Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2012/07/18/2012-17490/marine-recreational-fisheries-of-the-united-states-national-saltwater-angler-registry-and-state
Timestamp: 2019-01-21 13:57:19
Document Index: 45930023

Matched Legal Cases: ['§\u2009600', '§\u2009600', '§\u2009600', '§\u2009600', '§\u2009417', '§\u2009600', '§\u2009600', '§\u2009600', '§\u2009600', '§\u2009600']

77 FR 42189
42189-42192 (4 pages)
2012-17490
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2012-17490 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2012-17490
Copies of the Regulatory Impact Review/Regulatory Flexibility Act Analysis are available from: Gordon Colvin, Office of Science and Technology, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Background information and documents are available at the NMFS Office of Science and Technology Web site at http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/mrip/. Comments regarding the burden-hour estimates or other aspects of the collection-of-information requirements contained in this rule should be submitted in writing to Gordon Colvin, Office of Science and Technology, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 and to OMB by email to OIRA Submission@omb.eop.gov, or fax to 202-395-7285.
Gordon Colvin, phone: 301-427-8118; fax: 301-713-1875; or email: gordon.colvin@noaa.gov.
This final rule is accessible via the Internet at the Office of the Federal Register's Web site at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html. Background information and documents are available at the NMFS Office of Science and Technology Web site at http://www.countmyfish.noaa.gov/index.html.
General comment: One non-governmental organization commented generally in support of the proposed revisions to §§ 600.1400, 600.1405, 600.1416 and 600.1417 that were not otherwise addressed in the organization's specific comments.
Section 600.1405(b)(7): NMFS proposed to clarify that the exception to the NSAR registration requirement for licensed commercial fishing vessels is only for commercial fishing and not for for-hire fishing.
Comment: The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council opposed this proposal and requested that the exemption from registration also apply to for-hire fishing vessels licensed by the State of Hawaii. The comment noted that the State of Hawaii issues a single license, the “Commercial Marine License” (CML), for both commercial fishing and for-hire vessels. Because the license is named a “commercial” marine license, the holders are not currently required to register with NMFS under the commercial license exception in § 600.1405(b)(7), even when they are operating as for-hire fishing vessels otherwise required to register under § 600.1405(a). The Council believes that requiring Hawaii-licensed for-hire vessels to be federally registered is unnecessary and duplicative, given the requirement for all holders of CML's to report trips and catch.
Response: All states, except Hawaii, are designated as Exempted States and have entered into Memoranda of Agreement to provide the necessary data to NMFS regarding their for-hire fisheries. Only Hawaii would be affected by the proposed rule change. All vessels that hold the Hawaii “Commercial Marine License,” including for-hire vessels, are required to complete and submit trip reports to the state. Because Hawaii already collects for-hire catch data from the trip reports and submits the data to NMFS, it is not necessary at the present time to compile a separate list or registry of for-hire vessels for sampling purposes. Therefore, NMFS agrees that this proposed amendment is not necessary now and will defer its adoption for future consideration.
Section 600.1405(b)(8): NMFS proposed to provide that holders of Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) Non- commercial Bottomfish Permits do not need to register under NSAR.
Comments: Eight individuals and one Regional Fishery Management Council commented in support of this amendment.
Section 600.1416(a): NMFS proposed to clarify the existing requirement that lists of licensed anglers/registrants submitted by Exempted States need to be updated at least annually.
Comment: A state requested further information regarding what qualifies as acceptable annual updating.
Response: Guidance regarding the acceptable form, procedure and timing of annual updates was not included in the proposed rule. Annual updates are addressed in the Memoranda of Agreement with each exempted state. Adding such guidance to the rule would require development of draft guidelines and opportunity for public comment as a notice of revised or proposed rulemaking. NMFS does not believe it is necessary or desirable to develop such guidance via rulemaking at this time. It is not feasible to anticipate all of the many ways in which states may choose to conduct updates. If NMFS includes an incomplete or incorrect description of accepted methods in the rule, flexibility to allow for different or innovative methods in the future would be unnecessarily limited. NMFS will respond to requests from any state individually regarding the form, procedure and timing of annual updates.
Section 600.1416(d): NMFS proposed to provide an extra year for states that need to enact legislation to remain qualified for Exempted State designation.
Comments: One non-governmental organization noted this revision as “concerning”due to the potential for delay in the capability of MRIP to function at full capacity in 2013 as a result of any delay in providing a complete state angler database.
Response: Via MRIP, NMFS is developing, testing and implementing a series of improvements to the design and management of survey and estimation methods used to produce marine recreational fisheries statistics, including estimates of catch and effort. The improvements will address the recommendations of the National Research Council's 2006 Review of Recreational Fisheries Survey Methods and the requirements of Section 401(g) of the MSA. As new and improved survey and estimation methods are developed through MRIP and approved by NMFS, they will be implemented sequentially. Accordingly, there is no single date for implementation of MRIP. Rather, survey and estimation improvements will be phased in over time as they are developed and approved for implementation.
Comment: A state commented in support of this proposal and further recommended that it be extended to other administrative or legal actions a state is required to complete to retain its eligibility for exempted state designation.
Response: NMFS recognizes that some state agencies that issue fishing licenses may require additional time to formalize Memoranda of Agreement or other agreements with other state agencies to enable the sharing of data about state license holders. Accordingly, NMFS has modified the rule to include the completion of formal agreements between state agencies as another basis for a one year extension of time under § 600.1416(d) of the rules.The additional year will not affect the timing for initiating use of the new MRIP effort survey designs for the Atlantic and Gulf coasts for the same reasons as stated in the response to the previous comment.
Section 600.1416(d)(1): NMFS proposed to allow states that do not require persons who were born before June 1, 1940, to be licensed or registered to qualify for Exempted State designations if the state can demonstrate that the number of anglers so excluded is so small that exclusion of this group from a sample will not bias survey results.
Comment: One state requested that the rule clarify what proof will be required to demonstrate that exclusion of a group from a sample will not bias survey results.
Response: NMFS can provide case specific advice to states based on their specific circumstances. Such advice need not be incorporated in the rule. Adopting such guidance in the rule would require supplemental rulemaking to develop and secure public comment on undesirable limits to its flexibility.
Section 600.1417(b): NMFS proposed to separate the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) and Puerto Rico into separate regions for purposes of submission of regional surveys of recreational fishing catch.
Comments: One individual recommended that a similar amendment be included in the rule for the three western Pacific Territories/Commonwealths, separating Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands into three separate regions.
Response: NMFS proposed to separate the Caribbean region into two separate regions because it is expected that a survey design for the USVI will differ significantly from a survey design for Puerto Rico. Therefore, neither the USVI nor Puerto Rico would qualify for a single, regional survey-based exemption pursuant to § 417(b). NMFS did not propose to separate Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands into three separate regions in the notice of proposed rulemaking because all three are covered by a single survey design as part of the WPacFIN Regional Survey. Each of the three has executed a MOA with NMFS and is designated as an exempted state. NMFS will reconsider this comment in a future rulemaking if the WPacFIN-based regional survey no longer supports registry exemptions for the partners.
In § 600.1405(b)(7) NMFS is not adopting the proposed amendment to clarify that the exception to the NSAR registration requirement for licensed commercial fishing vessels is only for commercial fishing and not for for-hire fishing.
In § 600.1416(d), NMFS modified the rule to allow a one-year extension of time for the completion of formal agreements between state agencies.
In addition to the changes made in response to public comment as described above, NMFS made one additional change in the final rule. In § 600.1416(b)(7), the words “or registration” are added for consistency with other references to state licenses and registrations.
This final rule modifies a collection-of-information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) and which has been approved by OMB under control number 0648-0578. Public reporting burden for angler registration is estimated to average three minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding these burden estimates or any other aspect of this data collection, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to NMFS (see ADDRESSES) and by email to OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov, or fax to 202-395-7285.
3. In § 600.1405, revise paragraphs (b)(4), and (b)(8) to read as follows:
a. Revise paragraphs (a), (b)(1), (c), (d) introductory text, and (d)(1); and
5. In § 600.1417, revise paragraphs (b)(1)(iii) through (vii), and (b)(3), and add paragraph (b)(1)(viii) to read as follows:
[FR Doc. 2012-17490 Filed 7-17-12; 8:45 am]