Justification - Groundfish Tagging Program

Project Title: Groundfish Tagging Program

Program Office Sponsoring or Conducting this CSC Project: /NMFS/AFSC

Authority for this CSC Project: MSA and CCSA

Purpose of this CSC Project: The collection provides scientists with information necessary for effective conservation, management, and scientific understanding of the groundfish fishery resources off the northwest Pacific coast and Alaska.

Type(s) of Information Collected and From Whom It Is Collected: Tag recovery information is collected from fishermen and processors. The information collected is the tag number, date of capture, location, size of fish, sex, depth of capture, gear type, and the individual's address.

Use of the Information: Scientists of NMFS, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, universities, and from Japan and Canada use the groundfish tag identification number, recovery position, biological data from the tagged fish (sex, length, weight), and recovery nation, depth , and gear information to study growth rates, mortality, recruitment, migration patterns, and differences by area, sex, size, and depth. Data collected from the groundfish tagging program are used in population dynamics models to effectively estimate population size and manage the groundfish resource. Information gathered provides data on the rates of migration between the west coast, British Columbia, and Alaska and among Alaska management areas.

Method(s) of Information Collection: Currently, information is collected by prepaid business reply envelopes. NMFS is developing a mobile tag reporting application for phones and tablets.

Affected Public: Individuals and business or other for-profit organizations (fishermen, processors and NMFS observers.

Estimated Average Annual Number of Participants: 425

Estimated Average Annual Number of Responses per Participant: 2.0

Estimated Average Minutes per Response: 5.26

Estimated Average Annual Burden Hours: 76

Estimated Total Annual Cost to Participants in this CSC Project: $0

Estimated Average Annual Costs to the Federal Government: $86,055

Estimated Average Annual Number of Federal Government Employees (FTEs): 0.55

Recruitment and Retention Methods for Voluntary Participants (SSA item 1): Individuals who return a recovered groundfish tag are provided a reward hat, and each recovered tag is entered into an annual monetary tag reward drawing. However, it has been noted that most participants are generally more interested in the letter provided describing the movement and history of each respective tag.

Gifts or Payments (SSA Item 9): Individuals who return a recovered groundfish tag are provided a reward hat, and each recovered tag is entered into an annual monetary tag reward drawing.

Annual and Multi-Year Schedules (SSA Item 16): There is no scheduled end date for this collection. Tagging is ongoing and the lifespan of several tagged species is upwards of 100 years, meaning that tag recoveries will continue well into the future. Annual updates are provided for various reports and meetings: stock assessment reports, industry meetings, etc.

Display OMB Control No. and Expiration Date (SSA Item 17): This information will be provided when individuals sign up to participate in this CSC project.

Statistical Methods: This CSC project will not employ statistical methods.

Approval for Pretesting: This CSC project will not require additional pretesting with more than nine members of the public.

Supplemental Documents: The two supplemental documents for this CSC project are as follows:

1. REWARD Poster for tagged sablefish

2. Combination data form and Business Reply Mail (prepaid) envelope

CERTIFICATION: I certify the following are true.

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The collection will not include highly influential scientific information, ,which is information NOAA or OMB determines: (i) could have a potential impact of more than $500 million in any year, or (ii) is novel, controversial, or precedent setting or has significant interagency interest.

5. The collection complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).

6. The collection will provide qualitative and quantitative data that help inform scientific research and monitoring, validate models or tools, support STEM learning, and enhance the quantity and quality of data collected to support NOAA’s mission.

Name: Katy B. Echave