Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
| Citation | 84 FR 67432 |
| Record Number | 2019-26572 |
| Published date | 10 December 2019 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Commerce Department,National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration |
Federal Register, Volume 84 Issue 237 (Tuesday, December 10, 2019)
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 237 (Tuesday, December 10, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67432-67433]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-26572]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44
U.S.C. Chapter 35).
Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Title: Alaska Council Cooperative Annual Reports.
OMB Control Number: 0648-0678.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Request: Regular.
Number of Respondents: 19.
Average Hours Per Response: Alaska Crab Rationalization Program
Cooperative Annual Report, 47 hours; Annual Rockfish Cooperative
Report, 37 hours; Annual Amendment 80 Cooperative Report, 18 hours;
Amendment 80 Halibut Prohibited Species Catch (PSC) Management Plan,
12.5 hours; Amendment 80 Halibut Bycatch Avoidance Progress Report,
12.5 hours; American Fisheries Act (AFA) Catcher Vessel
Intercooperative Agreement, 48 hours; American Fisheries Act Annual
Catcher Vessel Intercooperative Report, 40 hours; American Fisheries
Act Cooperative Annual Report, 16 hours.
Burden Hours: 695.
Needs and Uses: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council
(Council) has developed several cooperative programs as options in
larger catch share programs for the federally managed fisheries off
Alaska. As part of these cooperative programs, the Council has either
recommended that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) require
the cooperative managers to submit an annual written report detailing
various activities of the cooperative, or the Council has requested
that cooperative managers voluntarily submit an annual report to the
Council. These reports are intended to be a resource for the Council
and the public to track the effectiveness of the cooperative and its
ability to meet the Council's goals. Additionally, they are a tool for
the cooperatives to provide feedback on a catch share program and how
the cooperative element is functioning.
In general, the cooperative managers present the cooperative
reports during the April Council meeting. Regulations do not require
cooperative managers to present cooperative reports to the Council;
however, they are encouraged to do so, and this has been common
practice for many cooperative representatives. Public dissemination of
the annual cooperative reports and presentation of an overview of the
reports at the April Council meeting each year provides stakeholders
and members of the public the opportunity to provide public comment to
the Council about the cooperatives and the catch share programs.
Some of the cooperative annual reports are required in Federal
regulation and others are requested by the Council as a voluntary
annual submission. This information collection covers both the
mandatory and voluntary components of the cooperative annual reports.
This information collection contains the following reports.
The Alaska Crab Rationalization Program Cooperative Annual
Report allows the Council to determine if the cooperatives are taking
adequate action to facilitate the transfer of quota share (QS) to
active participants and control QS lease rates, or if potential future
regulatory action may be needed to address these concerns. This report
is voluntary.
The Annual Rockfish Cooperative Report provides
information to the Council and NMFS about how the catch share program
and its associated cooperative elements are functioning. This is
particularly important as the Council is evaluating reauthorization of
the Rockfish Program in 2019 and 2020. This report is mandatory.
The Annual Amendment 80 Cooperative Report provides
information to the Council and NMFS about how the catch share program
is functioning, and if potential future changes may be needed. This
report is mandatory.
The Amendment 80 Halibut Prohibited Species Catch (PSC)
Management Plan informs the Council of an Amendment 80 cooperative's
plan to use voluntary, non-regulatory methods to avoid halibut bycatch
in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) groundfish fisheries.
This report is voluntary.
The Amendment 80 Halibut Bycatch Avoidance Progress Report
allows each sector in the BSAI groundfish fisheries to inform the
Council of its progress on voluntary, non-regulatory methods used
within its fishery cooperatives to avoid halibut bycatch in the BSAI
groundfish fisheries. This report is voluntary.
The American Fisheries Act (AFA) Catcher Vessel Inter-
cooperative Agreement provides information to NMFS, the Council, and
the public about inter-cooperative fishery allocations, PSC
allocations, transfers of allocations and PSC, monitoring methods, and
bycatch reduction methods. This report is voluntary.
The American Fisheries Act Annual Catcher Vessel Inter-
cooperative Report provides detailed information about how sideboard
limits and PSC are being used to determine if program objectives are
being satisfactorily met; provides the Council and the public with a
simple means of evaluating the AFA catcher vessel fleets' aggregate
fishing performance under the AFA regulations;
[[Page 67433]]
and provides a broader understanding of catcher vessel cooperative
activities. This report is voluntary.
The American Fisheries Act Cooperative Annual Report
provides information to the Council about how each cooperative
allocated pollock, other groundfish species, and prohibited species
among the vessels in the cooperative; the catch of these species by
area by each vessel in the cooperative; information about how the
cooperative monitored fishing by its members; and a description of any
actions taken by the cooperative to penalize vessels that exceeded the
catch and prohibited species catch allocations made to the vessel by
the cooperative. The purpose of this report is to provide the Council
with information about the on-going operations and performance of the
cooperatives on which to base its decisions about management of the
Bering Sea pollock fishery. This report is mandatory.
Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit organizations.
Frequency: Annually.
Respondent's Obligation: Reports are voluntary or mandatory as
specified in each report's description above.
This information collection request may be viewed at reginfo.gov.
Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce collections
currently under review by OMB.
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice
to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2019-26572 Filed 12-9-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
