Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; NMFS Alaska Region Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) Program

Citation85 FR 71057
Record Number2020-24721
Published date06 November 2020
SectionNotices
CourtCommerce Department,National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 216 (Friday, November 6, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 216 (Friday, November 6, 2020)]
                [Notices]
                [Pages 71057-71058]
                From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
                [FR Doc No: 2020-24721]
                -----------------------------------------------------------------------
                DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
                National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
                Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
                Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment
                Request; NMFS Alaska Region Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) Program
                 The Department of Commerce will submit the following information
                collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for
                review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of
                1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the
                general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and
                continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of
                our information collection requirements and minimize the public's
                reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the
                Federal Register on June 24, 2020, during a 60-day comment period. This
                notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
                 Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
                 Title: NMFS Alaska Region Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) Program.
                 OMB Control Number: 0648-0445.
                 Form Number(s): None.
                 Type of Request: Regular submission (extension of a current
                information collection).
                 Number of Respondents: 550.
                 Average Hours per Response: VMS installation, maintenance, and
                troubleshooting, 12 hours.
                 Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,476 hours.
                 Needs and Uses: This request is for an extension of a currently
                approved information collection. There are no proposed changes to this
                information collection.
                 NMFS requires the owners and operators of selected vessels
                participating in federally managed groundfish and crab fisheries off
                Alaska to obtain, install, and maintain an operational, NMFS-approved
                Vessel Monitoring System (VMS). VMS units automatically transmit the
                location of a vessel several times per hour using a Global Positioning
                System satellite. The VMS unit is passive and automatic, requiring no
                reporting effort by the vessel operator. A communications service
                provider receives the transmission and relays it to NMFS Office for Law
                Enforcement (OLE).
                 Tracking vessel location using VMS is required to monitor
                compliance with area-specific catch allocations, to monitor compliance
                with requirements to redeploy or remove fishing gear from commercial
                fishing grounds, and to monitor compliance with complicated time and
                area closures in the GOA and BSAI designed to protect Steller sea lion
                or essential fish habitat.
                 VMS is an essential component of monitoring and management for
                complicated, geographically widespread fishing closures. NMFS uses
                information from VMS to identify where vessels are operating, to
                organize patrols so as to increase the number of fishing vessels
                visually examined, or to focus examination of vessels of greatest
                concern, and as evidence in prosecutions.
                 Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
                profit organizations.
                 Frequency: On occasion.
                 Respondent's Obligation: Required to Obtain or Retain Benefit.
                 Legal Authority: 16 U.S.C.1801 et. seq.; 16 U.S.C. 773-773k.
                 This information collection request may be viewed at
                www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of
                Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
                 Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
                collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of
                this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
                Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently
                under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search
                function and
                [[Page 71058]]
                entering either the title of the collection or the OMB Control Number
                0648-0445.
                Sheleen Dumas,
                Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information
                Officer, Commerce Department.
                [FR Doc. 2020-24721 Filed 11-5-20; 8:45 am]
                BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
                

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