of our estimate of the time and 

cost burden for this proposed collection, 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1