SUPPORTING STATEMENT
NORTHEAST MULTISPECIES AMENDMENT 16
OMB CONTROL NO. 0648-0605
A. JUSTIFICATION
This is a request for extension of the emergency revision of OMB Control No. 0648-0605, the Information Collection for Amendment 16 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP), in conjunction with Final Rule 0648-BE75, as well as revision and extension of the entire collection. This revision and extension incorporates a number of revisions to this form family since the last submission, including the emergency revisions to this form family done in conjunction with Final Rule 0648-BE75, updates to burden estimate for the at-sea monitoring program requirement, and removal of the dockside monitoring requirements.
1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.
Amendment 16 to the Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) was initially implemented in 2010. Among other measures, Amendment 16 established the sector management program for the NE Multispecies FMP, implemented new requirements for establishing allowable biological catch (ABC), annual catch limits (), and accountability measures (AM) for each stock managed by the FMP, pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), added Atlantic wolffish to the list of species managed by the FMP.
Since the implementation of Amendment 16 in 2010, a number of actions have modified NE Multispecies management provisions included in the original form family. In summary:
Framework Adjustment 48 to the NE Multispecies FMP removed the dockside monitoring requirement (RIN 0658-BC27; 78 FR 26118, May 3, 2013). The information collections associated with this requirement were inadvertently left in the document at the last renewal.
The at-sea monitoring requirement was implemented in 2010 with National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) funding, with the understanding that sampling costs would become industry’s responsibility in 2012. NMFS was able to fund industry’s sampling cost responsibilities for the 2013 and 2014 fishing years, and a portion of the 2015 fishing year. This information collection is adjusted to account for industry’s contribution for monitoring costs, estimated at $710 per seaday.
Operations Plan Requirements
Sectors are required to develop operating plans that detail sector reporting and monitoring provisions, as well as provide information on the composition and effort distribution of participating vessels so that the Council can evaluate the impacts of sectors. The regulations specify that operations plan must include:
Information about overage penalties if a sector exceeds its allocation for any stock;
Detailed information about a monitoring program for discards;
A list of all Federal and state permits held by vessels participating in the sector;
A list of specific ports where sector members will land fish with specific exemptions provided for safety, weather, and other reasons;
Total Allowable Catch (TAC) thresholds and how the sector would notify the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) once the threshold has been reached;
Identification of potential redirection of effort as a result of sector operations and any efforts to limit the adverse effects of such redirection of effort; and
A description of how groundfish would be avoided while participating in other fisheries that have a bycatch of groundfish if the sector does not anticipate being allocated or acquiring groundfish allocation from another sector.
Sector operations plans are required to be submitted by September 1 of the applicable year to ensure that the operations plans and associated analysis are reviewed in time to implement such operations by the start of the next fishing year (FY) on May 1, though the due date for membership information was delayed to December 1 of each year. The Regional Administrator would review each sector operations plan and associated analysis and approve or disapprove the operations through notice in the Federal Register. Sector operations plans can be submitted annually or biennially.
Certification/Approval of Monitoring Providers
Amendment 16 established standards for NMFS to evaluate service providers employed by vessels to comply with the at-sea monitoring and reporting requirements. Providers must apply for certification/approval from NMFS, and NMFS makes a determination for approval based upon the completeness of the application and evaluation of the applicant’s ability to perform the duties and responsibilities of a monitoring service provider. As part of the application, potential service providers must include:
Contact information;
Statements from each owner, board member and officer that they are free from a conflict of interest with fishing-related parties and free of any criminal conviction;
A description of any prior experience, a description of the provider’s ability to carry out the proposed responsibilities and duties;
Evidence of adequate insurance, proof of insurance coverage for employees;
Proof of training;
An Emergency Action Plan; and
Evidence the company is in good financial standing.
In addition, prior to approval, providers must demonstrate compliance with the following criteria and requirements:
Provide a comprehensive plan to deploy monitors;
Ensure that monitors remain available to NMFS for debriefing;
Report instances of harassment or discrimination;
Produce, if requested, a copy of each signed and valid contract, materials developed, and used by the providers, refusal to deploy monitors based on timing of notice or safety concerns;
A system to record, retain, and distribute information to NMFS;
A means to protect confidentiality, and provide sufficient safety and data collection equipment.
For an individual to be certified as an at-sea monitor, the provider must demonstrate that each potential monitor meets the following criteria: A high school diploma or equivalent; successful completion of all NMFS-required training courses; certification by a physician attesting to the physical and mental capacity for carrying out the required responsibilities, current American Red Cross Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)/First Aid Certification (or equivalent); absence of fisheries-related convictions based upon a background check, and independence from fishing-related parties.
These provisions are necessary to ensure that monitoring providers are capable of carrying out their duties to monitor and validate landings and discards as an input to monitoring the utilization of annual catch entitlements (ACE).
Monitoring System for Discards
Sector operations plans must specify how a sector would monitor its landings and discards to ensure that the sector does not exceed its allocation. Sectors would likely evaluate the same documents as NMFS to determine these values, including Vessel Trip Reports (VTR), Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) data, Northeast Fishery Observer Program (NEFOP) data, at-sea monitoring (ASM) data and any other sector required report and track data through some electronic spreadsheet or database. Sectors are required to maintain a monitoring system to house this data and comply with specified reporting requirements, outlined below.
Weekly Catch Reports
Amendment 16 requires each sector to report all landings and discards by sector vessels to NMFS on a weekly basis. In addition to summarizing fishing activities, the weekly report will also include infractions made by sector members, discrepancies in data, enforcement activities, and how each problem is being/has been resolved. These reports are used to determine the effort and fishing mortality associated with sector activities as well as whether the sector is complying with the provisions of their operation plan.
Annual Report
Within 60 days of the end of each fishing year, approved sectors are required to submit an annual report containing information on the sector’s activities for the fishing year to both the Council and NMFS. Each report must contain information describing the fishing activities, harvest levels of all federally managed species, and any applicable enforcement actions attributable to sector vessels in order to evaluate the performance of each sector. These reports are used to determine the effort and fishing mortality associated with sector activities as well as whether the sector is complying with the provisions of their operation plan and other requirements specified under § 648.87.
Notification of Ejection from the Sector
Amendment 16 prohibited vessels expelled from a sector to participate in the NE multispecies fishery as part of either the common pool or another sector for the remainder of the fishery year after the expulsion. Therefore, in the event that a sector member commits an infraction resulting in ejection from the sector, the operations plan must state how and when the sector will notify NMFS. It is anticipated that the Sector Manager or designated agent will contact NMFS immediately, with formal communication to follow regarding details of the incident.
Amendment 16 included a provision to assign each limited access multispecies permit a potential sector contribution (PSC) based on landings from 1996-2006 (participants committed to existing sectors as of March 1, 2008 had Georges Bank (GB) cod PSCs based on landings from 1996-2001). Sectors are allocated ACE based upon the potential sector contribution (PSC) of its members. Sectors can trade ACE with other sectors to provide additional flexibility in the event that 1) the initial portfolio of ACE for each sector does not match the sector’s desired ACE portfolio, or 2) a sector exceeds its ACE and needs additional ACE to cover the overage and continue fishing. Under the program, sectors request to transfer ACE at any point during the fishing year, and up to two weeks following the conclusion of the fishing year to balance out any overage. Participants are required to complete and submit an ACE transfer form to NMFS for approval.
VMS REQUIREMENTS
Amendment 16 required that all vessels issued a limited access NE multispecies permit and fishing under a NE multispecies days-at-sea (DAS) or under the restrictions and conditions of an approved sector operations plan use a VMS for each groundfish trip. While VMS for the majority of vessels is already covered through OMB Control No. 0648-0202, this information collection accounts for the Handgear A (Category HA) permits not covered by OMB Control No. 0648-0202. Therefore, the potential number of additional NE multispecies permitted vessels utilizing VMS may increase to include the 147 vessels issued Handgear A (Category HA) permits.
In order to complete VMS installation, vessels must: 1) completion a VMS Certification form (previously approved under OMB Control No. 0648-0202) and 2) confirm VMS activation with Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) via telephone. The VMS Certification form verifies that a VMS unit has been installed on the vessel and is operational, and requests the vessel name, Federal permit number, vessel documentation or state registration number, contact information (name, address, and telephone number) on the installing dealer, date of installation, serial number of unit, and e-mail address of vessel. The form also requests responses to questions regarding whether or not the unit is operational, if operating instructions have been provided to the vessel owner, and if the vessel owner has been trained on use of the VMS unit by the provider. Once the form has been completed, the vessel owner or authorized representative signs and dates the form, and returns it to the address listed on the form. In addition, in order to ensure VMS unit connectivity, all vessel owners required or choosing to use VMS units are required to call NMFS’ OLE to confirm connectivity of new and replacement VMS units.
BROAD STOCK AREA REQUIREMENTS
To facilitate the monitoring of ACL and sector fishing effort, Amendment 16 established four broad stock areas (Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic (SNE/MA), Inshore GB, Offshore GB, and Gulf of Maine (GOM)) that encompass multiple statistical areas. These areas allow for accurate and timely data for apportioning catch to individual stock areas, especially in cases where VTR data are missing or delayed. Operators of vessels issued a limited access NE multispecies permit and fishing for groundfish under a NE multispecies DAS or on a sector trip must declare their intent to fish in one or more of these broad stock areas via VMS at the start of each trip. In addition, all vessels are required to submit a VMS catch report for each trip. The VMS catch report must include the VTR serial number from the first page of the VTR for that trip, the amount of each regulated species retained (in pounds, landed weight) and the total amount of all species retained (in pounds, landed weight), including NE multispecies and species managed by other FMPs, from each broad stock area.
In order to better monitor compliance with decreases in the GOM cod catch limit set in Framework 53, Framework 53 required vessels that declare trips into the GOM Broad Stock Area and any other broad stock area (i.e., Georges Bank or Southern New England) on the same trip to submit daily VMS catch reports. Vessels that do not declare intent to fish in the GOM Broad Stock Area will only be required to submit trip level reports, consistent with the original reporting requirement in Amendment 16.
NMFS revised the VMS catch report for Special Management Programs (SMP) to reflect the data element requirements outlined in the broad stock area catch reporting requirements described above. This would eliminate the current requirement for vessel operators fishing in SMPs to report species discards and statistical area fished, but would require vessel operators to specify the VTR serial number or other universal trip ID specified by NMFS, the date fish were caught (applicable only for SMP trips), and the amount of each species kept in each broad stock reporting area. Catch reports, including VTR serial numbers, would be used to increase the accuracy of data used in the monitoring of catch.
This exemption from the SMP reporting requirements for sector vessels would not apply to vessels participating in the Closed Area I Hook Gear Haddock Special Access Program (SAP). This SAP includes an overall haddock TAC that is applicable to both sector and common pool vessels fishing in this SAP. Therefore, the existing requirement for sector managers to provide daily catch reports by participating sector vessels would be maintained.
Trip start and end hails were initially implemented to support the dockside monitoring program. After the dockside monitoring program was suspended at the start of the 2013 fishing year, the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office continued to use trip start and end hails to support monitoring of sector exemptions. While trip start hails are not required, a number of sector managers request that their members to monitor sector activity. Trip-end hails are required of all sector participants.
AT-SEA MONITORING and REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
Amendment 16 required sectors to develop mechanisms to adequately monitor catch and discards by participating vessels. Because discards and area fished are critical elements in the monitoring of sector catch, sectors are required to develop an adequate independent third-party at-sea monitoring (ASM) programs, and to pay for the seaday rate, or sampling costs, for at-sea monitors. While NMFS has funded the sampling cost for at-sea monitors in all previous fishing years since the inception of the sector management program, we are in the process of transitioning to industry funding for at-sea monitoring. We expect the transition to industry-funded ASM should happen sometime during the 2015 fishing year, likely after December 2015. The ASM program is used to verify area fished and catch (landings and discards), by species and gear type, for the purposes of monitoring sector ACE utilization. Coverage levels are specified by NMFS on a yearly basis, based on a list of participating vessels and gear types for each sector. To facilitate deployment of at-sea monitors and enforcement of these provisions, Amendment 16 required vessels to submit trip-start and trip-end hail reports to the ASM service providers and to NMFS Office of Law Enforcement.
The details for any ASM or electronic monitoring program must be specified in each sector’s annual operations plans. While the plan allows the use of electronic monitoring, no fully operational electronic monitoring program has been approved as a substitute for at-sea monitoring to date. A number of sectors are currently exploring the use of electronic monitoring as a substitute for at-sea monitors. The at-sea monitoring program will assist with the monitoring and validation of landings and discards as an input to monitoring the utilization of ACEs.
Amendment 16 required all NE multispecies vessels to provide 48-hours advance notice to the Northeast Fisheries Observer Program in order to deploy observers to collect biological samples and data during commercial fishing trips, including vessels intending to fish in the United States (U.S.)/Canada Area, Closed Area 1 Hook Gear Haddock SAP, or the Regular B Program. Observer notification and deployment is required to ensure adequate monitoring fishing activities, collection of data, and compliance.
DAS TRANSFER PROGRAM
In order to reduce effort in the NE multispecies fishery, vessels with a valid limited access NE multispecies permit as well as owners of a valid confirmation of permit history (CPH) may permanently transfer DAS to another vessel, provided the selling vessel retires from all state and Federal commercial fisheries and the purchasing vessel is within 10 percent of the selling vessel’s baseline length overall and 20 percent of the selling vessel’s baseline horsepower (§ 648.83(l)). These provisions are necessary to ensure that the transfer of DAS does not unintentionally increase effort and vessel capacity beyond what has been previously considered. Owners of vessels eligible to transfer DAS are required to submit a completed application on the appropriate form obtained from the RA.
SUBMISSION OF PROPOSED SPECIAL ACCESS PROGRAMS
The collection includes any burden associated with the process for the submission of proposed special access program (SAP). The application for a new SAP would need to specify the number of vessels or trips that may occur in the access program; the estimated catch rate of the target and bycatch species; the type of data reporting to monitor the status of harvest; and the plan of implementation of the SAP, specifically the means by which mortality on a stock of concern will be minimized. After reviewing the proposed SAP, the RA, after consultation with the NEFMC and consideration of public comments received, will make a determination on the proposed SAP and issue a permit authorization or regulations, as appropriate. This standardized process is required to ensure that fishing activities maintain consistency with the intent of the current regulations in the Northeast Multispecies FMP to prevent overfishing and help rebuild groundfish stocks. Without such information, it would be difficult for the RA to determine the nature of proposed SAP and whether they would adversely impact species of concern.
NAFO REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
NMFS authorized and monitors fishing activities in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) Regulatory Area (NRA), pursuant to the High Seas Fishing Compliance Act (HSFCA), Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Convention Act of 1995, and Magnuson-Steven Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
Two fishing vessels would be issued a high seas fishing permit and a Letter of Authorization (LOA) to be exempt from U.S. Northeast (NE) multispecies and monkfish regulations while transiting the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone with such species. The permit and LOA would require information to be submitted to NMFS or maintained on board the vessel (depending on the information collection requirement), so that NMFS can monitor the catch and other activities of the fishing vessel and ensure that the vessel is in compliance with the Conservation and Enforcement Measures of NAFO. The reporting requirements include the purchase and usage of vessel monitoring units, submission of hourly geographic position information from vessel monitoring units, trip declaration, pre-trip notifications, daily catch reports, and haul-by-haul logbook information. Each vessel is required to maintain a production logbook recording the amount of each product type processed on a daily basis and stowage plan detailing the location and quantity of product retained aboard. Finally, each vessel is also required to acquire and biennially update a drawing and description of storage capacity on the vessel. Before landing in a foreign port, each vessel must identify the date, time, and location of landing, along with the amount of each species and product type that is retained on board, and the amount of each species and product type that will be landed.
Each vessel is required to hire an observer for each trip. The observer is required to measure the gear used and record the amount and disposition of each species caught by the vessel on an observer report.
2. Explain how, by whom, how frequently, and for what purpose the information will be used. If the information collected will be disseminated to the public or used to support information that will be disseminated to the public, then explain how the collection complies with all applicable Information Quality Guidelines.
Operations Plan Requirements and Annual Sector Reporting Requirements
A total of 17 sectors have been approved by the Council. NMFS and the Councils use the information in the sector operations plans to determine whether the plans meet the requirements of the NE Multispecies FMP do not jeopardize efforts to rebuild groundfish stocks. Sector proposals that do not meet the identified requirements may not be approved. Operations Plans may propose up to two years of operation, but it is anticipated that many sectors will make annual submissions. Annual sector reports are due 60 days following the completion of the fishing year. Notifications of ejections from a sector are submitted when the actions of a sector participant warrant removal, as outlined in the Operations Plan. NMFS uses these various reports and notifications, which are submitted via U.S. mail, to evaluate each sector and monitor catch.
Approval of Monitoring Providers
Entities seeking to provide at-sea monitoring services must obtain annual approval from NMFS. Applicants are required to provide a narrative, rather than a form, detailing their qualifications to serve as monitoring service providers. NMFS reviews and evaluates each application for completeness and evaluates the abilities of the prospective provider to perform the required responsibilities and duties on an annual basis.
Monitoring System for Discards
Sector operations plans must specify how a sector will monitor its landings and discards to ensure that the sector does not exceed its allocation of ACE. The data included in this monitoring system, which will likely consist of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or some individually developed database, is used by the sector manager in the preparation of weekly reports, in addition to the annual reports outlined above, for catch monitoring and evaluating sectors.
The information requested on the ACE Transfer form is used by several NMFS offices to implement the ACE Transfer Program and to track quotas. The sector’s name is used to verify compliance with weekly reports, and confirm VTR compliance of sector member vessels prior to the approval of a transfer. Signatures of both sector managers are necessary to acknowledge the ACE transfer by both parties. Transfer requests will not be processed without both signatures. ACE Transfer requests are anticipated to be submitted throughout the fishing year, with a possibility for increased submissions as toward the end of the fishing year.
The data collected through monitoring programs of the NE multispecies fishery are used in many analyses by NMFS, the Councils, states, Departments of State and Commerce, OMB, Corps of Engineers, Congressional staffs, and the fishing industry and public. Vessels are allowed to fish for NE multispecies only for a specific number of DAS, or until a sector’s ACE has been exhausted. The VMS accounts for this fishing activity, and the information is used by both the vessel owners and agency representatives for monitoring and enforcement.
VMS is currently required for the following Multispecies Permit Categories: Category A (Individual DAS), Category C (Small Vessel), D (Hook Gear), E (Combination Vessels) and F (Large Mesh Individual DAS). Since participation in a sector is open to all limited access NE multispecies permit categories, including Handgear A (Category HA) permits, it is anticipated that the 147 vessels issued Category HA permits will be required to begin using VMS.
For vessels installing new or replacement VMS units, a one-time form is required to verify installation, and a one-time phone call is required to confirm VMS activation with the Greater Atlantic Region OLE.
To facilitate the monitoring of ACLs and sectors, Amendment 16 established four broad stock areas (SNE/MA, Inshore GB, Offshore GB, and GOM) that encompass multiple statistical areas. NMFS requires the submission of VMS catch reports to obtain more timely and accurate data to apportion catch to individual stock areas and to monitor ACLs and sectors. Submissions for trips that do not declare into the GOM Broad Stock Area (i.e., the trip declarations include SNE/MA, Inshore GB, or Offshore GB but not GOM) are required upon completion of each fishing trip. Vessels that declare into the GOM Broad Stock Area and any other broad stock area must submit VMS catch reports on a daily basis. We determined that a daily report will help us better ensure accurate apportionment of cod catch to the GOM and GB stock areas, and help enforcement efforts. The daily reports will assist NOAA Office of Law Enforcement officers and U.S. Coast Guard officials in identifying misreporting during their compliance checks. Ultimately, this will allow us to effectively track and control mortality on the GOM cod stock.
CATCH REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
The special access programs require vessel operators to submit a trip-level report detailing the amount of each species kept and discarded, the statistical area fished, the VTR serial number for that trip, and the date the fish were caught. Reports are submitted through VMS to NMFS and are used to monitor ACLs and sectors Submissions is required upon the completion of each fishing trip.
The Logbook Family of Forms (OMB Control No. 0648-0212) estimated the annual number of trips into the U.S./Canada Management Area and associated SAPs in Closed Area II to be 14,000 trips annually and the number of participating entities to be 400. It also estimated that 142 entities would take 2,130 trips into the Closed Area I Hook Gear Haddock SAP annually. Finally, it estimates 997 entities would take 5,000 trips in the B Regular Program.
It is anticipated that a total of five monitoring providers would apply for approval under these provisions. Approved monitoring providers are required to submit information during the course of the year in order to comply with various requirements and responsibilities. Reports pertaining to monitor deployment, harassment, and catch data are required throughout the year, as requested by NMFS, along with copies of contracts and any additional materials. The information submitted via U.S. mail will be used to monitor the fishery and monitor deployments, including the evaluation of catch and bycatch. None of the information provided by service providers would be disseminated to the public.
Hails (notifications of trip start and end) are necessary to ensure that the specified monitoring levels are met. These measures are necessary for the accurate monitoring of ACLs and sectors.
To produce a conservative estimate of the total annual time burden to the public for complying with this requirement, this analysis assumes that all groundfish vessels will participate in a sector and that all trips will be taken by sector vessels.
Amendment 16 expanded pre-trip notification requirements to all NE multispecies vessels, and decreased the advance notice to 48-hours before a trip. Notification is required to deploy observers and at-sea monitors aboard vessels for the collection of biological samples and data during commercial fishing trips. Notification will be made via a telephone call or email to NEFOP, or through a secure database, and will be used to schedule and deploy observers and monitors.
DAS TRANSFER PROGRAM
The information submitted on the application to permanently transfer NE multispecies DAS enables NMFS enforcement personnel to accurately track DAS allocations. Vessels that are transferring their DAS must permanently leave all fisheries, and therefore are only required to submit the information one time. The form requires the following information from the transferor (person transferring DAS) and the transferee (person receiving DAS): Owner name, vessel name, Federal permit number and vessel documentation or state registration number. In addition, the form asks for the total price paid for the transferred DAS (for statistical purposes) and requires the transferee to specific whether it would like to use the smaller baseline specifications of the two vessels participating in the transfer, or if it would like to utilize the one-time allowable upgrade for the permit in taking the larger baseline of the two vessels participating in the transfer. Both transferor and transferee must sign and date the form.
SUBMISSION OF PROPOSED SAPs
Amendment 13 also created a provision for industry participants and members of the public to submit proposed SAPs. This process, and the information required, would be used by NMFS to determine if proposed SAPs meet the objectives and goals of the NE Multispecies FMP, would not increase mortality on stocks of particular concern, and would ensure that the biological impacts of the target stock falls within the range of the impacts analyzed under Amendment 13. The RA, after consultation with the Council, would use this information to determine if the issuance of specialized permits, including LOAs, authorizing the proposed SAP would be appropriate. No limit to the number of SAPs that may be proposed has been.
NAFO REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
As explained above, the permit and LOA would require information to be submitted to NMFS or maintained on board the vessel (depending on the information collection requirement), so that NMFS can monitor the catch and other activities of the fishing vessel and ensure that the vessel is in compliance with the Conservation and Enforcement Measures of NAFO. The requirements include geographic position information from vessel monitoring units, trip declaration, pre-trip notifications, daily catch reports, and haul-by-haul logbook information. The production logbook and stowage plan would be used by enforcement personnel during periodic at-sea or dockside inspections to validate what catch is retained on board. The capacity on the vessel. The pre-landing report must be submitted at least three days in advance of each landing in a foreign port, and is used by enforcement personnel to monitor offloads and ensure compliance with applicable NAFO catch limits.
Data recorded in observer reports must be submitted to NMFS upon landing, and forwarded to the NAFO Secretariat within 30 days of the end of a trip. NMFS and the NAFO Secretariat use these data to monitor the fishery and identify any potential violations of NAFO conservation and enforcement measures.
NOAA will retain control over the information and safeguard it from improper access, modification, and destruction, consistent with NOAA standards for confidentiality, privacy, and electronic information. See response to Question 10 of this Supporting Statement for more information on confidentiality and privacy. The information collection is designed to yield data that meet all applicable information quality guidelines. Prior to dissemination, the information will be subjected to quality control measures and a pre-dissemination review pursuant to Section 515 of Public Law 106-554.
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.
Currently, applications/operations plans, appeals, and notification of ejections from a sector must be sent via U.S. mail, as signed statements are required. NMFS has designed a secure web portal where sector managers may securely download VTR, VMS, NEFOP, ASM, and annual report data, and upload weekly reports (https://www.nero.noaa.gov/NMFSlogin/login/login). While annual reports are not submitted via this portal, may be submitted via U.S. mail or by electronic means (email). ACE transfers requests may also be submitted via this web portal. Electronic Vessel Trip Reports (eVTR) has been approved for use as an approved reporting method, provided the program meets the necessary data requirements and is approved by NMFS.
Automated reporting has been made available via VMS for fishing vessels required to have the system for participation in a sector. Additionally, automated declarations, once-hourly polling and catch reporting are all available through electronic means (VMS).
No other improved information collection technology has been identified to further reduce the burden associated with this family of forms. Every effort will be made in the future to use computer technology to reduce the public burden.
4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.
The information to be collected through this information collection is not duplicated elsewhere. The Magnuson-Stevens Act’s operational guidelines require each FMP to evaluate existing state and Federal laws that govern the fisheries in question, and the findings are made part of each FMP. Council membership includes state and Federal officials responsible for resource management in their area. Therefore, NMFS is confident that it is aware of similar collections if they exist.
5. If the collection of information involves small businesses or other small entities, describe the methods used to minimize burden.
Only the minimum data needed to meet the permit objectives are requested from all respondents. Since most of the respondents are small businesses, separate requirements based on the size of business have not been developed.
NMFS has currently certified six providers to provide VMS service to vessels participating in the fisheries that require VMS as a condition of their permits. Each provider offers comparable equipment and services over a range of prices. This reduces the burden on the public by increasing competition among providers, thereby decreasing costs to the fishing industry to obtain and operate a VMS unit. Further, the increased variety of VMS units may allow vessel owners/operators to select the most economical and efficient unit to purchase, therefore minimizing costs associated with VMS.
NMFS has currently certified five providers to provide at-sea monitors to vessels participating NE Multispecies sectors. Each provider offers comparable equipment and services over a range of prices. This reduces the burden on the public by increasing competition among providers, thereby decreasing costs to the fishing industry to obtain at-sea monitoring service. Further, the number of service providers may allow vessel owners/operators to select the most economical provider for at-sea monitoring.
Through this action, NMFS has also reduced duplicative reporting requirements, and reduced the number of fields included in the required catch reports.
6. Describe the consequences to the Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently.
Not conducting the collection of information described in Questions 1 and 2 would undermine NMFS’s ability to effectively implement ACLs, AMs, and sector provisions. This collection of information is necessary for a variety of reasons, including monitoring fishing effort and catch, enforcing area specific measures, and increasing efficiency of sector operations by facilitating exchanges of ACE. Furthermore, reducing the frequency of collection would also compromise the ability to monitor vessel activities, in turn affecting the enforcement of management measures.
To the extent practicable, frequency of information collection under this new collection has been minimized. To reduce the frequency any further would compromise the intent of each collection of information requirement. For example, less frequent monitoring of vessels fishing under the NE multispecies program (participating in either a sector or the common pool) would reduce the effectiveness of the system in helping prevent violations of DAS controls and ACE allocations, which, in turn, could reduce the effectiveness of measures to control fishing mortality and rebuild overfished stocks.
7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with OMB guidelines.
Some of the requirements may not be consistent with OMB guidelines with regard to the reporting frequency. While OMB guidelines suggest that respondents not be required to report more often than quarterly, requirements for VMS for NE multispecies, sector manager weekly catch reports, and new dealer requirements will require more frequent reports.
Vessels that intend to target NE multispecies fishery must declare via VMS that they will be on such a trip prior to leaving and upon returning to port. The declaration requirement is needed to keep an accounting of DAS usage and fishing location necessary to attribute catch to stock areas and effectively monitor ACLs. Similarly, the sector manager weekly catch reports are needed to ensure that each sector is adequately monitoring its allocation of ACE. Dealers will be required to provide monitors with a copy of weigh-out slips/receipts to ensure consistency.
The daily VMS trip report requirement for vessels that declare trips into the GOM Gulf of Maine Broad Stock Area and any other broad stock area is necessary to promote more accurate trip declarations and catch reporting from vessels, which will lead to a stronger likelihood that the GOM cod trip limit will not be exceeded.
8. Provide information on 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.
A Federal Register Notice was published on May 22, 2015, to solicit comments on this information collection (80 FR 29634); there were no comments submitted in response to this notice.
Comments were solicited at the New England and Massachusetts Fishery Management Council meetings in December, 2015. The FRN was included in the Groundfish section of the status report, and commenters were asked to send any responses to the Department of Commerce contact. No comments were received.
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.
As stated on the forms, all data will be handled in accordance with NOAA Administrative Order 216-100, 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). In addition, any information collected would be considered confidential and would not be disclosed except as provided in Section 402(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
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 a sensitive nature involved in this collection of information.
12. Provide an estimate in hours of the burden of the collection of information.
A full summary of the burden estimate involved in this collection of information can be found in Table 1 (posted as a supplementary document).
Operations Plan
As
previously outlined, each sector is required to submit an operations
plan to NMFS for approval. The operations plan must include
multiple elements detailing the proposed operations, reporting
requirements and monitoring provisions, membership, and exemption
requests. Operations plans can be submitted to either describe a
single fishing year (requiring annual submission), or up to two
fishing years (requiring biennial submission). If a sector submits
a two-year operations plan, it is required to submit an updated
membership list in advance of the second fishing year.
Of the 17 active sectors, 15 submitted two-year operations plans to cover the 2015 and 2016 fishing years. However, for all previous fishing years, each sector submitted a plan outlining activities for a single fishing year. In the interest of conservatively estimating the burden of this requirement, this analysis assumes that each sector will submit a single year plan each year, but also includes the burden for submitting an updated membership list in advance of the second fishing year to cover sectors that submit two-year operations plans.
It is estimated that approximately 1 months (160 hours) would be necessary to prepare, compile and revise the requirements of a sector operations plan, and to have these documents reviewed. Therefore, in total, it is anticipated that a total of 2,720 (17 sectors x 160 hours) hours would be required annually for the preparation of the operations plans. If a sector submits a two-year operations plan, an estimated 16 hours are necessary to compile, prepare and submit updated membership list prior to the start of the second fishing year. Therefore, it is estimated that a total of 272 (17 sectors x 16 hours) hours would be required annually for the preparation of updated membership lists.
Therefore, the total annualized time burden of this requirement for the public is estimated to be 2,992 hours (2,720 hours for annual operations plans + 272 hours for annual membership list updates).
Monitoring and Reporting Service Providers Application
NMFS anticipates that five monitoring service providers may apply for approval and operate under this program, for a total of 5 submissions per year. In addition, it is expected that 3 of the applications will be required to supplement their original application with a 5-page supplemental document. An estimated 10 hours of preparation would be required by each application to compile all required documents, while each response to an initial denial is anticipated to take an additional 10 hours. Therefore, based on the previously estimated burden, a total of 80 hours is expected from the monitoring and reporting service provider application requirement (50 hours for the initial applications plus 30 hours for the expected responses).
Monitoring System for Discards
Each sector will be required to maintain a database of all VTRs, dealer reports, dockside monitor reports, and ASM and NEFOP observer data associated with trips by sector vessels. The time burden associated with this requirement is in the amount of time it would take for sector staff to enter the data into a database. Data from dealer reports, observer reports, and at-sea monitor reports will be provided electronically to sectors. The sector manager or designated staff will access the NMFS portal (referenced in Question 3), download the data and upload it to the sector’s database. It is estimated that the time burden associated with this task would be negligible, regardless of the number of sector trips involved. For the purpose of estimating the time burden of entering VTR data, it is assumed that sector vessels will provide sector managers with paper copies of VTRs. Data from the paper copies would have to be manually entered into the sector database at an estimated burden of three minutes per VTR. Assuming that all of the 15,000 trips anticipated to be made in the groundfish fishery each year are made by sector vessels, this would produce a conservative estimate of the total number of VTRs sectors would have to process each year. As some portion of these trips would be made in multiple areas and require multiple VTRs per trip, sectors would have to process a maximum of 20,000 VTRs. Thus, the estimated annual burden to sectors for processing VTRs would be 1,000 hours (3 minutes/VTR x 20,000 VTRs).
Sector Manager Weekly Reports
As described in Questions 1 and 2, Amendment 16 requires sectors to submit weekly reports summarizing information describing the fishing activities, harvest levels of all federally managed species, and any applicable enforcement actions attributable to sector vessels to NMFS. Compilation of data and preparation of the report should mirror the efforts of NMFS staff who prepare weekly quota reports. Based upon this, it is expected that each sector would require approximately 4 hours to prepare and submit the required weekly report. In total, approximately 3,536 hours are expected to be required annually for the preparation and submission of all weekly sector reports (4 hours x 17 sectors x 52 weeks).
Annual Reports
All sectors approved under the provisions contained at § 648.87 would be required to submit annual year-end reports as described in Questions 1 and 2. The information required to be included in this report would likely necessitate collecting and reviewing data obtained from each of the sector participants and assembling this information into a cohesive report. Amendment 16 specified the collection of landings and discards, however, due to the preparation of weekly reports including similar information, and the fact that NMFS has provided much of this data to the sectors for the past two years; it is difficult to estimate the amount of time that would be spent developing this report. The estimated response time is 12 hours. With a potential of 17 sectors, the estimated burden associated with this information collection would be 204 hours.
Notification of Ejection from a Sector
As previously stated, sectors must specify in their Operations Plan how and when NMFS would be notified of the ejection of a member due to an infraction. A total of 1,482 vessels have the opportunity to join a sector, of which approximately half have preliminarily enrolled to participate. Amendment 16 prohibited vessels that have been ejected from a sector to participate in the groundfish fishery for the remainder of the permit year; therefore only one ejection per vessel is expected in any given permit year. Between FYs 2010 and 2011, 4 vessels were ejected from a sector. Therefore, a conservative estimate of all vessels intending to participate in sectors is 10 vessels. Notification would likely be immediate in the form of a phone call or email, with formal correspondence to follow in the mail. Therefore, it is likely to take approximately one half hour to place the telephone call or send the email, and draft, print and send the necessary correspondence. In total, this provision would require an estimated burden of 5 hours.
ANNUAL CATCH ENTITLEMENT (ACE) TRANSFERS
The ACE Transfer program is restricted to sectors and its participants. The estimated number of potential participants in this program would be the number of potential sectors (17 for the 2015 fishing year). NMFS conservatively estimates 1,000 individual ACE transfers of only one stock, based on roughly 640 transfers in FY 2013 and 549 transfers in FY 2014). This estimate was reduced from 1,500 iin the last iteration. This number presumes that some sectors will participate in more than one transfer, while others will not participate at all. Sectors wishing to participate would be required to complete an Application to Transfer Annual Catch Entitlement (ACE). One form is required to process each ACE transfer request. Both sectors participating in the agreement (Transferor and Transferee) must enter information pertaining to their sector on the same form, and sign the form at the bottom, indicating their agreement to the specifics of the transfer. This results in a total of 2,000 responses (2 responses per ACE transfer form). According to an estimated average burden of 5 minutes per response, a total of 167 hours (2,000 responses x 5 minutes) would be the burden for this data collection.
For the 147 vessels issued Category HA permits that may be required to use VMS when joining sectors under Amendment 16, there will be two responses associated with installation:
1) completion of the VMS Certification form, and 2) a telephone call to confirm VMS activation with OLE. The estimated burden associated with the VMS activation confirmation requirement is 5 minutes (for a total burden of 12 hours, annualized to 4 hours), and the VMS certification form takes an estimated 10 minutes to complete (for a total burden of 25 hours, annualized to 8 hours, 20 minutes (8 hours).
For each trip, a declaration including information on the vessel, days and times of departure, and description of fishing activities, will need to be transmitted via VMS. With a conservative estimate of 15,000 trips, it is estimated to require 1,250 hours (5 min per declaration) for all 1,482 Northeast Multispecies vessels to make the required declaration.
All vessels that declare their intent to fish in two or more of the broad reporting areas would be required to submit a report via VMS at the 0900 hr on each fishing day that details the amount of fish the vessel kept by broad reporting area. Therefore, it is estimated that this requirement would apply to 100 vessels, the number of vessel that fished trips in multiple areas in the 2013 fishing year. This is a reasonable estimate for the maximum number of vessels that would fish trips in more than one reporting area in the coming fishing years, and is consistent with the estimate provided during the last extension of this information collection (estimated 105 fishing vessels for 2011 fishing year). Of the 100 vessels that declared trip into multiple broad stock areas, 15 took trips that averaged less than one day in length, and 85 took trips averaging 5 days in length. The 15 vessels that took trips that averaged less than one day in length took approximately 75 trips in the 2013 fishing year (average of 5 trips per year). For these 15 vessels, there are an estimated 75 total annual VMS trip report submissions (5 trip reports per year x 15 vessels). Using an estimate of approximately 15 minutes, the total estimated burden of for these catch reports is 19 hours (i.e., 15 minutes per report multiplied by 75 trips). The 85 vessels that took trips that averaged 5 days in length took 640 trips in during the 2013 fishing year (average of 7 trips per year), and the total estimated burden of for these catch reports is 744 hours (i.e., 15 minutes per report x 7 trips per year x 5 days long trips x 85. For these 85 vessels, there are an estimated 2,975 annual daily VMS report submissions (7 trips per year x 5 day long trips x 85 vessels). The total estimated responses and burden for these catch reports are 3,050 and 763 hours.
The SAP catch reports will include the same data fields as the broad reporting area catch reports described above. Since this catch report will be universal in form for all SAPs, the estimated time burden to the public of fulfilling this requirement for each SAP will be the same for all SAPs. Given the breadth of changes that Amendment 16 brought to the groundfish fishery and anticipated changes to ACLs, it is difficult to anticipate the level of participation in SAPs that may be expected in the coming fishing years. These are reasonable estimates of the annual number of trips into the U.S./Canada Area and SAPs in the coming fishing years, and the number of entities this requirement would apply to, because reductions in fishing mortality may reduce effort overall. However, overall, the total time burden associated with such catch reports is not expected to change. As a result, the burden to vessels participating in the U.S. Canada Management Area and associated SAPs is estimated to remain at 3,500 hours (15 minutes x 14,000 reports).The total time burden to vessels participating in the Closed Area I Hook Gear Haddock SAP is expected to remain at 533 hours (15 minutes x 2,130 reports).Finally, the total time burden to vessels participating in the Regular B Program is expected to remain at 1,246 hours (15 minutes X 4,985 reports).
Trip-Start Hail
Before the start of certain trips, vessels are required to notify of their intent to take a trip. This hail can be done as an email via VMS or by phone. The hail would take an estimated two minutes to complete and would affect approximately 1,482 entities annually, which is the total number of limited access NE multispecies permit holders. It is estimated that NE multispecies permit holders will make a total of 15,000 trips next year, issuing one trip-start hail per trip, for a total of 15,000 hails. Therefore, the total estimated time burden for all vessels is 500 hours (2 min/hail x 15,000 hails). Because this includes the total number of trips anticipated to be taken by all NE multispecies vessels, the total estimated burden of 500 hours would be the total burden for the entire fishery (including common pool vessels).
Trip-End Hail
The requirement entails notifying NMFS of the intent to land a trip. This hail can be done through VMS or by phone and is estimated to take 15 minutes to complete. It is estimated that NE multispecies permit holders will make a total of 15,000 trips next year, issuing one trip-end hail per trip, for a total of 15,000 trip-end hails. To account for the time burden associated with additional hails that may be sent as corrections to errors in the trip-end hail, an additional 2,500 hails are expected for a total of 17,500 hails. Therefore, the total estimated time burden to the public for complying with this requirement is 4,375 hours.
AT-SEA MONITORING AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
Pre-Trip Notification
At-sea monitoring coverage is set annually by NMFS. Sector vessels will be required to notify their monitoring provider for at-sea monitoring services of their intent to make a trip, as specified in the operation plan, including such information as vessel name, permit number, VTR serial number, date, location, and time of departure. This notification would consist of a phone call to the monitoring provider that is expected to take approximately two minutes to complete. It is unclear how many vessels will participate in sectors annually (estimated at 900 vessels), and thus how many entities this requirement would affect and how many trips those entities will make. To produce a conservative estimate of the total annual time burden to the public for complying with this requirement, the assumption is made that all trips will be taken by sector vessels. Therefore, the total estimated time burden to the public of complying with this requirement is 500 hours [2 minutes/notification x 1 notification/trip x 15,000 trips].
Vessel Notification of Selection for Coverage
Once a sector vessel has made their pre-trip notification to the sector’s at-sea monitoring provider, the provider must determine which trips by the sector will be assigned an at-sea monitor and notify the vessel of its selection for coverage. It is expected that this requirement would apply to up to five entities, which is the number of providers that have applied for approval to provide monitoring services to sector vessels. The notification would be done by phone and would take approximately five minutes to complete. Based upon the highest coverage rate previously required (25%), the providers would have to issue an estimated 3,750 notifications to individual vessels each year (25% of 15,000 trips). his results in a total estimated time burden to the public of 313 hours (5 minutes x 3,750 notifications).
Database and Data Entry Requirements
At-Sea Monitoring Provider Database
Amendment 16 required that at-sea monitoring providers maintain a database of monitor reports, monitor deployments, and other associated information. With respect to at-sea monitoring, this requirement is expected to apply to up to five entities, which is the number of providers that have applied for approval to provide monitoring services to the groundfish industry. Data collected by individual at-sea monitors would be transmitted directly to NMFS via an electronic hand-held data collection device. This data will be processed by Northeast Fishery Observer Program (NEFOP) staff, which would then make the data available electronically to the at-sea monitoring providers and sector managers. The sector manager or designated staff will access the NMFS portal (referenced in Question 3), download the data and upload it to the sector’s database. It is estimated that the time burden associated with this task would be negligible, regardless of the number of sector trips involved. Therefore, there is no expected time burden to the public associated with this requirement.
NMFS Data Processing
NEFOP staff receives data directly from at-sea monitors via an electronic method that does not have a time burden associated with it. NEFOP will process this data in accordance with NEFOP procedures, before making it available to the public. This requirement will be fulfilled by the Federal government and, therefore, there is no expected time burden for the public associated with this requirement.
At-Sea Monitoring Provider Reporting Requirements
Amendment 16 specifies that at-sea monitoring providers would be required to make several reports available to NMFS, if requested, These reports include: reports of monitor deployments, reports including catch/discard data, reports of harassment, copies of contracts, copies of additional materials, and ensuring that that monitors remain available for debriefing for two weeks following a monitored trip. A total of 5 at-sea monitoring providers are anticipated to participate in this program. It is estimated to require 17,108 hours to comply with all of these reporting provisions.
Activities |
Providers |
Items per Entity |
Total Items |
Time Per Response |
Total Hours |
Report of Monitor Deployments |
5 |
1680 |
8,400 |
10 min |
1400 |
Relay Catch/Discard Data to NMFS |
5 |
1680 |
8,400 |
5 min |
700 |
Reports of Harassment, Discrimination, Safety Concern, Injury, etc. |
5 |
1000 |
5000 |
30 min |
2500 |
Copy of Each Signed and valid Contract between Provider and Entities Requiring Monitoring |
5 |
1 |
5 |
30 min |
3 |
Copy of Additional Service Provider Documents |
5 |
2 |
10 |
30 min |
5 |
OLE Debrief of Monitor |
5 |
1250 |
6250 |
2 hours |
12,500 |
TOTALS |
5 |
|
28,065 |
|
17,108 |
Changes to the requirements for Observer notification will require all 1,482 vessels enrolled in sectors or fishing in the common pool to notify NEFOP of its intent to make a trip via telephone call. It is anticipated that approximately 15,000 trips will be made by all NE multispecies vessels. Using the time burden previously approved under OMB Control No. 0648-0202, it is expected to require approximately 2 minutes to complete this call. Therefore, a total burden of 500 hours is anticipated.
DAS TRANSFER PROGRAM
Only vessels with a valid limited access NE multispecies permit or CPH would be allowed to permanently transfer DAS to another vessel. A total of approximately 1,400 vessels would be able to permanently transfer DAS to another vessel annually. The application for this transfer is expected to take 5 minutes to complete, for a total burden of 117 hours.
SUBMISSION OF PROPOSED SPECIAL ACCESS PROGRAMS
It is expected that one proposed special access program will be submitted annually. Without knowing how long these applications would be, it is difficult to approximate the time associated with generating this submission. However, a conservative estimate of 20 hours to review data, and generate a proposal is assumed.
NAFO REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
NMFS estimates that the recording of all of the above listed information would average 55 minutes each day based on the following assumptions:
Trip declaration: 5 minutes each trip
Pre-trip notification: 5 minutes for each trip
Haul-by-haul logbook information: 25 minutes (5 minutes each haul x 5 hauls/day)
Daily catch report information: 5 minutes
Production logbook information: 5 minutes
Stowage plan updated information: 5 minutes
Pre-landing notification: 5 minutes for each trip
Therefore, if each vessel completes 10 trips, averaging 5 days each, the annual burden would be 92 hours (55 minutes/day x 5 days x 10 trips/year x 2 vessels).
Total respondents, responses and hours:
1,482 respondents, 158,045 responses (rounded up to 158, 047 in ROCIS) and 38.812 hours.
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).
A full summary of the burden estimate involved in this collection of information can be found in Table 1.
Operations Plan
In the five years since Amendment 16 was implemented, sector managers have become experienced in developing complete, comprehensive operations plans. It is now estimated to cost $5,000 annually to develop operations plans, assuming sector managers receive a salary of roughly $50,000 per year and send roughly one month developing operations plans. For 17 sectors, the annual cost to develop operations plans is $85,000 ($5,000 x 17 sectors).
In addition to the preparation of these documents, submission of these documents would incur costs associated with copying and the postage required for delivery of the documents to NMFS. It is unknown how large these documents would be, however, based upon the documents submitted in recent fishing years, it is estimated that each operations plans would require approximately 50 pages. Monitoring provider documents will also be submitted in conjunction with the operations plan by the sector (see below), therefore it is estimated that an additional 200 pages will be submitted. In total, it is anticipated that sectors will be submitting approximately 400 pages of materials. With copying costs estimated at $0.10, the cost incurred by each sector is approximately $40. The cost of mailing a 5 pound parcel from the furthest state covered by the Northeast region would cost approximately $10.00. Therefore, each sector would incur an additional $50 cost for copying and submission of the required documents annually, for an annual total of $850 ($50 x 17 sectors).
In summary, a total cost of $85,850 is anticipated to be incurred by these requirements.
Monitoring and Reporting Service Providers Application
Monitoring provider documents are proposed to be submitted to the Sectors for inclusion in each operations plan. It is anticipated that each provider would supply the documents via electronic means, therefore incurring no additional costs. At $0.10 per page, it is anticipated that $20 will be incurred to cover copying costs. Therefore, the total burden to the providers is anticipated to be $20.
Submission of an additional 5 pages to respond to a service provider disapproval would cost approximately $1.50 in copying costs (5 pages X 3 responses X $0.10/page) plus approximately $1.50 in mailing costs (3 responses X $0.49 postage), for a total of $3.
Monitoring System for Discards
Assuming sector managers receive a salary of roughly $50,000 per year, or roughly $24 per hour, and assuming a collective 1,000 hours is spent entering VTR data into the monitoring system for discards, the total burden to sectors in contractor costs is anticipated to be $24,000 each year.
Sector Manager Weekly Catch Reports
It is unknown how large these documents would be, but based on internal weekly quota monitoring procedures, they would likely not be more than 5 pages. Assuming these documents are submitted in electronically, therefore no additional costs would be incurred.
Annual Reports
The submission of sector annual reports required under Amendment 16 incurs costs, proportional to the size of the document, from copying and the mailing of these documents to NMFS. It is estimated that an annual report would be about 20 pages in length. Therefore, an annual cost burden for the submission of this document is estimated at $4 per submission ([20 pages X $0.10 per page] + [4 stamps X $0.49 per stamp]), or $68 total for all 17 sectors.
Notification of Ejection from a Sector
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 startup costs associated with this provision are negligible. Therefore, immediate notification by either telephone or electronic communication would not incur additional costs beyond usual business practices. Using the previously assumed rate for copying ($0.10/page), it is estimated that a 1-page notification of expulsion would, in total cost $1 annually (10 responses X 1 page X $0.10/page). Additionally, the costs associated with mailing (1 stamp) this 1-page correspondence is estimated at $5 (10 responses X $0.49/stamp). In total, notification of expulsion from a sector is anticipated to cost $6 annually.
For each ACE transfer request, two respondents would have to enter their information onto the application to transfer ACE form. It is not known whether ACE transfer would take place in person, or through other means. Accordingly, participants may mail the transfer application to the other participant to complete the transaction. The form would then have to be mailed to NMFS for processing. With 1,000 applications anticipated per year, there would be a maximum postage cost of $980 (1,000 stamps to mail the transfer from one respondent to the other + 1,000 more to mail the document to NMFS X $0.49/stamp). Participants may wish to retain a copy of the ACE transfer form for their own records. Using an estimate of $0.10 per page for copying costs, participants would incur an additional $200 cost (2,000 copies X $0.10/copy). Therefore, postage and copying costs would total $1,180.
The 147 additional Category HA vessels will need to purchase and install a VMS unit at a cost of $3,200 each, annualized to $1,067 or $156,800 for all vessels. These vessels must also call to confirm VMS installation; however, as telephone service is considered a routine business expense, no additional cost is expected to be incurred based on the VMS installation confirmation call. A one-time postage cost of approximately $72 is associated with VMS Certification Form submission ($.49 per stamp x 147 vessels), annualized to $24.
VMS monitoring in the NE multispecies fishery is automated, but costs $0.05 per transmission with a polling rate of one time per hour. The total cost for daily, once-hourly VMS location transmission is $1.20 per vessel (24 polls/day X $0.05), totaling $176 daily, for all Category HA permits. The transmission costs for all other vessels are covered under OMB Control No. 0648-0202.
The average monthly cost for a VMS unit, based on annual maintenance costs, is approximately $150, or $22,050 for all Category HA vessels. The total cost of monthly operation is $27,360 ($22,050 + $5,310 for monthly polling). Annual maintenance costs would be $264,600 and annual polling costs, $63,720).
For each trip, a declaration with information on the vessel, days and times of departure, and description of fishing activities, will need to be transmitted via VMS. At $1 per declaration, it is anticipated to cost the 1,444 vessels $15,000 to make the required declarations for their 15,000 trips.
All vessels that declare the intent to fish in two or more of the broad reporting areas will be required to submit a report via VMS at the conclusion of the trip that details the amount of fish the vessel kept. The catch report would include the VTR serial number (14 characters), date (8 characters), kept catch of each groundfish stock (13 species x 4 stock areas x 6 characters each = 312 characters), kept catch of all fish on board (6 characters), and commas separating the fields (54 characters), for a total of 394 characters per report. At a cost of $0.004 per character plus $0.50 per submission (cost of the most expensive VMS provider), each catch report would cost $2.228. Therefore, the total cost to the public of complying with this requirement is estimated to be $6,795 ($2.228/report x 75 one day or less trip reports x 2,975 average 5 day length trips).
The SAP catch reports will include the same data fields as the broad reporting area catch reports, and will have the same transmission cost of $2.228 per report. Since this catch report will be universal in form for all SAPs, the estimated cost to the public of fulfilling this requirement for each SAP will be the same. The total cost to the public of vessels participating in the U.S./Canada Management Area and associated SAPs is estimated to be $31,192 ($2.228/report x 14,000 reports). The total cost to the public of vessels participating in the Closed Area I Hook Gear Haddock SAP is estimated to be $4,745 ($2.228/report x 2,130 reports). The total cost associated with vessels participating in the Regular B Program is estimated to be $11,140 ($2.228/report x 5,000 reports).
TRIP HAILS
Trip-Start Hail
For the purpose of estimating cost burden, it was assumed that all entities would make the trip-start hail via VMS. The hail email must include the vessel permit number (6 characters), Trip ID number (14 characters), anticipated arrival time (12 characters), and anticipated offload time (12 characters), intended port/harbor and state of offload (12 characters), and whether or not the vessel was selected for an observer or at-sea monitor, with fields separated by commas (5 characters), plus a general comment field for vessels to indicate whether vessels are fishing inshore/offshore or targeting a specific species, as well as space for future notes, brings the total to 96 characters including commas.
For 96 characters at $0.004 plus $0.50 per email transmission, there is a cost of $0.884 per hail. Assuming that all trips will be taken by sector vessels (15,000 trips), this results in a total cost to the public of $13,260 ($0.884/hail x 15,000 hails).
Trip-End Hail
For the purpose of estimating cost burden, it was assumed that all entities would make the trip-end hail via VMS, as opposed to by radio or phone. The most expensive VMS provider currently charges an estimated $1.024 per trip end hail. Assuming 17,500 items, at one hail per trip (including 2,500 correction hails), the total cost to the public of fulfilling this requirement would be $17,920 ($1.024/hail x 17,500 hails).
Hails and Notification
Pre-Trip Notification
It is assumed that the pre-trip notification by sector vessels to the at-sea monitoring providers would be done by phone. Therefore, the cost of making this phone call is expected to be included in the costs of each individual vessel operator’s phone service and result in no additional cost burden to the public.
Vessel Notification of Selection for Coverage
It is assumed that the notification by the provider to vessels of their selection for at-sea monitoring would be done by phone. Therefore, the cost of making this phone call is expected to be included in the costs of each individual provider’s phone service and result in no additional cost burden to the public.
Daily cost for ASM
Northeast multispecies permit holders are expected to assume the sampling costs for at-sea monitoring at some point during the 2015 fishing year, and are expected to continue to pay for sampling in future fishing years. The costs for at-sea monitoring are estimated to be $710 per sea day. The Greater Atlantic Regional Office estimated that 5,312 seadays would be necessary to reach the necessary level of monitoring coverage in 2015. The level of necessary coverage has been consistent from 2012 to 2015. Fishing effort has been decreasing slightly each fishing year, and is expected to continue to decrease given the status of a number of groundfish stocks. Therefore, it is estimated that the cost to the public of fulfilling this requirement will be $3,771,520 ($710 x 5,312 seadays).
Database and Data Entry Requirements
At-Sea Monitoring Provider Database
Each at-sea monitoring provider will be required to maintain a database of all at-sea monitor reports, deployments, and associated information. The cost burden associated with this requirement was determined to be the cost of the database itself, which could consist of a personal computer (PC) equipped with Microsoft Excel at an annualized cost of $500. NEFOP will be providing the at-sea monitoring data to the providers and sectors in an electronic form that can be uploaded to the provider or sector databases at little to no cost. We do not anticipate any additional costs to the providers for data input. Therefore, the total cost to the public of complying with this requirement is estimated to be $500 annually, totaling $2,500 per year for five providers. Note, this is the maximum estimate, assuming there is a 100% turnover of providers.
NMFS Data Processing
NEFOP staff will receive data directly from at-sea monitors via an electronic method that is not anticipated to have a cost burden associated with it for the public. NEFOP will process this data in accordance with NEFOP procedures, before making it available to the public. This requirement will be fulfilled by the Federal government and, therefore, there is no expected cost burden for the public associated with this requirement.
At-Sea Monitoring Provider Reporting Requirements
As outlined above, at-sea monitoring providers must submit a number of reports, if requested. These reports include: reports of monitor deployments, reports including catch/discard data, reports of harassment, copies of contracts, copies of additional materials, and ensuring that monitors remain available for debriefing for two weeks following a monitored trip. With copying ($0.10 per page) and mailing ($0.49 per stamp), or $0.59 per report, costs for the 28,065 reports would total $16,558.
For the OLE debrief included under these requirements, there are no costs to the respondents.
No additional cost to the public is expected to be incurred by the public due to this requirement, as telephone service is considered a routine business expense.
DAS TRANSFER PROGRAM
Participants in the DAS Transfer Program are required to submit a DAS Transfer application that has been signed by both the seller and buyer. It is likely that for each request, the application would be mailed first to the buyer and then to NMFS. Therefore, two stamps ($0.98) are required for each submission. For their own records, two copies would likely be made, resulting in an estimated copying cost of $0.20 when using a cost of $0.10/page for this submission. This results in an overall annualized cost to the public of $1,652 ($1,372 for postage of 1,400 applications, and $280 for copying costs).
SUBMISSION OF PROPOSED SAPs
The NE multispecies regulations specify the issues must be addressed in an application for a new SAP. However, it is unknown how many pages an application for a new SAP would be. The only costs associated with this submission would be the costs to copy and mail the application to the Council and NMFS for review. Without knowing how long these applications would be, it is difficult to approximate the costs associated with this submission. A rough estimate of approximately 10 pages was used to for this submission. Copying costs are estimated at $0.10/page. Mailing a document of this size would likely require at least two stamps at $0.49 each. This would result in a total annualized cost of approximately $2 per submission, with 1 submission per year estimated
NAFO REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
The costs associated with these requirements include the operational costs for VMS (the participating vessels already have VMS units), message costs associated with daily catch reports and pre-trip and pre-landing reports, the cost of the vessel capacity plan (one-time fee), and observer costs. VMS monthly operating costs are $150. Daily catch and pre-trip and pre-landing reports are estimated to average 300 characters. At $0.004 per character and $0.5/submission, required reports are estimated to cost $6.14 per trip (($0.512 per report x 12 reports/trip)), or $122.8 per year ($ 6.14 per trip x 10 trips/year x 2 vessels). The one-time cost for vessel capacity plan is estimated at $1,000 $2,000 for two vessels). Observers cost $25,000/year for both NAFO vessels ($500/day x 10 days/trip x 5 trips per year x 2 vessels). Combined, the estimated annualized cost of NAFO operations is $30,846.
Total Start-Up Costs for this collection
Start-up and refresh costs for 147 VMS monitors, annualized to $156,840.
Total costs to the public are $4,455,674.
14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government.
A full summary of the burden estimate involved in this collection of information can be found in Table 1.
Operations Plans
Sector documents submitted to NMFS under the provisions outlined in Amendment 16 would require extensive review to ensure that the operations plan meet the objectives of the FMP without jeopardizing the rebuilding plans of groundfish stocks. It is anticipated to require 20 hours to review each sector’s submission. Using a wage rate of $30/hour (ZP1-02 and ZP-03 levels), results in an annualized cost to the government of $10,200 (20 hours X 17 sector X $30/hour).
The cost to the government for reviewing membership updates is $1,530 (3 hours review x 17 sectors x $30 per hour).
Monitoring and Reporting Service Provider Application
Since monitoring provider documents are proposed to be submitted along with the sector’s operations plan, it is expected that the cost of reviewing these documents would already be covered under the review of the operations plan.
Response to Denial
It is estimated to take the government approximately 1 hour to review each submission, totaling 3 hours. At a pay rate of $35/hour (ZP-03 level), it would cost $105 to review these additional materials.
Monitoring System for Discards
The sector database requirement will be fulfilled by individual sectors and, therefore, this requirement is expected to have no cost burden for the Federal government.
Sector Manager Weekly Catch Reports
Since NMFS will use the weekly report to ensure that the data being used by the sector is consistent with the data submitted directly to NMFS, staff will be required to review the weekly reports. It is anticipated to require approximately 2 hours to review each submission, and reconcile data. At the ZP-03 level ($35/hour) the review of 884 reports (17 sectors x 52 reports) is anticipated to cost $30,940.
Annual Reports
In addition, each approved sector would be required to submit an annual report summarizing the sector’s activities and harvest levels for the fishing year. Based upon the estimate included in Amendment 13 for the review of an annual report, and factoring in additional requirements, it is estimated to require approximately 4 hours to review and evaluate the performance of the sector. This review would cost the government $140 per submission (ZP-03 level at $35/hour), resulting in a potential cost of $2,380 ($140/submission x 17 submissions).
Notification of Ejection from a Sector
Upon receipt of notification that a vessel has been ejected from a sector, NMFS would be required to process this information internally, including notifying multiple divisions of this action, likely through electronic means. It is therefore anticipated that it would require approximately 30 minutes to notify the appropriate parties and add the proper information into the appropriate databases. Therefore, it is estimated to cost the government approximately $150 (10 responses X 0.5 hours X $30/hour) annually.
Costs associated with the transfer program reflect a cost of $15/hour to the government at the ZP-02 level. The cost to the government for the ACE transfer program requires 10 minutes per request. This results in an annualized cost of $2,500 to the government (1,000 applications x 10 minutes/response x $15/hour) to review and process an ACE transfer. In addition, the government would incur the costs associated with distributing receipts to both participants. It is estimated that one toner cartridge would be necessary to print these receipts at approximately $40. These receipts are mailed to each participant at a cost of $980 (2,000 stamps X $0.49/stamp). This results in an additional cost of $3,480 to the government for the management of the ACE transfer program.
Based on estimates used in the renewal of OMB Control No. 0648-0202, there is a $25 per hour wage and overhead cost to the Government associated with the call-ins to verify proof of VMS installation and processing of the VMS Certification Form. Assuming 147 vessels purchase new VMS units, the total annualized cost to the government for receiving verification calls and processing certification forms is estimated at $306 (147 vessels x 15 minutes/verification x $25/hour/3 years). There is no cost to the Federal government associated with automated VMS polling of vessel position.
The only cost incurred by the Federal government from this requirement is associated with software used to process the transmissions. These software costs are included in the general costs of operating and administering the VMS program, which are estimated at $352,293 annually. This requirement will not add any additional burden to the Federal government.
BROAD STOCK AREA REQUIREMENTS
The VMS catch reports from vessels fishing in multiple broad reporting areas will be transmitted to NMFS via VMS. The costs associated with the transmission of this message will be borne by the individual vessels. The only cost incurred by the Federal government from this requirement is associated with software used to process the transmissions. These software costs are included in the general costs of operating and administering the VMS program, which are estimated at $352,293 annually. This requirement will not add any additional burden to the Federal government.
CATCH REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
The VMS catch reports from vessels fishing in SAPs will be transmitted to NMFS via VMS. The costs associated with the transmission of this message will be borne by the individual vessels. The only cost incurred by the Federal government from this requirement is associated with software used to process the transmissions. These software costs are included in the general costs of operating and administering the VMS program, which are estimated at $352,293 annually. This requirement will not add any additional burden to the Federal government.
TRIP HAILS
Trip-Start Hail
Individual vessels will hail NMFS before the start of a trip via telephone or an email via VMS. The cost of this transmission will be borne by the individual vessels making the hails and, therefore, this requirement is not expected to add an additional cost burden for the Federal government.
Trip-End Hail
Individual vessels will hail to NMFS at the end of a trip by email via VMS. The cost of this transmission will be borne by the individual vessels making the hails and, therefore, this requirement is expected to have no cost burden for the Federal government.
Notification of Monitor Emergency
Cost burden to the Federal government associated with this requirement was estimated as the cost of having staff take the five minute phone calls from providers for an estimated 25% of trips. The cost of phone service was not factored into this estimation, because it was assumed it would be covered under NMFS’ regular phone service costs. A wage rate of $25 per hour and a total hour burden of 521 hours [(5 min/call x 6,250 calls)/60 min] results in a total estimated cost burden to the Federal government of $13,021 ($25/hour x 521 hours).
Hails and Notifications
Pre-Trip Notification
Individual vessels will notify the at-sea monitoring providers of their intent to take a trip by phone. The cost of this phone call would be covered by the individual vessels making the notification and, therefore, this requirement is expected to have no cost burden for the Federal government.
Vessel Notification of Selection for Coverage
This requirement consists of a phone call from an at-sea monitoring provider to an individual vessel, upon receipt of the pre-trip notification, notifying the vessel that it has been selected for at-sea monitoring coverage. The cost of this notification will be borne by the at-sea monitoring
provider and,
therefore, this requirement is expected to have no cost burden for
the Federal government.
Database and Data Entry Requirements
At-Sea Monitoring Provider Database
This requirement is for providers providing at-sea monitoring services to maintain a database of at-sea monitor reports, deployments, and other data. The cost of complying with this requirement will be borne by the at-sea monitoring providers and, therefore, this requirement is expected to have no cost burden for the Federal government.
NMFS Data Processing2
NEFOP staff will receive data directly from at-sea monitors via an electronic method that is not expected to change the cost burden associated with the administration and operation of NEFOP. However, NEFOP will process this data in accordance with NEFOP procedures, before making it available to the public. Assuming a 25% coverage rate and that all groundfish trips are made by sector vessels, NEFOP will process data from 3,750 monitor reports annually. An estimate of 30 minutes to process each report at a pay rate of $35 per hour, the total cost to the government will be $65,625 (0.5 hours/report x 3,750 reports) x $35/hour).
Daily cost for ASM
The Federal Government incurs an estimated cost of $530 per seaday for at-sea monitoring costs. In fiscal year 2014, NMFS spent an estimated $531,953 on training, $626,043 on data processing, and $719,548 on program management for the groundfish at-sea monitoring program for a total cost of $1,877,544 . This total cost is divided by the number of at-sea monitor sea days accomplished in 2014 (3,541 days) to get a per sea day administrative costs of $530. For an estimated 5,312 seadays, the total cost to the government will be $2,815,360.
At-Sea Monitoring Provider Reporting Requirements
As outlined above, at-sea monitoring providers must submit a number of reports, if requested. These reports include: reports of monitor deployments, reports including catch/discard data, reports of harassment, copies of contracts, copies of additional materials, and ensuring that monitors remain available for debriefing for two weeks following a monitored trip. Assuming one hour to review each of the 28,065 submissions and conduct debriefs at a wage rate of $35/hour, these requirements are anticipated to cost the government $982,275.
NORTHEAST FISHERY OBSERVER TRIP NOTIFICATION
The cost calculations for observer deployment are based on $25 per hour wage and overhead value for the Government. There are an estimated 15,000 fishing trips per year that would be notifying NEFOP of a scheduled trip. Each response to an observer coverage request is expected to take 2 minutes to complete, thus the annualized cost to the Government is $12,500.
DAS TRANSFER PROGRAM
Costs associated with the DAS Transfer program reflect a cost of $25/hour to the Government. The cost to the government for the DAS Transfer program is expected to require 10 minutes per request. This results in an annualized cost to the government of $5,950 (1,400 applications x 10 minutes/response x $25/hour) to review DAS transfer requests. Additional costs likely to be incurred by the government include the costs of distributing confirmations of the DAS transfer to both parties ($0.98). These confirmations would be mailed to the participants resulting in postage costs of $1,372. This results in an overall cost of $7,322 to the Government for management of the DAS Transfer Program.
SUBMISSION OF PROPOSED SAP
Applications for proposed SAPs would be required to meet a number of requirements prior to their approval by the Council and the RA. These applications would require extensive review by NMFS staff. It is expected that each application would take approximately four (4) hours to review. Using a wage rate of $25 per hour for wages and overhead, review of an SAP submission has an estimated annualized cost to the Government of $100.
NAFO REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
The Federal Government incurs an estimated cost of $530 per seaday for NAFO observer costs. For an estimated 50 seadays, the total cost to the government will be $26,500.
Total government costs would be $1,638,912.
15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments.
Program Changes
While NMFS has funded the sampling cost for at-sea monitors in all previous fishing years since the inception of the sector management program, we are in the process of transitioning to industry funding for at-sea monitoring. We expect the transition to industry-funded ASM should happen sometime during the 2015 fishing year, likely after December 2015. Therefore, the cost that industry pays to service providers for monitoring, estimated at $710 per sea day for 5,312 sea days, is now included in this information collection. Total: $3,771.520.
NAFO burden estimates were not fully characterized in previous renewals, and are accurately described here. Fifty responses, 84 hours and $30,846 were added.
Net total program changes: An increase of 50 responses, 84 hours and $3,802,866.
Adjustments:
The dockside monitoring program was removed in Framework 48 (RIN 0658-BC27; 78 FR 26118, May 3, 2013). All of the burden, responses and costs related to this program were eliminated in May 2013 but this was not reflected in the applicable ICR. Responses, hours and costs removed as a correction: 215,315, 30,574 and $102,498.
Total net reductions due to adjustments, including the above: 1,525,631, 42,398 and $3,644,730. The additional adjustments are shown in Table 2.
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 NMFS 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.
Not Applicable.
18. Explain each exception to the certification statement.
Not Applicable.
B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS
This collection does not employ statistical methods.
Table 1 |
|||||||
|
# of Entities |
Items per Entity |
Total # of Items |
Response Time (hours) |
Total Burden |
Public |
Govt. |
Sector Operations |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operations Plan - Annual renewal |
17 |
1 |
17 |
160 |
2720 |
$ 85,850 |
$10,200 |
Operations Plan - Membership list update |
17 |
1 |
17 |
16 |
272 |
- |
$1,530 |
Monitoring and Reporting Service Providers Application |
5 |
1 |
5 |
10 |
50 |
$ 20 |
- |
Response to Denial |
3 |
1 |
3 |
10 |
30 |
$ 3 |
$105 |
Monitoring System for Discards (database) Annualized 20% coverage |
17 |
1,176 |
20,000 |
0.05 |
1000 |
$ 24,000 |
$0 |
Sector manager weekly catch reports |
17 |
52 |
884 |
4 |
3536 |
- |
$30,940 |
Annual Reports |
17 |
1 |
17 |
12 |
204 |
$ 68 |
$2,380 |
Notification of Ejection from Sector |
10 |
1 |
10 |
0.5 |
5 |
$ 6 |
$150 |
Transfer of ACE |
1000 |
2 |
2000 |
0.08 |
167 |
$ 1,180 |
$3,480 |
VMS Installation and Operation for Handgear A Permit Holders |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of VMS Unit ($3,200 per unit, annualized) |
147 |
1 |
|
|
|
$ 156,800 |
|
VMS Certification Form |
147 |
1 |
98 |
0.167 |
8 |
$ 16 |
$206 |
Call-in for unit confirmation |
147 |
1 |
98 |
0.083 |
4 |
- |
$100 |
VMS Operation |
147 |
|
|
|
|
$ 264,600 |
|
Area and DAS Declaration (time burden and message cost) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Groundfish vessels fishing under any NE Multispecies DAS |
1,482 |
10 |
15,000 |
0.083 |
1250 |
$ 15,000 |
- |
Broad Stock Area Requirements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
VMS trip catch reports - one day or less trips |
15 |
5 |
75 |
0.25 |
19 |
$ 167 |
n/a |
VMS trip catch reports - average 5 day length trips |
85 |
35 |
2,975 |
0.25 |
744 |
$ 6,628 |
n/a |
Catch Reporting Requirements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
US/Canada Area and CA II SAPs |
400 |
35 |
14,000 |
0.25 |
3500 |
$ 31,192 |
n/a |
Closed Area 1 SAP |
142 |
15 |
2,130 |
0.25 |
533 |
$ 4,746 |
n/a |
Regular B Program |
997 |
5 |
5,000 |
0.25 |
1246 |
$ 11,140 |
n/a |
Trip Hails |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Trip start hail |
1,482 |
10 |
15,000 |
0.03 |
500 |
$ 13,260 |
$0 |
Trip-end hail |
1,482 |
12 |
17,500 |
0.25 |
4375 |
$ 17,920 |
$0 |
At-Sea Monitoring and Reporting Requirements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pre-trip notification |
900 |
17 |
15,000 |
0.03 |
500 |
$ - |
|
Vessel notification of selection for coverage |
5 |
750 |
3,750 |
0.08 |
313 |
$ - |
|
Daily cost for at-sea monitoring |
1,482 |
0 |
|
0 |
0 |
$ 3,771,520 |
$0 |
NMFS ASM Database and Data Entry |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0.50 |
0 |
$ - |
$0 |
ASM Vendor Database Requirements |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
0 |
$ 2,500 |
$0 |
Reporting Requirements (costs for all items below) |
|
|
|
|
|
$ 16,558 |
|
Report of Monitor Deployments |
5 |
1680 |
8,400 |
0.167 |
1400 |
|
$294,000 |
Relay Catch/Discard Data to NMFS |
5 |
1680 |
8,400 |
0.083 |
700 |
|
$294,000 |
Reports of Harassment, Discrimination, Safety Concern, Injury, etc |
5 |
1000 |
5000 |
0.5 |
2500 |
|
$175,000 |
Copy of Each Signed and valid Contract between Provider and Entities Requiring Monitoring |
5 |
1 |
5 |
0.5 |
3 |
|
$175 |
Copy of Additional Service Provider Documents |
5 |
1 |
10 |
0.5 |
5 |
|
$350 |
OLE Debrief of Monitor |
5 |
1250 |
6250 |
2 |
12500 |
$ - |
$218,750 |
Northeast Fishery Observer Program |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
48-hour notification for all Multispecies Vessels |
1482 |
10 |
15000 |
0.03 |
500 |
$ - |
$12,500 |
DAS Transfer Program |
1400 |
1 |
1400 |
0.083 |
116 |
$ 1,652 |
$7,322 |
Submission of Proposed SAPs |
1 |
1 |
1 |
20 |
20 |
$ 2 |
$100 |
NAFO Reporting Requirements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Trip declaration |
2 |
50 |
100 |
0.083 |
8.3 |
|
|
Pre-trip notification |
2 |
50 |
100 |
0.083 |
8.3 |
|
|
Haul-by-haul logbook information |
2 |
50 |
100 |
0.420 |
42.0 |
|
|
Daily catch report information |
2 |
50 |
100 |
0.083 |
8.3 |
|
|
Production logbook information |
2 |
50 |
100 |
0.083 |
8.3 |
|
|
Stowage plan updated information |
2 |
50 |
100 |
0.083 |
8.3 |
|
|
Pre-landing notification |
2 |
50 |
100 |
0.083 |
8.3 |
|
|
VMS Operation |
2 |
|
|
|
|
$ 3,846 |
|
Vessel capacity plan |
2 |
1 |
|
|
|
$ 2,000 |
|
Cost for NAFO observers |
2 |
25 |
50 |
|
|
$ 25,000 |
$26,500 |
Totals |
1,482 |
33,628 |
158,045 |
|
38,812 |
$ 4,455,674 |
$1,051,288 |
Table 2
|
Hours Change |
Cost Change |
Reason |
|
|
|
|
Sector operations plan and annual updates |
-12368 |
-3515350 |
Costs were higher in previous approvals because of start-up. Now operations plans are more routine and sectors have had practice costs are reduced. |
|
|
|
|
Monitoring system (database) for discards, sector manager weekly catch reports and annual reports |
-2290 |
11972 |
Correction; numbers previously annualized in error. |
|
|
|
|
Transfer of Annual Catch Entitlement between Sectors |
-83 |
-470 |
Fewer transfers occur annually than in past approvals |
|
|
|
|
VMS activation confirmation responses, time and cost, and cost of purchase, maintenance and automated polling |
0 |
-63726 |
Most vessels now have VMS, so startup costs are removed. |
|
|
|
|
Area and DAS Declaration - groundfish vessels fishing under any NE Multispecies DAS |
-833 |
-10000 |
Change in the number of trips. |
|
|
|
|
Catch reporting requirements: US/Canada Area and CA II SAPs, Closed Area I SAP and Regular B Program |
0 |
15 |
Minor adjustment in the cost per hail. |
|
|
|
|
At-Sea monitoring and reporting requirements - notifications and database requirements and monitoring costs |
16463 |
16558 |
Corrections were made to previous calculations. |
|
|
|
|
NE Fishery Observer Notification |
-333 |
|
Reduction in the number of notifications. |
|
|
|
|
Trip start and end hails |
4708 |
30680 |
Correction of the number of items per entity. |
|
|
|
|
Days-at-sea (DAS) transfer program |
0 |
112 |
Net reductions of 11,824 hours and $3,542,232, in addition to removal of hours and costs for dockside monitoring.
1Federal series for biological/engineering career path
2 There was no similar item under Dockside Monitoring: NMFS is not responsible for the Dockside monitoring database. At sea monitoring data is processed by the government (NEFOP) in accordance with NEFOP standards. Dockside Monitoring Data is not.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT |
| Author | Allison Murphy |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-24 |