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
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 187 / Thursday, September 28, 2023 / Notices 66817 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; (c) 

Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information to 

be collected; and (d) Minimize the 

reporting burden on those who are to 

respond, including the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology. 

Comments that you submit in 

response to this notice are a matter of 

public record. We will include or 

summarize each comment in our request 

to OMB to approve this ICR. Before 

including your address, phone number, 

email address, or other personal 

identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you may ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Sheleen Dumas, 

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of 

the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, 

Commerce Department. 

[FR Doc. 2023–21288 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; Tilefish Individual Fishing 

Quota Program 

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 April 21, 

2023, during a 60-day comment period. 

This notice allows for an additional 30 

days for public comments. 

Agency: National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration, 

Commerce. 

Title: Tilefish Individual Fishing 

Quota Program. 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0590. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular 

submission—extension of a current 

information collection. 

Number of Respondents: 12. 

Average Hours per Response: 0.33. 

Total Annual Burden Hours: 18. 

Needs and Uses: This request is for an 

extension of a currently approved 

information collection. 

NMFS Greater Atlantic Region 

manages the golden tilefish fishery of 

the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 

the Northeastern United States, through 

the Tilefish Fishery Management Plan 

(FMP). The Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council prepared the FMP 

pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). The 

regulations implementing the FMP are 

specified at 50 CFR part 648 subpart N. 

The recordkeeping and reporting 

requirements at § 648.294 form the basis 

for this collection of information. NMFS 

requests information from tilefish 

individual fishing quota (IFQ) permit 

holders to process applications that 

ensure IFQ allocation holders are 

provided a statement of their annual 

catch quota, and for enforcement 

purposes, to ensure vessels are not 

exceeding an individual quota 

allocation. In conjunction with the 

application, NMFS also collects IFQ 

share accumulation information to 

ensure that IFQ allocation holders do 

not acquire an excessive share of the 

total limited access privileges, as 

required by section 303A(d)(5)(C) of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act. 

NMFS requests transfer application 

information to process and track 

requests from allocation holders to 

transfer quota allocation (permanent 

and temporary) to another entity. NMFS 

also collects information for cost 

recovery purposes as required under the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act. Cost recovery is 

used to collect fees to recover the costs 

directly related to management, data 

collection and analysis, and 

enforcement of IFQ programs. Lastly, 

NMFS collects landings information to 

ensure that the amounts of tilefish 

landed and ex-vessel prices are properly 

recorded for quota monitoring purposes 

and the calculation of IFQ fees. Having 

this information results in an 

increasingly more efficient and accurate 

database for management and 

monitoring of fisheries of the 

Northeastern U.S. EEZ. 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households; Business or other for-profit 

organizations. 

Frequency: Annual and as requested. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

Obtain or Retain Benefits. 

Legal Authority: Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq, Section 303). 

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 0648–0590. 

Sheleen Dumas, 

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of 

the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, 

Commerce Department. 

[FR Doc. 2023–21178 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; Alaska Pacific Halibut 

Fisheries: Charter 

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 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1