Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 17, 2018 / Notices 2427 

Dated: January 10, 2018. 

Emily H. Menashes, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00666 Filed 1–16–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

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: Alaska American Fisheries Act 

(AFA) Reports. 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0401. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular (extension of 

a currently approved information 

collection). 

Number of Respondents: 8. 

Average Hours per Response: AFA 

cooperative contract, 8 hours; annual 

cooperative report, 16 hours; inshore 

cooperative weekly catch report, 45 

minutes; incentive plan agreement (IPA) 

amendment, 50 hours; incentive plan 

agreement disapproval appeals, 4 hours; 

IPA annual report, 80 hours. 

Burden Hours: 599. 

Needs and Uses: On October 21, 1998, 

the President signed into law The 

American Fisheries Act, 16 U.S.C. 1851 

(AFA). The AFA authorizes the 

formation of fishery cooperatives in all 

sectors of the Bering Sea and Aleutian 

Islands Management Area (BSAI) 

pollock fishery, grants antitrust 

exemptions to cooperatives in the 

mothership sector, and imposes 

operational limits on fishery 

cooperatives in the BSAI pollock 

fishery. The National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS) issues a single pollock 

allocation to each cooperative, and the 

cooperative may make sub-allocations of 

pollock to each individual vessel owner 

in the cooperative. 

With respect to the fisheries off 

Alaska, the AFA Program is a suite of 

management measures that fall into four 

general regulatory categories: 

• Limit access into the fishing and 

processing sectors of the BSAI pollock 

fishery and that allocate pollock to such 

sectors (50 CFR 679.64). 

• Govern the formation and operation 

of fishery cooperatives in the BSAI 

pollock fishery, including filing of 

cooperative contracts (50 CFR 679.61 

and 679.62). 

• Protection of other fisheries from 

spillover effects from the AFA (50 CFR 

679.64). 

• Govern catch measurement and 

monitoring in the BSAI pollock fishery, 

including filing of annual reports and 

completing and submitting inshore 

catcher vessel pollock cooperative catch 

reports (50 CFR 679.63). 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations. 

Frequency: Annually and on occasion. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory. 

This information collection request 

may be viewed at reginfo.gov. Follow 

the instructions to view Department of 

Commerce collections currently under 

review by OMB. 

Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice to OIRA_Submission@

omb.eop.gov or fax to (202) 395–5806. 

Dated: January 11, 2018. 

Sarah Brabson, 

NOAA PRA Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00691 Filed 1–16–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XF951 

Whaling Provisions; Aboriginal 

Subsistence Whaling Quotas 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; notification of quota for 

bowhead whales. 

SUMMARY: NMFS notifies the public of 

the aboriginal subsistence whaling 

quota for bowhead whales that it has 

assigned to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling 

Commission (AEWC), and of limitations 

on the use of the quota deriving from 

regulations of the International Whaling 

Commission (IWC). For 2018, the quota 

is 75 bowhead whales struck. This quota 

and other applicable limitations govern 

the harvest of bowhead whales by 

members of the AEWC. 

DATES: Applicable January 17, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Office for International 

Affairs and Seafood Inspection, National 

Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 EastWest Highway, Silver Spring, MD 

20910. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Carolyn Doherty, (301) 427–8385. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Aboriginal 

subsistence whaling in the United States 

is governed by the Whaling Convention 

Act (WCA) (16 U.S.C. 916 et seq.). 

Under the WCA, IWC regulations shall 

generally become effective with respect 

to all persons and vessels subject to the 

jurisdiction of the United States, within 

90 days of notification from the IWC 

Secretariat of an amendment to the IWC 

Schedule (16 U.S.C. 916k). Regulations 

that implement the WCA, found at 50 

CFR 230.6, require the Secretary of 

Commerce (Secretary) to publish, at 

least annually, aboriginal subsistence 

whaling quotas and any other 

limitations on aboriginal subsistence 

whaling deriving from regulations of the 

IWC. 

At the 64th Annual Meeting of the 

IWC, the Commission set catch limits 

for aboriginal subsistence use of 

bowhead whales from the BeringChukchi-Beaufort Seas stock. The 

bowhead catch limits were based on a 

joint request by the United States and 

the Russian Federation, accompanied by 

documentation concerning the needs of 

two Native groups: Alaska Eskimos and 

Chukotka Natives in the Russian Far 

East. 

The IWC set a 6-year block catch limit 

of 336 bowhead whales landed. For 

each of the years 2013 through 2018, the 

number of bowhead whales struck may 

not exceed 67, except that any unused 

portion of a strike quota from any prior 

year may be carried forward. No more 

than 15 strikes may be added to the 

strike quota for any one year. At the end 

of the 2017 harvest, there were 15 

unused strikes available for carryforward, so the combined strike quota 

set by the IWC for 2018 is 82 (67 + 15). 

An arrangement between the United 

States and the Russian Federation 

ensures that the total quota of bowhead 

whales landed and struck in 2018 will 

not exceed the limits set by the IWC. 

Under this arrangement, the Russian 

natives may use no more than seven 

strikes, and the Alaska Eskimos may use 

no more than 75 strikes. 

Through its cooperative agreement 

with the AEWC, NOAA has assigned 75 

strikes to the Alaska Eskimos. The 

AEWC will in turn allocate these strikes 

among the 11 villages whose cultural 

and subsistence needs have been 

documented, and will ensure that its 

hunters use no more than 75 strikes. 

Other Limitations 

The IWC regulations, as well as the 

NOAA regulation at 50 CFR 230.4(c), 

forbid the taking of calves or any whale 

accompanied by a calf. 


ethrower on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES
2428 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 17, 2018 / Notices 

NOAA regulations (at 50 CFR 230.4) 

contain a number of other prohibitions 

relating to aboriginal subsistence 

whaling, some of which are summarized 

here: 

• Only licensed whaling captains or 

crew under the control of those captains 

may engage in whaling. 

• Captains and crew must follow the 

provisions of the relevant cooperative 

agreement between NOAA and a Native 

American whaling organization. 

• The aboriginal hunters must have 

adequate crew, supplies, and equipment 

to engage in an efficient operation. 

• Crew may not receive money for 

participating in the hunt. 

• No person may sell or offer for sale 

whale products from whales taken in 

the hunt, except for authentic articles of 

Native American handicrafts. 

• Captains may not continue to whale 

after the relevant quota is taken, after 

the season has been closed, or if their 

licenses have been suspended. They 

may not engage in whaling in a wasteful 

manner. 

Dated: January 11, 2018. 

John Henderschedt, 

Director, Office for International Affairs and 

Seafood Inspection, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00677 Filed 1–16–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

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: Greater Atlantic Region Dealer 

Purchase Reports. 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0229. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular (extension of 

a currently approved information 

collection). 

Number of Respondents: 657. 

Average Hours per Response: 4 

minutes. 

Burden Hours: 2,278. 

Needs and Uses: This request is for 

extension of a currently approved 

information collection. 

Federally permitted dealers, and any 

individual acting in the capacity of a 

dealer, must submit to the Regional 

Administrator or to the official designee 

a detailed report of all fish purchased or 

received for a commercial purpose, 

other than solely for transport on land, 

by one of the available electronic 

reporting mechanisms approved by 

National Marine Fisheries Service 

(NMFS). The information obtained is 

used by economists, biologists, and 

managers in the management of the 

fisheries. The data collection parameters 

are consistent with the current 

requirements for Federal dealers under 

the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act. 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations; individuals or 

households. 

Frequency: Weekly. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory. 

This information collection request 

may be viewed at reginfo.gov. Follow 

the instructions to view Department of 

Commerce collections currently under 

review by OMB. 

Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice to OIRA_Submission@

omb.eop.gov or fax to (202) 395–5806. 

Dated: January 11, 2018. 

Sarah Brabson, 

NOAA PRA Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00690 Filed 1–16–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

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: Southeast Region Individual 

Fishing Quota Programs. 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0551. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular (revision 

and extension of a currently approved 

information collection). 

Number of Respondents: 1,069. 

Average Hours per Response: Share 

Transfer Receipt form, Cost Recovery 

Fee Submission form, 1 minute; Share 

Transfer form, IFQ Close Account form, 

Cost Recovery Fee Submission form, 

Landing Transaction Correction Request 

form, Landing Location Submission 

form, Transfer Allocation form, Cost 

Recovery Fee payment through pay.gov, 

3 minutes; Notification of Landing form, 

5 minutes; Landing Transaction Report 

form, 6 minutes; IFQ Online Account 

Application form, 15 minutes; 

Wreckfish Quota Share Transfer form, 

18 minutes. 

Burden Hours: 2,156. 

Needs and Uses: This request is for an 

extension and revision of a currently 

approved information collection. 

The NMFS Southeast Regional Office 

manages three commercial IFQ and 

individual transferable quota (ITQ) 

programs in the Southeast Region under 

the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), 16 U.S.C. 

1801 et seq. The IFQ programs for red 

snapper, and grouper and tilefish occur 

in Federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico, 

and the ITQ program for wreckfish 

occurs in Federal waters of the South 

Atlantic. 

This collection of information tracks 

the transfer and use of IFQ and ITQ 

shares, and IFQ allocation and landings 

necessary to operate, administer, and 

review management of the IFQ and ITQ 

programs. Regulations for the IFQ and 

ITQ programs are located at 50 CFR part 

622. 

The NMFS Southeast Regional Office 

also proposes to revise parts of the 

information collection approved under 

OMB Control Number 0648–0551 to 

account for updates to burden time and 

cost estimates, as well as administrative 

updates to online and paper forms. 

NMFS intends the revisions would 

make instructions and data collection 

requirements clearer and easier to 

understand, resulting in more accurate 

and efficient information available for 

use by fishery managers. 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations; individuals or 

households. 

Frequency: Annually, quarterly and 

on occasion. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory. 

This information collection request 

may be viewed at reginfo.gov. Follow 

the instructions to view Department of 

Commerce collections currently under 

review by OMB. 

Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice to OIRA_Submission@

omb.eop.gov or fax to (202) 395–5806. 


ethrower on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES