Published 60-day FRN (88 FR 36328)

36328

Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 106 / Friday, June 2, 2023 / Notices

Hunting on refuges is regulated by
both State and Federal laws, as well as
through refuge-specific regulations.
These refuge-specific regulations are
made in accordance with hunt plans
required to be developed for each
refuge. These hunt plans outline refugespecific bag limits, season dates, areas
open and closed to hunting, allowed
hunting time, and other requirements.
The hunt plans are an important tool
that refuges use to manage harvest,
safety, and visitor experience.
Creating hunt plans relies on sound
biological and social data.
Understanding hunter experience,
preference, and harvest helps refuge

managers and planners tailor hunt plans
to suit biological and visitor objectives
and maintain a safe environment for
hunters and non-hunting visitors.
To ensure the surveys were
comprehensive, the Service convened
an interdisciplinary team made up of
biologists, managers, visitor services
specialists, social scientists, and law
enforcement officers. The team
identified data gaps needed to inform
future hunt plan development,
identified safety concerns, and
considered methods to better
understand hunter preference in order
to improve visitor experience.
The public may request copies of any
form or document contained in this
Average
number of
annual
respondents

Requirement

Average
number of
responses
each

information collection by sending a
request to the Service Information
Collection Clearance Officer in
ADDRESSES, above.
Title of Collection: Northeast Region
Hunter Participation Surveys.
OMB Control Number: 1018–New.
Form Numbers: Forms 3–2557 and 3–
2558.
Type of Review: Request for new OMB
control number.
Respondents/Affected Public:
Individuals.
Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary.
Frequency of Collection: On occasion.
Total Estimated Annual Nonhour
Burden Cost: None.
Average
number of
annual
responses

Average
completion
time per
response
(minutes)

Estimated
annual burden
hours *

Form 3–2557, ‘‘Hunter Participation Survey’’
Individuals ............................................................................

50

1

50

20

17

Form 3–2558, ‘‘Spring Turkey Hunter Participation Survey’’
Individuals ............................................................................

50

1

50

10

8

Totals: ...........................................................................

100

........................

100

........................

25

* Rounded.

An agency may not conduct or
sponsor and a person is not required to
respond to a collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid OMB
control number.
The authority for this action is the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
Madonna Baucum,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2023–11747 Filed 6–1–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333–15–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS–HQ–MB–2023–0085;
FXMB12310900WH0–234–FF09M26000;
OMB Control Number 1018–0023]

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Agency Information Collection
Activities; Migratory Bird Surveys
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of information collection;
request for comment.
AGENCY:

In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

SUMMARY:

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(Service), are proposing to renew an
information collection, with changes.
DATES: Interested persons are invited to
submit comments on or before August 1,
2023.
ADDRESSES: Send your comments on the
information collection request (ICR) by
one of the following methods (please
reference OMB Control No. 1018–0023
in the subject line of your comment):
• Internet (preferred): http://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments
on Docket No. FWS–HQ–MB–2023–
0085.
• Email: [email protected].
• U.S. mail: Service Information
Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, 5275 Leesburg
Pike, MS: PRB (JAO/3W); Falls Church,
VA 22041–3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Madonna L. Baucum, Service
Information Collection Clearance
Officer, by email at [email protected],
or by telephone at (703) 358–2503.
Individuals in the United States who are
deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have
a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY,
TDD, or TeleBraille) to access
telecommunications relay services.
Individuals outside the United States
should use the relay services offered

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within their country to make
international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In
accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act (PRA; 44 U.S.C. 3501 et
seq.) and its implementing regulations
in the Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR) at 5 CFR 1320, all information
collections require approval under the
PRA. We may not conduct or sponsor
and you are not required to respond to
a collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control
number.
As part of our continuing effort to
reduce paperwork and respondent
burdens, we invite the public and other
Federal agencies to comment on new,
proposed, revised, and continuing
collections of information. This helps us
assess the impact of our information
collection requirements and minimize
the public’s reporting burden. It also
helps the public understand our
information collection requirements and
provide the requested data in the
desired format.
We are especially interested in public
comment addressing the following:
(1) Whether or not the collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the

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lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1

Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 106 / Friday, June 2, 2023 / Notices
agency, including whether or not the
information will have practical utility;
(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the
burden for this collection of
information, including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used;
(3) Ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and
(4) How might the agency minimize
the burden of the collection of
information on those who are to
respond, including through the use of
appropriate automated, electronic,
mechanical, or other technological
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submission of response.
Comments that you submit in
response to this notice are a matter of
public record. We will include or
summarize each comment in our request
to OMB to approve this ICR. Before
including your address, phone number,
email address, or other personal
identifying information in your
comment, you should be aware that
your entire comment—including your
personal identifying information—may
be made publicly available at any time.
While you can ask us in your comment
to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
Abstract: The Migratory Bird Treaty
Act (16 U.S.C. 703–711) and the Fish
and Wildlife Act of 1956 (16 U.S.C.
742d) designate the Department of the
Interior as the key agency responsible
for (1) the wise management of
migratory bird populations frequenting
the United States, and (2) the setting of
hunting regulations that allow
appropriate harvests that are within the
guidelines that will allow for those
populations’ well-being. These
responsibilities dictate that we gather
accurate data on various characteristics
of migratory bird harvest. Based on
information from harvest surveys, we
can adjust hunting regulations as
needed to optimize harvests at levels
that provide a maximum of hunting
recreation while keeping populations at
desired levels.
Under 50 CFR 20.20, migratory bird
hunters must register for the Migratory
Bird Harvest Information Program (HIP)
in each State in which they hunt each
year. State natural resource agencies
must send names and addresses of all
migratory bird hunters to the Service’s
Branch of Monitoring and Information
Management, Division of Migratory Bird
Management, on an annual basis.
The Migratory Bird Hunter Survey is
based on the Migratory Bird Harvest
Information Program. We randomly

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select migratory bird hunters and ask
them to report their harvests. The
resulting estimates of harvest per hunter
are combined with the complete list of
migratory bird hunters to provide
estimates of the total harvest for the
species surveyed.
The Parts Collection Survey estimates
the species, sex, and age composition of
the harvest, and the geographic and
temporal distribution of the harvest.
Randomly selected successful hunters
who responded to the Migratory Bird
Hunter Survey the previous year, as
well as a sample of hunters who were
not surveyed the previous year, are
asked to complete and return a letter if
they are willing to participate in the
Parts Collection Survey. We provide
postage-paid envelopes to respondents
before the hunting season and ask them
to send in a wing or the tail feathers
from each duck or goose that they
harvest, or a wing from each mourning
dove, woodcock, band-tailed pigeon, or
rail that they harvest. We use the wings
and tail feathers to identify the species,
sex, and age of the harvested sample.
We also ask respondents to report the
date and location of harvest for each
bird on the outside of the envelope. We
combine the results of this survey with
the harvest estimates obtained from the
Migratory Bird Hunter Survey to
provide species-specific national
harvest estimates.
The combined results of these surveys
enable us to evaluate the effects of
season length, season dates, and bag
limits on the harvest of each species,
and thus help us determine appropriate
hunting regulations.
The Sandhill Crane Harvest Survey is
an annual questionnaire survey of
people who obtained a sandhill crane
hunting permit. At the end of the
hunting season, we randomly select a
sample of permit holders and ask them
to report the date, location, and number
of birds harvested for each of their
sandhill crane hunts. Their responses
provide estimates of the temporal and
geographic distribution of the harvest as
well as the average harvest per hunter,
which, combined with the total number
of permits issued, enables us to estimate
the total harvest of sandhill cranes.
Based on information from this survey,
we adjust hunting regulations as
needed.
In 2019, we implemented a new,
online platform for the Migratory Bird
Hunter Survey. The platform is
optimized for use on multiple devices
(computer, tablet, or phone; Android or
Apple OS). This online survey platform
walks a participant through the process
of entering their harvest for a single day
and asks for one piece of information at

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36329

a time, which reduces confusion and the
likelihood that the hunter will provide
incorrect information. The online
system improves data quality and
prevents errors (e.g., reporting harvest of
the wrong species, or in the wrong
State). We conducted the full paper
survey through 2022, in order to ensure
that data collected through the online
platform was sound, and to provide a
side-by-side comparison of harvest
estimates that could be used to calibrate
the old survey to the new one. This was
particularly important for maintaining a
continuous time series of harvest
estimates, despite changing
methodology. In the spring of 2023, we
will conduct the full survey using the
online application but will provide a
paper survey by mail to those hunters
who request them.
Proposed Revisions
We propose to revise our Parts
Collection Survey over the next 3 years
(2023–2026) to replace or substantially
augment bird wings and tails collection
with photos of harvested birds, in order
to reduce survey costs and perceived
risk of disease transmission through the
handling of wild bird parts. Preliminary
assessments have indicated that photos
taken by hunters of harvested waterfowl
can be used to determine species, age
and sex of birds, without requiring
examination of bird parts ‘‘in the hand.’’
We propose to conduct a 3-year pilot
study with the development of a mobile
application that can be used by hunters
to take photos of the birds they harvest
and upload them to our database, and a
web-based interface for expert biologists
to use to examine and identify birds
from photos. We propose to conduct the
pilot study with up to 150 hunters each
year, which allows us to (1) evaluate the
potential of using photo identification
for other species in the Parts Collection
survey including doves, band-tailed
pigeons, woodcock and rails, (2) to
achieve sample sizes sufficient to assess
the limitations of photo identification
for all waterfowl species, (3) to develop
methods to enhance the quality of
hunter-supplied photos, and (4) to
amass an annotated set of photos to
provide to researchers investigating the
potential of machine-learning based
image classification methods for
automated identification of species, age
and sex.
In addition, there is the potential for
introducing other biases in data
collection when transitioning to a photo
survey; to assess these biases and
provide uninterrupted information on
annual harvest we intend to conduct the
full parts survey during this 3-year
period to provide a comparison of

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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 106 / Friday, June 2, 2023 / Notices

results among the two surveys. If photo
identification proves difficult for some
species, we may continue a limited
sample of parts collection to ensure
harvest estimates can be calculated.
Title of Collection: Migratory Bird
Information Program and Migratory Bird
Surveys, 50 CFR 20.20.

OMB Control Number: 1018–0023.
Form Number: Forms 3–165, 3–165A
through E, and 3–2056J through N.
Type of Review: Revision of a
currently approved collection.
Respondents/Affected Public: States
and migratory game bird hunters.
Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory
for HIP registration information;
Average
number of
responses
each

Number of
respondents

Collection type/form number

voluntary for participation in the
surveys.
Frequency of Collection: Annually for
States or on occasion for migratory bird
hunters.
Total Estimated Annual Nonhour
Burden Cost: None.

Number of
annual
responses *

Average time
per response

Total annual
burden hours *

Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program (State Governments)
49

18

882

129 hours .......

113,778

Migratory Bird Hunter Survey (Individuals)
Form
Form
Form
Form

3–2056J .....................................................................
3–2056K .....................................................................
3–2056L .....................................................................
3–2056M ....................................................................

31,900
16,900
8,500
10,200

1
1
1
1

31,900
16,900
8,500
10,200

4
3
3
2

minutes
minutes
minutes
minutes

.......
.......
.......
.......

2,127
845
425
340

Subtotals: ......................................................................

67,500

........................

67,500

........................

3,737

Parts Collection Survey—Online (Individuals)
Form
Form
Form
Form
Form
Form

3–165 .........................................................................
3–165A .......................................................................
3–165B .......................................................................
3–165C .......................................................................
3–165D .......................................................................
3–165E .......................................................................

4,700
770
3,540
260
770
750

22
5.5
1
1
1
1.5

103,400
4,235
3,540
260
770
1,125

5
5
1
1
1
5

minutes .......
minutes .......
minute .........
minute .........
minute .........
minutes .......

8,617
353
59
4
13
94

Subtotals: ......................................................................

10,790

........................

113,330

........................

9,140

5,900

1.5 minutes ....

148

Sandhill Crane Harvest Survey (Individuals)
Form 3–2056N .....................................................................

5,900

1

Pilot Digital Photo Survey (Individuals)
Form
Form
Form
Form
Form
Form

3–165 .........................................................................
3–165A .......................................................................
3–165B .......................................................................
3–165C .......................................................................
3–165D .......................................................................
3–165E .......................................................................

60
60
60
60
30
30

22
5.5
1
1
1
1.5

1,320
330
60
60
30
45

2
2
1
1
1
2

minutes .......
minutes .......
minute .........
minute .........
minute .........
minutes .......

44
11
1
1
1
2

Subtotals: ......................................................................

300

........................

1,845

........................

59

Totals: ....................................................................

84,539

........................

189,457

........................

126,861

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* Rounded.

An agency may not conduct or
sponsor and a person is not required to
respond to a collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid OMB
control number.
The authority for this action is the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Madonna Baucum,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.

AGENCY:

[FR Doc. 2023–11745 Filed 6–1–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333–15–P

VerDate Sep<11>2014

17:34 Jun 01, 2023

Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS–R2–ES–2023–N043;
FXES11130200000–234–FF02ENEH00]

Endangered Wildlife; Recovery Permit
Applications
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of receipt of permit
applications; request for comments.
We, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, invite the public to

SUMMARY:

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comment on the following applications
for permits to conduct activities
intended to recover and enhance
endangered species survival. With some
exceptions, the Endangered Species Act
(ESA) prohibits certain activities that
may impact endangered species, unless
a Federal permit allows such activity.
The ESA also requires that we invite
public comment before issuing these
permits.
To ensure consideration, please
submit your written comments by July
3, 2023.

DATES:

ADDRESSES:

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