As part of its fishery management
responsibilities, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
collects certain information to determine whether a respondent
complies with regulations that pertain to the issuance, transfer,
ownership interest, or renewal of a Pacific Coast Groundfish
limited entry permit or exempted fishing permit. Letters of
Acknowledgement (LOAs) and Exempted Educational Activity
Authorizations (EEAAs) were historically collected under OMB
control number 0648-0309. To reduce burden estimates, NMFS
Headquarters proposed to move LOAs and EEAAs to their respective
region's permit family-of-forms collections. OMB control number
0648-0309 will need to remain in place until all of the regions
have moved the necessary elements into the respective regional PRA
collections. In addition, upon approval of this collection, OMB
Control No. 0648-0737, which covers the sablefish permit stacking
exemption, will be merged with this collection. Then 0648-0737 can
be discontinued.
Program Change Letters of
Acknowledgements (LOAs) and Exempted Educational Activity
Authorizations (EEAAs) were historically collected under OMB
control number 0648-0309. To reduce burden estimates, National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Headquarters proposed to move LOAs
and EEAAs to their respective region's permit family-of-forms
collections. This application also includes a request to merge the
Own/Hold Control Limit Exemption information from OMB Control
Number 0648-0737 with the information collection known as the West
Coast Region Seattle Federal Fisheries Permits (OMB Control Number
0648-0203). This will allow all Pacific Coast Groundfish limited
entry permit collections to be under one OMB package. The
information needed to request the voluntary exemption should
already be information that the vessel owner has on hand (e.g.,
vessel permit number, vessel name, ownership percentages) and the
respondents are not required to provide any additional data or do
any additional data gathering. For respondent convenience, the
paper forms will be available on the West Coast Groundfish website.
The form is titled Sablefish Permit Hold Count Exemption
Identification of Ownership Interest Form. The only cost to
respondents would be the time it takes them to fill out the form.
Overall, with only 13 respondents and 10 minutes to complete the
form, it only adds 2 burden hours annually to the current
information collections. EFP Trip Notifications: This component of
the information collection for -0203 was not listed in the prior
collection, but should have been. This results in an increase of 50
respondents, 500 responses, 17 burden hours, and $3,500 burden
costs. Total Program Changes: Increase of 69 respondents; 520
responses; 62 burden hours; $3,514 cost burden. Adjustment There
were two LEP combinations in 2018, so the total number of
respondents for LEP renewals changed from 397 to 395. In the
supporting statement for the previous extension for this
information collection, the response estimate for LEP transfers was
given as 25 minutes and this figure went into the burden hour
calculations. This bookkeeping error was changed to 30 minutes to
match the time estimate stated on both the 60d FRN from 2016 (81 FR
12473) and 2019 (84 FR 29848), resulting in an adjustment from 54
hours (130 respondents x 25 minutes/response) to 65 hours (130
respondents x 25 minutes/response). Total Adjustments: Increase of
107 responses, decrease of 291 burden hours, and increase of $842
burden costs.
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.