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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 45 / Friday, March 6, 2020 / Notices

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21668, Juneau, AK, 99802–1668.
Telephone (907) 586–7228.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
The National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) is requesting extension of a
currently approved information
collection for the Alaska Subsistence
Halibut Program.
The International Pacific Halibut
Commission (IPHC) and NMFS manage
fishing for Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus
stenolepis) through regulations
established under authority of the
Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982
(Halibut Act). The IPHC promulgates
regulations governing the Pacific halibut
fishery under the Convention between
the United States and Canada for the
Preservation of the Halibut Fishery of
the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea,
signed at Ottawa, Ontario, on March 2,
1953, as amended by a Protocol
Amending the Convention (signed at
Washington, DC, on March 29, 1979).
The Halibut Act also authorizes the
North Pacific Fishery Management
Council to develop halibut fishery
regulations, including limited access
regulations, in its geographic area of
concern that would apply to nationals
or vessels of the United States.
Regulations governing the subsistence
halibut fishery are at 50 CFR 300.2,
300.4, and Subpart E, and in the annual
management measures published in the
Federal Register pursuant to 50 CFR
300.62.
Subsistence halibut means halibut
caught by a rural resident or a member
of an Alaska Native tribe for direct
personal or family consumption as food,
sharing for personal or family
consumption as food, or customary
trade. The subsistence halibut program
is intended to allow eligible persons to
practice the long-term customary and
traditional harvest of Pacific halibut for
food in a non-commercial manner. This
program provides NMFS the
opportunity to learn more about the
subsistence fishery and enhance
estimates of subsistence removals for
stock assessment purposes.
Before fishing under subsistence
halibut regulations, fishermen must
obtain a Subsistence Halibut
Registration Certificate (SHARC).
Special permits for community harvest,
ceremonial, and educational purposes
are available to qualified Alaska
communities and Alaska Native Tribes.
NMFS designed the permits to work in
conjunction with other halibut harvest
assessment measures.
This information collection contains
the application for a SHARC; the
application for a Community Harvest

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Permit, a Ceremonial Permit, or an
Educational Permit; the harvest logs for
community, ceremonial, and
educational permits; an appeals process
for denied permits; and gear marking
requirements for subsistence fishery
setline gear. Each of these instruments
is designed to minimize the reporting
burden on subsistence halibut
fishermen while retrieving essential
information.
Information collected by the permit
applications includes permit holder
information or applicant information,
and depending on the permit type, may
include information on the educational
program or a description of the cultural
or ceremonial occasion the permit will
be used for. NMFS uses this information
to determine the eligibility of applicants
to receive or renew permits.
The permit coordinators submit the
harvest logs for Community Harvest
Permits, Ceremonial Permits, and
Educational Permits. Harvest logs
collect identification information and
harvest information for the subsistence
fishermen fishing under that permit.
An appeals process is provided for an
applicant who receives an adverse
initial administrative determination
related to their permit application.
Subsistence setline gear buoys must
be marked with identification
information that consists of the
subsistence fisherman’s name and
address and an ‘‘S’’ to indicate
subsistence gear. The ability to link
fishing gear to the vessel owner or
operator is crucial to enforcement of
regulations.
II. Method of Collection
Information is collected primarily via
mail. Harvest logs and SHARC
applications also may be submitted by
fax, and SHARC renewals may be
submitted online through eFISH on the
NMFS Alaska Region website. The
application forms and harvest logs are
available as fillable pdfs on the NMFS
Alaska Region website. The fishing gear
identification information is marked on
buoys and is not submitted to NMFS.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0648–0512.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Review: Extension of a current
information collection.
Affected Public: Individuals or
households; State, Local, or Tribal
government.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
7,337.
Estimated Time per Response: Permit
applications, 10 minutes; Harvest logs,
30 minutes; Appeal for permit denial, 4
hours; Gear marking, 15 minutes.

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Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 1,438.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to
Public: $25,288.
IV. Request for Comments
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether
the proposed collection of information
is necessary for the proper performance
of the functions of the agency, including
whether the information shall have
practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden
(including hours and cost) of the
proposed collection of information; (c)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on respondents, including through the
use of automated collection techniques
or other forms of information
technology.
Comments submitted in response to
this notice will be summarized and/or
included in the request for OMB
approval of this information collection;
they also will become a matter of public
record.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of
the Chief Information Officer, Commerce
Department.
[FR Doc. 2020–04597 Filed 3–5–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
Proposed Information Collection;
Greater Atlantic Region, Atlantic Sea
Scallop Fishery Management Plan Data
Collection
National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

The Department of
Commerce, as part of its continuing
effort to reduce paperwork and
respondent burden, invites the general
public and other Federal agencies to
take this opportunity to comment on
proposed and/or continuing information
collections, as required by the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
DATES: Written comments must be
submitted on or before May 5, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments
to Adrienne Thomas, PRA Officer,
NOAA, 151 Patton Avenue, Room 159,
Asheville, NC 28801 (or via the internet
at [email protected]). All
comments received are part of the
SUMMARY:

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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 45 / Friday, March 6, 2020 / Notices
public record. Comments will generally
be posted without change. All
Personally Identifiable Information (for
example, name and address) voluntarily
submitted by the commenter may be
publicly accessible. Do not submit
Confidential Business Information or
otherwise sensitive or protected
information.

involved in the exchange are required to
submit forms for cross verification. This
measure is expected to provide
flexibility to vessels regarding which
areas to fish, thereby reducing the
possibility of revenue loss to those
vessels that are unable to access some
distant areas due to vessel capacity
constraints.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

IFQ Transfers
IFQ permit holders can temporarily
and/or permanently transfer individual
fishing quota from one IFQ vessel to
another. Quota transfers are requested
through the submission of transfer
applications. Required information
includes vessel information, quota
transfer information, and authorizing
signatures from both parties. The IFQ
transfer program is entirely optional,
and provides greater flexibility for IFQ
permit holders by enabling them to
increase their vessel’s IFQ or for
individuals to lease or sell IFQ if they
choose not to fish the allocation.

Requests for additional information or
copies of the information collection
instrument and instructions should be
directed to Cynthia Ferrio, Greater
Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55
Great Republic Dr., Gloucester, MA
01930, (978) 281–9180, Cynthia.ferrio@
noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
This request is for a revision and
extension of a current information
collection.
Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act, the
Secretary of Commerce has the
responsibility for the conservation and
management of marine fishery
resources. Much of this responsibility
has been delegated to NOAA’s National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
NMFS manages the Atlantic sea scallop
(scallop) fishery through a set of
regulations that limit catch of scallops
and fishing vessel activity. In addition,
regulations limit catch of certain other
species of fish in order to minimize
bycatch and bycatch mortality (bycatch
is the catch and discard of species that
are not targeted in the scallop fishery).
Finally, the regulations control vessel
permitting and the exchange of effort
and quota allocations between vessels.
In order to effectively manage these
resources, track fishing effort and catch,
and to allow vessel owners to exchange
fishing trips and quota, NMFS must
collect information through the
reporting requirements included in this
renewal. This renewal contains the
following information collections:
Vessel Monitoring System (VMS)
requirements; Access area trip exchange
application procedures; Individual
Fishing Quota (IFQ) transfers; Cost
recovery; and IFQ sector program.

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Access Area Trip Exchange Application
The one-for-one access area trip
exchange program provides flexibility to
scallop vessels about where they may
fish. Participants need to send an access
area trip exchange application to NMFS
with the following information: Vessel
name and permit number, owner name
and signature, specification of the areas
involved in the exchange. Both vessels

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Cost Recovery
Section 304(d)(2) of the MagnusonStevens Act (MSA) requires an IFQ cost
recovery plan to recover management
and enforcement costs for IFQ fisheries.
The FMP includes an IFQ cost recovery
program, whereby NMFS will collect up
to 3% of ex-vessel value of landed
product to cover actual costs directly
related to enforcement and management
of the IFQ program. IFQ permit holders
are required to submit a cost recovery
payment annually via a pre-existing
Federal payment system called
www.pay.gov, which is also currently
used by the Alaska Region and the
Southeast Region. Information
submitted via the internet would require
the user to establish an online account,
including personal and financial
information. This requirement is
necessary in order to comply with the
provisions of the MSA and to collect
payments from individuals that have
been granted an allocation to a public
resource.
IFQ Sector Program
The FMP contains provisions that
authorize allocation of a portion of the
overall IFQ fishery total allowable catch
(TAC) to a self-selected group of IFQ
permit holders (sector), provided the
sector provides adequate information
describing the formation of the sector
and its intended plan of operations.
Individuals or other entities
(corporations, cooperatives, etc.)
proposing a sector are required to
submit a Sector Allocation Proposal and
Operations Plan. Any person may
submit a Sector Allocation Proposal for

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a group of limited access general
category scallop vessels to the Council,
at least 1 year in advance of the start of
a sector, and request that the Sector be
implemented through a framework
procedure specified at § 648.55. A group
that wants to form a Sector and receive
an allocation is required to submit a
legally binding Operations Plan to the
Council and the Regional Administrator.
The operations plan must be agreed
upon and signed by all members of the
sector and, if approved, would
constitute a contract. This information
is necessary to describe the proposed
sector and the proposed rules under
which the sector would operate. This
information is used to determine
whether this sector would maintain
consistency with the goals and
objectives of the FMP.
VMS Requirements
Vessel Monitoring System (VMS)
requirements are now collected under
the approved OMB Control No. 0648–
0202 and are being removed from 0648–
0491.
II. Method of Collection
Participants will submit paper
applications by mail, facsimile, or
email.
III. Data
OMB Number: 0648–0491.
Form Number: None.
Type of Review: Regular submission
(revision and extension of a currently
approved collection).
Affected Public: Businesses and other
for-profit organizations are primarily
affected.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
647.
Estimated Time per Response: Cost
recovery, 2 hours; Sector proposals, 150
hours; Sector operations plans, 100
hours; IFQ transfer application 35
hours; Access area trip exchange, 45
hours.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 980.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to
Public: $23,932.
IV. Request for Comments
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether
the proposed collection of information
is necessary for the proper performance
of the functions of the agency, including
whether the information shall have
practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden
(including hours and cost) of the
proposed collection of information; (c)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the

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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 45 / Friday, March 6, 2020 / Notices

burden of the collection of information
on respondents, including through the
use of automated collection techniques
or other forms of information
technology.
Comments submitted in response to
this notice will be summarized and/or
included in the request for OMB
approval of this information collection;
they also will become a matter of public
record.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of
the Chief Information Officer, Commerce
Department.
[FR Doc. 2020–04596 Filed 3–5–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[RTID 0648–XX031]

Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions;
General Provisions for Domestic
Fisheries; Application for Exempted
Fishing Permits
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments;
reopening of comment period.
AGENCY:

At the request of the public,
NMFS is reopening the comment period
for an Exempted Fishing Permit
application. The Exempted Fishing
Permit would allow commercial fishing
vessels to use dredge fishing gear with
a forward facing camera within the
Great South Channel Habitat
Management Area to characterize
habitat substrate types where dredge
fishing occurs, and conduct
compensation fishing that would
support research conducted by the
Coonamessett Farm Foundation.
Regulations under the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act require publication of
this notification to provide interested
parties the opportunity to comment on
applications for proposed Exempted
Fishing Permits.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before March 23, 2020.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written
comments by any of the following
methods:
• Email: [email protected].
Include in the subject line ‘‘CFF Great
South Channel HMA Clam EFP.’’
• Mail: Michael Pentony, Regional
Administrator, NMFS, Greater Atlantic

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SUMMARY:

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Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great
Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930.
Mark the outside of the envelope
‘‘Comments on CFF Great South
Channel HMA EFP.’’
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Laura Hansen, Fishery Management
Specialist, 978–281–9225.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On
January 27, 2020, we published a notice
soliciting public comment on an
Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP)
application (85 FR 4638) and received
requests from the public to extend the
comment period. At the request of the
public, we are reopening the comment
period for 15 days. A full description of
the requested exemptions and research
plan are available in the original notice
and are not repeated here.
In an effort to address some of the
New England Fishery Management
Council’s research priorities for the
Great South Channel Habitat
Management Area (GSC HMA),
Coonamessett Farm Foundation (CFF)
developed a multi-phase research
project that would attempt to:
1. Characterize substrate types where
surfclam and mussel fishing occurs
within the GSC HMA;
2. Track spatiotemporal habitat
change and benthic macrofauna
distribution in an active fishing ground;
and
3. Determine spatiotemporal
occurrence of Atlantic cod and other
species within the HMA that are
subjected or adjacent to commercial
clam and mussel dredging activities.
CFF submitted a complete application
for an EFP on November 8, 2019, to
enable research in support of the
objective 1, above. The exemptions
would authorize participating vessels to
fish with dredge gear in portions of the
GSC HMA in order to characterize
substrate types where surfclam and
mussel fishing occurs, and to enable
compensation fishing, which would
fund research associated with objectives
2 and 3.
We received 27 comments on the
original notification and discussed the
EFP request at the January 2020 New
England Fishery Management Council
meeting. Based on that discussion and
comments received, we are reopening
the comment period for an additional 15
days.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: March 3, 2020.
Karyl K. Brewster-Geisz,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2020–04616 Filed 3–5–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[RTID 0648–XA068]

North Pacific Fishery Management
Council; Public Meetings
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public meetings.
AGENCY:

The North Pacific Fishery
Management Council (Council) and its
advisory committees will meet in
Anchorage, AK.
DATES: The meetings will be held March
30, 2020 through April 6, 2020. See
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for specific
dates and times.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at
the Anchorage Hilton Hotel, 500 W 3rd
Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501.
Council address: North Pacific
Fishery Management Council, 1007
West Third, Suite 400, Anchorage, AK
99501–2252; telephone (907) 271–2809.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Diana Evans, Council staff; telephone:
(907) 271–2809.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Council
will begin its plenary session at 8 a.m.
in the Aleutian Room on Wednesday,
April 1, 2020 continuing through
Monday, April 6, 2020. The Council’s
Scientific and Statistical Committee
(SSC) will begin at 8 a.m. in the King
Salmon/Iliamna Room on Monday,
March 30, 2020 and continue through
Wednesday, April 1, 2020. The
Council’s Advisory Panel (AP) will
begin at 8 a.m. in the Dillingham/
Katmai Room on Tuesday, March 31,
2020 and continue through Friday,
April 3, 2020. The IFQ Committee will
meet on Monday, March 30, 2020 from
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (room TBD). The Cook
Inlet Salmon Committee will meet on
Monday, March 30, 2020 from 9:30 a.m.
to 5 p.m. (room TBD). The Ecosystem
Committee will meet on Tuesday,
March 31, 2020 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
(room TBD).
SUMMARY:

Agenda
Monday, March 30, 2020 Through
Monday, April 6, 2020
Council Plenary Session: The agenda
for the Council’s plenary session will
include the following issues. The
Council may take appropriate action on
any of the issues identified.
(1) Executive Director’s Report
(2) NMFS Management Report

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