The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) created the Coral Reef Conservation Program
to safeguard and ensure the welfare of the coral reef ecosystems
along the coastlines of America's States and Territories. The
administration of this program has potential economic and cultural
impacts on the lives of nearby residents. In accordance with its
mission goals, NOAA has designed a survey to help assess the
impacts of the Coral Reef Conservation Program. NOAA has developed
a jurisdictional survey instrument to be implemented in the United
States Virgin Islands (USVI) in 2017-18. The information collection
for this US Coral Reef location is to be conducted by a contracted
survey firm who will utilize face to face household as well as
phone surveys based on a sample purchased by the survey firm from a
reputable vendor. For the jurisdictional population, we intend to
select a random sample of individuals over the age of eighteen,
stratified geographically as described in Table 6 below. The random
sample will be obtained from the selected survey firm using
standard sample selection tools. These strata have been designed to
account for the differing sizes of the populations in the areas
close to coral reefs. We raised the total respondent number for
USVI from 525 to 1,125. This represents an increase of 600
respondents for the USVI jurisdiction. The reason for the increase
is to provide a representative sample at the island scale (St John,
St Thomas, St Croix). This will allow us to do some limited
statistical inter-island comparisons. The previous sample size
would have only allowed for statistical analysis of the aggregated
results for the entire USVI. However, the last Florida sample was
smaller than planned, so there is no net increase to overall burden
hours,
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.