[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 23, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16460-16461]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-06169]


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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; Northeast Multispecies Reporting Requirements.

    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 December 17, 2021 during a 60-day comment period. 
This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Commerce.
    Title: Northeast Multispecies Reporting Requirements
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0605.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission [revision and extension of a 
current information collection].
    Number of Respondents: 1,339.
    Average Hours per Response: Sector Operations Plan & Annual 
Membership List Updates, 110 hours; Monitoring & Reporting Service 
Providers Application & Response to Denial, 10 hours; Monitoring System 
(database) for Discards, Sector Manager Weekly Catch Reports & Annual 
Reports, 18 minutes; Notification of Ejection from Sector; 30 minutes; 
Transfer of Annual Catch Entitlement between Sectors, 5 minutes; Area & 
DAS Declaration--Groundfish Vessels Fishing under any NE Multispecies 
DAS, 5 minutes; VMS Daily Catch Reports--Average 5-day Length Trips, 15 
minutes; Catch Reporting Requirements: US/Canada Area, CA II SAPs, 
Close Area I SAP, and Regular B Program, 15 minutes; At-Sea Monitoring 
& Reporting Requirements--Notifications & Database Requirements & 
Monitoring Costs, 24 minutes; NE Fishery Observer Notification, 5 
minutes; Trip Start/End Hails, 5 minutes; DAS Transfer Program, 5 
minutes; Submission of Proposed Special Access Program (SAP), 20 hours; 
Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) Reporting 
Requirements, 22.75 hours; DAS Leasing Request Form, 5 minutes; DAS 
Downgrade Request, 5 minutes; VMS Trip Catch Reports--1 Day or Less 
Trips, 15 minutes; Electronic Monitoring Program Requirements, 9 hours; 
NAFO--Daily Observer Catch Report Information, 6 minutes.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 196,983.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for the revision and extension of a 
current information collection. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the Secretary 
of Commerce has the responsibility for the conservation and management 
of marine fishery resources. We, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration's (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and 
the Regional Fishery Management Councils are delegated the majority of 
this responsibility. The New England Fishery Management Council 
(Council) develops management plans for fishery resources in New 
England.
    In 2010, we implemented a new suite of regulations for the 
Northeast (NE) multispecies fishery through Amendment 16 to the NE 
Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This action updated status 
determination criteria for all regulated NE multispecies or ocean pout 
stocks; adopted rebuilding programs for NE multispecies (groundfish) 
stocks newly classified as being overfished and subject to overfishing; 
revised management measures, including significant revisions to the 
sector management measures (established under Amendment 13) necessary 
to end overfishing, rebuild overfished regulated NE multispecies and 
ocean pout stocks, and mitigate the adverse economic impacts of 
increased effort controls. It also implemented new requirements under 
Amendment 16 for establishing acceptable biological catch, annual catch 
limits (ACLs), and accountability measures for each stock managed under 
the FMP, pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
    Sectors are a management tool in the groundfish fishery. A sector 
consists of three or more limited access NE multispecies vessel 
permits, with distinct ownership, who voluntarily enter into a contract 
to manage their fishing operations and to share liability.

[[Page 16461]]

A sector is granted an annual allocation of most stocks of fish managed 
by the NE Multispecies FMP. In return for increased operational 
flexibility, such as exemptions from certain effort controls and the 
ability to pool and trade quota, sectors have additional reporting and 
monitoring requirements. The sector reporting and monitoring 
requirements, as established by Amendment 16 and revised by subsequent 
framework adjustments to the NE Multispecies FMP, are contained within 
this information collection.
    This revision incorporates a number of recent changes. Amendment 16 
required sectors to develop and fund an independent third-party at-sea 
monitoring (ASM) program. Amendment 16 allowed sectors to use 
electronic monitoring (EM) instead of human monitors to meet ASM 
requirements, provided that the Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator 
deemed it sufficient. Using the authority and process granted to the 
agency in Amendment 16, NMFS announced its determination that sectors 
may use EM to meet monitoring requirements (86 FR 16686; March 31, 
2021). To implement this change, we are proposing to collect additional 
data elements necessary to support an electronic monitoring program. 
Specifically, we propose to require the development and submission of 
vessel monitoring plans and trip-level feedback reports, both of which 
are critical for accurate catch data and management of ACLs. We also 
propose to require the collection of information related to the 
purchase and installation of EM equipment. This is necessary for NMFS 
to reimburse industry's ASM costs as directed and funded by 
Congressional appropriations.
    In 2020, the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) 
established a new requirement that vessels fishing in the NAFO 
Regulatory Area must submit daily catch reports via a vessel monitoring 
system (VMS) and NMFS implemented this requirement to ensure compliance 
with NAFO reporting requirements. Daily VMS catch reports allow for 
near real-time quota monitoring and are necessary for the management of 
ACLs.
    This revision removes information collections related to VMS 
activation confirmation responses, time and costs, and the cost of 
purchase, maintenance and automated polling, which was transferred to 
OMB control number 0648-0202. This revision also removes the Closed 
Area I Hook Gear Haddock SAP from the US/Canada Area and CA II SAPS, 
Closed Area I SAP and Regular B Program catch reporting estimates 
because NMFS removed the regulations implementing this SAP after it was 
eliminated as part of the Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2 
(85 FR 19129; April 6, 2020).
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: Frequency varies from collection to collection (e.g., 
annual, per trip, weekly).
    Respondent's Obligation: Obligation varies from collection to 
collection (e.g., mandatory, voluntary, required to retain benefits).
    Legal Authority: Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act.
    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 0648-0605.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2022-06169 Filed 3-22-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P