0475 Supporting Statement_092413

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

NORTHEAST MULTISPECIES DAYS-AT-SEA LEASING PROGRAM

OMB CONTROL NO. 0648-0475

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is requesting a three-year extension of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval of the information collections described in OMB Control No. 0648-0475, to continue management of the days-at-sea (DAS) Leasing Program for the Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). A three-year clearance would enable NMFS to continue to manage the DAS Leasing Program through December 2016. This is ten years after the effective date of the final rule that permanently renewed this program.

The Days at Sea (DAS) Leasing Program was first implemented under Amendment 13 to the Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) (RIN 0648-AN17, final rule published April 27, 2004), to increase the economic efficiency of vessel operations by allowing vessels to acquire additional DAS, or lease unused DAS to another vessel. The ability for vessel owners to downgrade their baseline to current vessel specifications for the purposes of leasing was approved under a revision to the information collection in 0648-0475 as part of Framework Adjustment (FW) 40B to the FMP (RIN 0648-AS33, final rule published June 1, 2005). This program has not only provided flexibility to the fishery, but it has also enabled NMFS to examine the effectiveness of this management tool. The FMP and its amendments and adjustments were developed under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management and Conservation Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

All eligible vessels with a valid limited access multispecies DAS permit are able to participate in the leasing program by submitting an application to NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service.

Under the program, permit holders may request to lease DAS throughout the fishing year; however, for administrative purposes, applications must be received by March 1. No sub-leasing of DAS is allowed, and leased DAS do not carry over to the next fishing year. Therefore, once a DAS is leased, it must be used by the lessee prior to the end of the fishing year in which the lease occurred. Further, vessel owners may elect to use their downgrade provision only once during the lifetime of the leasing program.

2. Explain how, by whom, how frequently, and for what purpose the information will be used.

The information requested is used by several offices of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service to implement the DAS Leasing Program and to track DAS usage. Owner name and permit number are common ownership identifiers used by NMFS. During the operation of the DAS Leasing Program, this information is used to verify the existence of current, valid permits aboard vessels participating in the leasing program. Vessel name and official number are commonly used as vessel identifiers. This information is necessary to verify the status of vessel permits, identify the horsepower and length overall baseline specifications of the vessel, determine available DAS to be used in the leasing request, and execute the DAS lease. Signatures of the participants in the program are necessary to acknowledge the DAS transfer by both parties. Without both signatures, the leasing request would not be processed.

One of the requirements of the leasing program is to limit the potential of increases in effort resulting from smaller vessels leasing DAS to larger vessels. For the purposes of this program, horsepower baseline and length overall specifications are the vessel’s horsepower and length overall as of the January 29, 2004. To remain consistent with other programs, vessels may lease to other vessels that have a horsepower rating of no greater than 20% and a length overall measurement of no greater than 10% of the vessel’s baseline specifications. Permit numbers are used to reference baseline specifications for the vessels within NOAA Fisheries Service’s databases.

Vessel owners intending to downgrade their DAS Leasing Program baseline are required to specify the current vessel’s LOA and HP specifications.

Enforcement offices within NMFS currently tracks the DAS usage of permit holders. Information collected through this information request would enable enforcement officials, including the U.S. Coast Guard, to monitor compliance with the provisions of the FMP, including those governing DAS usage.

Information relating to the total price paid for the DAS is used by offices within NMFS as well as by the Council to assess the value of DAS to permit holders. This information could be used in the evaluation of the affects of future management measures on individual permit holders as well as communities. This information may also be used in future vessel buy-back programs and other effort reducing programs.

Although it is unknown how many DAS leasing requests an individual permit holder would submit, it is anticipated that not every permit holder would submit a request. There is the possibility that an individual permit holder would submit several DAS leasing requests, both as a lessor and a lessee. Based on the previous three year’s participation data, an estimated 500 lease requests are expected to be processed in a year. Participation in the DAS Leasing Program’s baseline downgrade program is available once to each vessel with a limited access NE Multispecies DAS permit.

The Section 515 Information Quality Guidelines apply to this information collection and comply with all applicable information quality guidelines,(i.e., OMB, Department of Commerce, and NOAA guidelines). The information collected as part of the DAS Leasing Program may be used in the analysis of current management initiatives and in the development of future management measures for the NE multispecies fishery. See Question 10 for information about confidentiality.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological techniques or other forms of information technology.

Applicants would have the choice to submit a DAS lease via paper format or electronically. Currently permits that are held in Confirmation of Permit History (CPH) may only submit their lease request by paper format. All paper requests must have an original signature from both permit holders involved in the transaction. Electronic leases are submitted online by the applicants. Online applicants must log on to their personal fish-on-line account via a password and submit a lease request in the Days At Sea Leasing section.

The lease downgrade form is available in a fillable and printable portable document format, available at the NOAA Northeast Regional Office (NERO) website (www.nero.noaa.gov).

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.

Other than information needed to identify participants such as the vessel owner’s name, vessel name, permit number and official number, no information will be collected that is already collected through other means.

5. If the collection of information involves small businesses or other small entities, describe the methods used to minimize burden.

Only the minimum data to meet the requirements of the above data needs are requested from all participants. Since most of the respondents are small businesses, separate requirements based on the size of the business are not necessary.

6. Describe the consequences to the Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently.

The DAS Leasing Program is designed to offer opportunities to the fishing industry to recover some of the potential financial losses that emanated from the reduction in DAS. This program is an optional program and is not mandated by any regulation. If this information is not collected, thereby preventing permit holders from recovering potential losses from reduced DAS allocations, some vessels would be unable to continue participating in the fishery.

7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with OMB guidelines.

The data collection is consistent with OMB guidelines.

8. Provide a copy of the PRA Federal Register notice that solicited public comments on the information collection prior to this submission. Summarize the public comments received in response to that notice and describe the actions taken by the agency in response to those comments. Describe the efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.

The Federal Register notice that solicited public comments on the renewal of this information collection was published on June 10, 2013 (78 FR 34653). No comments were received.

In addition, the Northeast Regional Administrator announced the open comment period at the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting on June 11, 2013 and at the New England Fishery Management Council meeting on June 18, 2013.  The announcements included a summary of the information collections included in this extension and encouraged affected parties to submit comments on the Federal Register Notice.  This solicitation was also available as a handout with the Council meeting materials available at both Council meetings.

9. Explain any decisions to provide payments or gifts to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

Neither payments nor gifts are given to the respondents.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

All data will be kept confidential as required by NOAA Administrative Order 216-100 and Section 402 (b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Confidentiality of Fisheries Statistics, and will not be released for public use except in aggregate statistical form (and without identifying the source of data, i.e., vessel name, owner, etc.).

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.

There are no questions of sensitive nature.

12. Provide an estimate in hours of the burden of the collection of information.

This program is restricted to the limited access permit holders in the NE Multispecies FMP (approximately 1,400 vessels). From April 2009, through March 2012, NOAA Fisheries Service processed a total of 1,607 lease applications, with approximately 979 lease applications being processed in fishing year 2009 and only 381 leases being processed in fishing year 2011. The current estimated number of potential lease requests for this program, based on previous participation, is approximately 500 lease applications per year.

Permit holders wishing to participate in the DAS Leasing Program are required to fill out a NE Multispecies DAS Leasing Program Application form. One form is required in order to process an individual DAS leasing request. Both participants in the lease agreement (the lessor and the lessee) need to enter information particular to their permit onto the form and sign the form at the bottom, indicating their agreement with the specifics of the lease. This results in a total of 1,000 responses (2 individual responses per DAS leasing application).

It is estimated that the public reporting for this collection will continue to average 5 minutes per response. Using an estimated average burden of 5 minutes per response, a total of 83 hours (1,000 responses x 5 minutes/response) is estimated to be the burden for participants in this data collection.

The estimated burden for the one-time permit baseline characteristics downgrade for the DAS Leasing Program is approximately 1 hour to fill out the request form (attached) and assemble any necessary documentation for the potential participants. It is estimated that NMFS would receive 5 applications annually. Therefore, the additional burden for this aspect of the program is 5 hours per year.

The total annualized responses for this collection are 1,005 (1,000 DAS lease applications + 5 baseline downgrade requests). The total annualized requested hours are 88 (83 + 5). These figures are summarized in Table 1.

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to the respondents or record-keepers resulting from the collection (excluding the value of the burden hours in Question 12 above).

This information collection does not require respondents to purchase new or additional equipment or services. Most computers, telephones and/or facsimile machines utilized by the respondents would have already been purchased as part of customary and usual business practices, thus start up costs associated with these programs are negligible. The estimates of the total annual cost burden to respondents resulting from this collection are summarized in Table 1 below.

For each DAS leasing request, two respondents would have to enter information onto the DAS application form and sign the form at the bottom. It is not known whether DAS leasing agreements between individuals would occur in person, or through other means. Accordingly, participants may mail the DAS application form to the other participant to complete the transaction. This form would then have to be mailed to NOAA Fisheries Service for processing. With 500 applications (1,000 responses) anticipated per year for the DAS Leasing Program, there would be a cost of $460 (1000 stamps x $0.46/stamp). Participants may wish to retain a copy of the DAS leasing application for their own records. Using an estimate of $0.10 per page for copying costs, one participant per transaction would incur an additional $0.10 cost ($0.10 x 500 1-page copies) for copying services related to the DAS leasing program. Postage and copying costs would total $510.

For the one-time opportunity to downgrade a vessel’s DAS Leasing Program baseline, vessels would be required to submit a completed downgrade request form and mail it to NOAA Fisheries Service. Participants may wish to make copies of supporting documents when submitting this information to NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service.

The total cost for mailing DAS Leasing Program baseline downgrade request forms amounts to $2.30 (5 requests x $0.46/request) annually. Copying costs associated with this provision would total approximately $2.50 (5 participants x 5 pages copied/participant x $0.10/copy) annually. Together, the annualized costs for the downgrade provision amounts to $4.80.

In total, the costs to individuals participating in the DAS Leasing Program for record-keeping and application purposes total $514.80 ($510 + $4.80).

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government.

The estimates of the annual administrative costs to the Federal Government from this program are summarized in Table 2.

Costs associated with the lease program reflect a cost of $15/hour to the government at the ZP-02 level. The cost to the government for the DAS Leasing Program requires 10 minutes per request. This results in an estimated annualized cost to the government of $1,254 (500 applications x 10 minutes/response x $15/hour) to review DAS leasing requests.

Additional costs incurred by the government include the costs of distributing receipts of the DAS lease to both participants. It is estimated that one toner cartridge will be necessary to print these receipts at approximately $40. These receipts are mailed to participants resulting in postage costs of $460 (1000 responses x $0.46 postage). This results in an additional annual cost of $500 to the government for the management of the DAS leasing program.

The DAS Leasing Program baseline downgrade provision would result in an overall annual total cost to the government of $150 (5 applications x 2 hours x $15/hour) to process the downgrade requests. Note that the costs associated with the DAS Leasing Program baseline downgrade provision are a conservative estimate and would only be realized one time for each vessel participating.

Additional costs incurred by the government include the costs of distributing the receipts of the DAS downgrade approval letter. The letters are mailed to the participants resulting in postage costs of $2.30 (5 responses x $0.46 postage). This results in an additional annual cost of $2.30 to the government for the management of the DAS leasing downgrade requests.

In total, the costs to the government from the DAS leasing program are approximately $1,906.30 ($1,254 + $500 +$150+$2.30). Annualized costs to the Federal government for these programs include staff costs and system operation associated with processing the information.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments.

There are no changes or adjustments.

16. For collections whose results will be published, outline the plans for tabulation and publication.

Results from this collection may be used in scientific, management, technical or general informational publications such as Fisheries of the United States which follows prescribed statistical tabulations and summary table formats. Data are available to the general public on request in summary form only; data are available to NOAA Fisheries Service employees in detailed form on a need-to-know basis only.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons why display would be inappropriate.

All forms will display the OMB control number and expiration date along with information relevant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement.

Not Applicable.

B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

No statistical methods are employed in the information collection procedures; the requirements are optional for all eligible participants in the NE multispecies fishery.

Table 1. Burden hours and cost
Collection	Number of Entities	Items per Entity	Total Number of Items	Total Costs ($) of Materials per Vessel	Response Time	Total Burden (Hours)	Cost ($) to Government*	Cost ($) to Public
DAS Leasing	500	2	1000	$0.54	5 minutes	83	$1,754.00	$510.00
Request to Downgrade	5	1	5	$0.54	1 hour	5	$152.30	$4.80
TOTAL:			1005			88	$1,906.30	$514.80

Table 2. Cost to Federal Government
Collection	Salary at ZP-02 level per hour	Total Number of Items	Response Time (Hours)	Processing Cost	Total Cost ($) of Materials and Postage	Total Cost ($) to Government
DAS Leasing	$15	500	0.167	$1,254	$500.00	$1,754.00
Request to Downgrade	$15	5	2	$150.00	$2.30	$152.30

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