[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 96 (Tuesday, May 19, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 27548-27550]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-13209]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 20

RIN 1018-AE96


Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program; Participating States 
for the 1998-99 Season

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) herein proposes to 
amend the Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program (Program) 
regulations. The Service plans to require all States except Hawaii to 
participate in the Program annually, beginning with the 1998-99 hunting 
season. This regulatory action will continue to require all licensed 
hunters who hunt migratory game birds in participating States to 
register as migratory game bird hunters and provide their name, 
address, and date of birth to the State licensing authority. Hunters 
will be required to have evidence of current participation in the 
Program on their person while hunting migratory game birds in 
participating States. The quality and extent of information about 
harvests of migratory game birds must be improved in order to better 
manage these populations. Hunters' names and addresses are necessary to 
provide a sample frame for voluntary hunter surveys to improve harvest 
estimates for all migratory game birds. States will gather migratory 
bird hunters' names and addresses and the Service will conduct the 
harvest surveys.

DATES: The comment period for the proposed rule will end on July 20, 
1998.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to the Chief, Office of 
Migratory Bird Management (MBMO), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 10815 
Loblolly Pine Drive, Laurel, MD 20708-4028. The public may inspect 
comments during normal business hours in Building 158, 10815 Loblolly 
Pine Drive (Gate 4, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center), Laurel, MD 
20708.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul I. Padding, MBMO, (301)497-5980.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purpose of this rule is to expand the 
Program to include all States except Hawaii, beginning in the 1998-99 
hunting season.

Background

    The purpose of this cooperative Program is to annually obtain a 
nationwide sample frame of migratory bird hunters, from which 
representative samples of hunters will be selected and asked to 
participate in voluntary harvest surveys. State wildlife agencies will 
provide the sample frame by annually collecting the name, address, and 
date of birth of each licensed migratory bird hunter in the State. To 
reduce survey costs and to identify hunters who hunt less commonly-
hunted species, States will also request that each migratory bird 
hunter answer a series of questions to provide a brief summary of his 
or her migratory bird hunting activity for the previous year. States 
are required to ask each licensed migratory bird hunter approximately 
how many ducks (0, 1-10, or more than 10), geese (0, 1-10, or more than 
10), doves (0, 1-30, or more than 30), and woodcock (0, 1-30, or more 
than 30) he or she bagged the previous year, and whether he or she 
hunted coots, snipe, rails, and/or gallinules the previous year. States 
that have band-tailed pigeon hunting seasons are also required to ask 
migratory bird hunters whether they intend to hunt band-tailed pigeons 
during the current year. States are not required to ask questions about 
species that are not hunted in the State (for example, Maine does not 
allow dove hunting, therefore, the State of Maine is not required to 
ask migratory bird hunters how many doves they bagged the previous 
year). States will send this information to the Service, and the 
Service will sample hunters and conduct national hunter activity and 
harvest surveys.
    A notice of intent to establish the Program was published on June 
24, 1991 (56 FR 28812). A final rule establishing the Program and 
initiating a 2-year pilot phase in three volunteer States (California, 
Missouri, and South Dakota) was published on March 19, 1993 (58 FR 
15093). The pilot phase was completed following the 1993-94 migratory 
bird hunting seasons in California, Missouri, and South Dakota. A 
State/Federal technical group was formed to evaluate Program 
requirements, the different approaches used by the pilot States, and 
the Service's survey procedures during the pilot phase. Changes 
incorporated into the Program as a result of the technical group's 
evaluation were specified in an October 21, 1994 final rule (59 FR 
53334), that initiated the implementation phase of the Program. 
Implementation of the Program began with the addition of one State in 
1994, three States in 1995 (60 FR 43318), seven States in 1996 (61 FR 
46350), and five States in 1997 (62 FR 45706). Final implementation of 
the Program will be accomplished with the addition of 27 States (all 
except Hawaii) in this proposed rule.
    Currently, all licensed hunters who hunt migratory game birds in 
participating States are required to have a Program validation, 
indicating that they have identified themselves as migratory bird 
hunters and have provided the required information to the State 
wildlife agency. Hunters must provide the required information to each 
State in which they hunt migratory birds. Validations are printed on, 
written on, or attached to the annual State hunting license or on a 
State-specific supplementary permit. The State may charge hunters a 
handling fee to compensate hunting-license agents and to cover the 
State's administrative costs. The Service's survey design calls for 
hunting-record forms to be distributed to hunters selected for the 
survey before they forget the details of their hunts. Because of this 
design requirement, States have only a short time to obtain hunter 
names and addresses from license vendors and to provide those names and 
addresses to the Service. Currently, participating States must send the 
required information to the Service within 30 calendar days of issuance 
of the migratory bird hunting authorization.
    The Service has requested the cooperation of participating States 
to facilitate obtaining harvest estimates for hunters who are exempted 
from a permit requirement and those that are also exempted from State 
licensing requirements. This includes several categories of hunters 
such as junior hunters, senior hunters, landowners,

[[Page 27549]]

and other special categories. Because exemptions and the methods for 
obtaining harvest estimates for exempt groups vary from State to State, 
the Service will incorporate these methods into individual memoranda of 
understanding with participating States. Excluding from the Program 
those hunters who are not required to obtain an annual State hunting 
license also excludes their harvest from the estimates. The level of 
importance of the excluded harvest on the resulting estimates depends 
on how many hunters are excluded and on the number of birds they bag. 
If the level of importance is significant, excluding these hunters will 
result in serious bias. Minimum survey standards are being developed 
for exempted categories. States may require exempted hunters to obtain 
permits (e.g., Maryland required exempted hunters to obtain permits 
upon entry to the Program in 1994).

NEPA Consideration

    In compliance with the requirements of section 102(2)(C) of the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(C)), and the 
Council on Environmental Quality's regulation for implementing NEPA (40 
CFR 1500-1508), the Service prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) 
on the establishment of the Program and options considered in the 
``Environmental Assessment: Migratory Bird Harvest Information 
Program.'' This EA is available to the public at the location indicated 
under the ADDRESSES caption. Based on review and evaluation of the 
information in the EA, the Service has determined that amending 50 CFR 
20.20 to require all States except Hawaii to participate in the Program 
annually, beginning with the 1998-99 migratory bird hunting season 
would not be a major Federal action that would significantly affect the 
quality of the human environment.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    On June 14, 1991, the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and 
Parks concluded that the rule would not have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). This rule will affect about 
3,300,000 migratory game bird hunters when it is fully implemented. It 
will require licensed migratory game bird hunters to identify 
themselves and to supply their names, addresses, and birth dates to the 
State licensing authority. Additional information will be requested in 
order that they can be efficiently sampled for a voluntary national 
harvest survey. Hunters will be required to have evidence of current 
participation in the Program on their person while hunting migratory 
game birds.
    In total, the Service estimates that the Program information 
collection will impose costs on society on the order of $4.1 million 
per year. The Service estimates that hunters will require about 112,000 
hours to complete Program forms. At the wage rate, this time is 
estimated to be valued at $1.5 million (the average estimated cost of 
time to an individual is less than $0.50). The cost to the States to 
process and forward the Program information is estimated to be $2.6 
million. Service payments of $0.10 per hunter name will mitigate the 
impact of this requirement on State wildlife budgets to some extent. 
Several States are imposing additional fees on migratory bird hunter 
registrations to cover their additional costs. However, the Service 
notes that the Program costs less than two tenths of one percent of the 
$3.1 billion migratory bird hunters spent in 1996 for travel, 
equipment, and hunting rights.

Collection of Information: Migratory Bird Harvest Information 
Program

    As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507 
(d)), the Service has received approval for this collection of 
information, with approval number 1018-0015, with the expiration date 
of August 31, 1998. The information to be collected includes: the name, 
address, and date of birth of each licensed migratory bird hunter in 
each participating State. Each licensed migratory bird hunter will also 
be asked to provide a brief summary of his or her migratory bird 
hunting activity for the previous year. Hunters' names, addresses, and 
other information will be used to provide a sample frame for voluntary 
hunter surveys to improve harvest estimates for all migratory game 
birds. The Service needs and uses the information to improve the 
quality and extent of information about harvests of migratory game 
birds in order to better manage these populations.
    All information is to be collected once annually from licensed 
migratory bird hunters in participating States by the State license 
authority. Participating States are required to forward the hunter 
information to the Service within 30 calendar days of issuance of the 
migratory bird hunting authorization. Recent information from 
participating States indicates that the annual reporting and record-
keeping burden for this collection of information averages 2 minutes 
per response for 3,300,000 respondents, including the time for 
reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and 
maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the 
collection of information. Thus, the total annual reporting and record-
keeping burden for this collection is estimated to be 112,000 hours.
    Comments are invited from the public on: (1) Whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the Department, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the Department's estimate 
of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) the quality, 
usefulness, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) 
ways to minimize the burden or the collection of information on 
respondents, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques. 
Comments and suggestions on the information collection requirements 
should be sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs; 
OMB, Attention: Interior Desk Officer, Washington, DC 20503; and a 
courtesy copy to the Service Information Collection Clearance Officer, 
ms-224 ARLSQ, Fish and Wildlife Service, 1849 C Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20240.
    OMB is required to make a decision concerning the collection of 
information contained in these proposed regulations between 30 and 60 
days after publication of this document in the Federal Register. 
Therefore, a comment to OMB is best assured of having its full effect 
if OMB receives it within 30 days of publication. This does not affect 
the deadline for the public comment on the proposed regulations.

Executive Order 12866

    This proposed rule was not subject to OMB review under Executive 
Order 12866.

Unfunded Mandates

    The Service has determined and certifies pursuant to the Unfunded 
Mandates Act, 2 U.S.C. 1502 et seq., that this rulemaking will not 
impose a cost of $100 million or more in any given year on local or 
state governments or private entities.

Civil Justice Reform

    The Department has determined that these proposed regulations meet 
the applicable standards provided in Sections 3(a) and 3(b)(2) of 
Executive Order 12988.

[[Page 27550]]

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 20

    Exports, Hunting, Imports, Reporting and Recordkeeping 
requirements, Transportation, Wildlife.
    For the reasons set out in the preamble, the Service proposes to 
amend 50 CFR part 20 as set forth below.

PART 20--MIGRATORY BIRD HUNTING

    1. The authority citation for part 20 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 703-711, 16 U.S.C. 712, and 16 U.S.C. 742 
a-j.

    2. Amend Sec. 20.20 by revising paragraphs (a), (b), and (e) to 
read as follows:


Sec. 20.20  Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program.

    (a) Information collection requirements. The collections of 
information contained in Sec. 20.20 have been approved by the Office of 
Management and Budget under 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. and assigned 
clearance number 1018-0015. The information will be used to provide a 
sampling frame for the national Migratory Bird Harvest Survey. Response 
is required from licensed hunters to obtain the benefit of hunting 
migratory game birds. Public reporting burden for this information is 
estimated to average 2 minutes per response for 3,300,000 respondents, 
including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data 
sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and 
reviewing the collection of information. Thus the total annual 
reporting and record-keeping burden for this collection is estimated to 
be 112,000 hours. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any 
other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions 
for reducing the burden, to the Service Information Collection 
Clearance Officer, ms-224 ARLSQ, Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, 
DC 20240, or the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction 
Project 1018-0015, Washington, DC 20503. (b) General provisions. Each 
person hunting migratory game birds in any State except Hawaii must 
have identified himself or herself as a migratory bird hunter and given 
his or her name, address, and date of birth to the respective State 
hunting licensing authority and must have on his or her person 
evidence, provided by that State, of compliance with this requirement.
* * * * *
    (e) State responsibilities. The State hunting licensing authority 
will ask each licensed migratory bird hunter in the respective State to 
report approximately how many ducks, geese, doves, and woodcock he or 
she bagged the previous year, whether he or she hunted coots, snipe, 
rails, and/or gallinules the previous year, and, in States that have 
band-tailed pigeon hunting seasons, whether he or she intends to hunt 
band-tailed pigeons during the current year.

    Dated: April 7, 1998.
Donald J. Barry,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 98-13209 Filed 5-18-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P