Under the U.S. Endangered Species Act
(ESA) (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), the Secretary of the Interior,
through the U.S. and Wildlife Service, regulates import, export,
and sale within the United States (16 USC 1538 and 1540) of listed
species. The African elephant is listed as threatened under the
ESA. The ESA does not specify particular prohibitions and
exceptions to those prohibitions for threatened species. Instead,
under section 4(d) of the ESA, the Secretary of the Interior is
given the discretion to issue such regulations as deemed necessary
and advisable to provide for the conservation of the species.
Exercising this discretion under section 4(d), the Service has
developed general prohibitions (50 CFR 17.31) and established a
permitting process for specified exceptions to those prohibitions
(50 CFR 17.32) that apply to most threatened species. Permits
issued under 50 CFR 17.32 must be for “Scientific purposes, or the
enhancement of propagation or survival, or economic hardship, or
zoological exhibition, or educational purposes, or incidental
taking, or special purposes consistent with the purposes of the
[ESA].” Under current regulations, ESA permits are only required
for import of trophies from certain countries. The final rule
requires permits for import of all African elephant sport-hunted
trophies; i.e., from both Appendix-I and Appendix-II populations.
Under the final rule, we expect to receive up to 300 additional
applications for African elephant sport-hunted trophies from
Appendix-II countries. This ICR covers the burden for those
applications.
The revised section 4(d)
or the rule increases protection and benefits the conservation of
African elephants by more strictly controlling U.S. trade in ivory,
without unnecessarily restricting activities that have no
conservation effect or are strictly regulated under other law. The
Service is taking this action in response to an unprecedented
increase in poaching of elephants across Africa to supply an
escalating illegal trade in ivory. This action is consistent with
Executive Order 13648 on Combating Wildlife Trafficking, issued in
July 2013, and the stated priorities in the National Strategy for
Combating Wildlife Trafficking, issued by President Obama in
February 2014. It is critical for the conservation of the African
elephant that publication of this final rule is not further
delayed.
We are reporting 300 responses,
100 annual burden hours, and $30,000 in nonhour burden costs as a
program change. This burden is associated with the additional
applications we expect to receive as a result of the ESA 4(d) final
rule.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Application for Import of Sport-Hunted Trophies of African Elephants from Appendix-II Countries