Recent amendments to the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act require
that the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS) be
upgraded and that future fishing surveys target anglers licensed or
registered at the State or Federal level. A revision to test new
methodologies for collecting recreational fishing catch and effort
data was recently approved. Replacing the combined screener/main
fishing effort mail questionnaire for address frame and angler
registry list frame samples with a screener and main questionnaire
for the former, and only the main questionnaire for the latter,
will be cost-efficient for the government, will not increase burden
for those screened out, and not add significant burden for those
completing both questionnaires (up to 7 minutes).
PL:
Pub.L. 194 - 265 303 Name of Law: Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act
This program change consists of
changing a combined fishing effort screening questionnaire and the
main questionnaire, so that a longer quetionnaire would not need to
be sent to nearly as many households. It will add 1,020 responses
and 598 burden hours to the current totals of 906,540 and
46,920.
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.