This request is
approved. Prior to resubmission for extension, the Agency should
revise or validate estimates of burden based on continued
experience with the program.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
08/31/2012
36 Months From Approved
08/31/2009
122,848
0
203,745
10,235
0
16,975
6,755
0
11,203
Gear-marking requirements assist NMFS
in obtaining detailed information about which fisheries or specific
parts of fishing gear are responsible for the incidental mortality
and serious injury of right, humpback, and fin whales. Generally,
only a portion of gear is recovered from an entangled whale and it
is almost impossible to link that portion of gear to a particular
fishery. Therefore, requiring fishermen to mark surface buoys and
the buoy line provides NMFS with an additional source of
information, which could then be used to determine the gear
responsible for and the location of the entanglement event. The
following fisheries areaffected by this information collection:
Northeast and Mid-Atlantic lobster trap/pot fisheries; Atlantic
blue crab trap/pot fisheries; Atlantic mixed species trap/pot
fisheries targeting crab (red, Jonah, and rock), hagfish, finfish
(black sea bass, scup, tautog, cod, haddock, pollock, redfish, and
white hake), conch/whelk, and shrimp; Northeast anchored gillnet;
Northeast drift gillnet; Mid-Atlantic gillnet; Southeast Atlantic
gillnet; and Southeastern U.S. Atlantic shark gillnet.
US Code:
16 USC
31 Name of Law: Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972
There are adjustments both to
burden and cost: a decrease in burden from 16,975 to 10, 235, a
difference of 6,740 and a decrease in cost from $11,203 to $6,755,
a difference of $4,448. These decreases are because the first year
of implementation of the new gear marking requirements approved in
2007 in which higher burden and costs were incurred by new
respondents all having to mark their gear within the same short
implementation period has been completed. However, as some of the
newly affected vessels are still in the process of completing their
gear marking during the first few months after the implementation
year, the burden and cost for these vessels is estimated to be
slightly higher for 2009.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.