Justification for change

JUSTIFICATION FOR CHANGE

WEST COAST GROUNDFISH TRAWL ECONOMIC DATA

OMB CONTROL NO. 0648-0618

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) would like to implement a Web form for the West Coast Groundfish Trawl Economic Data Collection (EDC).

The EDC is currently fielded via paper forms. The paper forms are sent to participants; they complete the information, and then mail the forms back to the EDC Program. Alternatively, the participants have the option of completing a fillable .pdf that can be downloaded from the EDC Website, but they are then required to print the form and mail it to the EDC Program.

The Web form will be implemented for all four forms: the West Coast Groundfish Limited Entry Trawl Catcher Vessel form, the West Coast Groundfish Limited Entry Trawl Catcher-Processor Vessel form, the West Coast Groundfish Limited Entry Trawl Mothership vessel form, and the West Coast Groundfish First Receiver and Shorebased Processor form. All participants will be given the choice of using either of the paper methods described above or submitting their information electronically via Web form.

There are several advantages to the Web form for both participant and for the Agency. First, it should decrease the burden of the participants because there will be real-time feedback about the information entered onto the forms. Currently, if the participant submits an incomplete form or a form with inaccurate information, they are contacted by phone or mail and then they must either provide additional information over the phone or resubmit via fax or mail. The Web form will highlight any incomplete fields and a final summary screen will list all incomplete fields and flag any responses that are the wrong format (e.g., text in number fields). The participant will not be allowed to submit the form until there is a response in every field. There will still be some cases where the participant must be contacted to clarify information provided on the phone, but the Web form should reduce the need.

Second, there will be an option to cut and paste tables of information from a spreadsheet into the Web form. This should decrease the amount of time it takes to complete the form because individual numbers will not always need to be entered.

Third, the Web forms will reduce the burden on the Agency. Currently all forms are double-key entered into the database. The use of Web forms will eliminate this step for forms that are submitted electronically.

When submitting a Web form, the participants will still be required to physically sign and date a signature page certifying that “under penalty of perjury that I have reviewed all the information in this form and that it is true and complete to the best of my knowledge”. Participants will be required to either fax or mail the signed signature page to the EDC Program.

At this time, there is no estimated change to burden or cost. Depending on percentage of use of this form as opposed to the other options, and reports on time required to complete the form, the total burden and cost may be decreased in the next request for this OMB Control No.

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