View Information Collection Request (ICR) Package

OMB Control No: 0648-0605	ICR Reference No: 201504-0648-006
Status: Historical Inactive	Previous ICR Reference No: 201404-0648-013
Agency/Subagency: DOC/NOAA	Agency Tracking No:
Title: Northeast Multispecies Amendment 16
Type of Information Collection: Revision of a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Emergency	Approval Requested By: 05/01/2015
OIRA Conclusion Action: Preapproved	Conclusion Date: 04/21/2015
Retrieve Notice of Action (NOA)	Date Received in OIRA: 04/14/2015
Terms of Clearance:

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	10/31/2015	6 Months From Approved	04/30/2016
Responses	1,683,628	0	1,681,678
Time Burden (Hours)	81,126	0	80,638
Cost Burden (Dollars)	4,298,038	0	4,293,694

Abstract: This request is for emergency revision of this information collection, in conjunction with Final Rule 0648-BE75. In the proposed rule, there was discussion of requiring a daily fishing report in place of the current trip-level report, for haddock. Public comment supported such a change, and because the catch quota is very low, we need to implement this change in reporting requirements by May 1, in order to avoid exceeding the quota.

Emergency Justfication: We are seeking emergency Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) clearance of a measure in FInal Rule 0648-BA75, to require vessels that declare trips into the Gulf of Maine Broad Stock Area and any other broad stock area (i.e., Georges Bank (GB) or Southern New England) on the same trip to submit a daily catch report via vessel monitoring system (VMS). Emergency clearance is requested to allow implementation of the daily VMS reporting requirement on May 1, 2015, concurrent with the effective date of Framework 53, and the implementation of a substantial reduction to the Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod catch limit. We have determined the daily reports are necessary to promote more accurate trip declarations and catch reporting from vessels, which will lead to a stronger likelihood that the GOM cod trip limit will not be exceeded. The most recent stock assessment for GOM cod indicated that this stock is at a historically low abundance level. NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service is implementing a range of measures in Framework 53 to reduce overfishing, protect aggregations and spawning, and keep GOM cod on a rebuilding trajectory. The proposed rule for Framework 53 published on March 9, 2015, and the comment period closed on March 24, 2015. The proposed catch limit for GOM cod is very low (386 mt), and vessels will be able to catch both GOM cod and GB cod, which has a much higher proposed catch limit (1,886 mt) on the same trip. In the proposed rule, we noted concern that the low GOM cod quota provides a strong incentive to misreport (i.e., report GOM cod catch on unobserved trips as GB cod), or underreport catch. We also received public comments from state governments, environmental groups, and industry groups raising the same concerns. While vessels fishing in multiple broad stock areas are currently required to submit trip-level VMS catch reports (approved under OMB Control No. 0648-0605), we determined that a daily report will help us better ensure accurate apportionment of cod catch to the GOM and GB stock areas, and help enforcement efforts. The daily reports will assist NOAA Office of Law Enforcement officers and U.S. Coast Guard officials in identifying misreporting during their compliance checks. Ultimately, this will allow us to effectively track and control mortality on the GOM cod stock. We also expect the daily reports to promote more accurate trip declarations and catch reporting from vessels, given that the daily VMS reporting requirement can be avoided (meaning only the trip-level report would be required) if vessels do not intend to fish in the GOM Broad Stock area. Delaying implementation of the daily VMS trip reporting requirement to receive approval of this information collection under the normal timeframe limits our ability to enforce the GOM cod catch limits during the first few months of the fishing year. During the 2014 fishing year, GOM cod landings reached 65 mt from May 1 to June 1. While this suggests that, if catch occurred at a similar pace, less than a quarter of the 2015 GOM quota would be landed during this period, there are additional circumstances, namely higher quotas for co-occurring stocks, that suggest that landings may occur more quickly over the same period this year. Thus, expediting the approval of this reporting requirement is essential to our efforts to minimize GOM cod mortality. Per the Paperwork Reduction Act regulations, 5 C.F.R. Part 1320.13, we believe that use of this emergency process is essential to the mission of the agency, and the agency cannot reasonably comply with the normal clearance procedures under this part because public harm is reasonably likely to result if normal clearance procedures are followed.

Authorizing Statute(s): PL: Pub.L. 94 - 265 303 Name of Law: Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
0648-BE75	Final or interim final rulemaking

Federal Register Notices & Comments
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? No

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Request	Previously Approved	Change Due to Agency Discretion
Annual Number of Responses	1,683,628	1,681,678	1,950
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	81,126	80,638	488
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	4,298,038	4,293,694	4,344

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: Yes

Burden Increase Due to: Changing Regulations

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: VMS Trip Catch Reports (Broad Stock Requirements) increased from 105 vessels, 1,100 reports and 275 hours to 100 vessels, 3,050 reports and 763 hours and due to the change, costs increased from $2,451 to $6,795. Net total program changes: An increase of 1,950 responses, 488 hours and $4,344. This is an annual increase of approximately 20 responses, 8 hours and $43 per affected vessel.

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $1,763,826

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Is the Supporting Statement intended to be a Privacy Impact Assessment required by the E-Government Act of 2002? No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? No

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? Uncollected

Agency Contact: Aja Peters-Mason 9782819195

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