Notice2023-07236
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; West Coast Groundfish Trawl Economic Data
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
April 6, 2023
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites 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. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission of the collection to OMB.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 66 (Thursday, April 6, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 66 (Thursday, April 6, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20492-20493]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-07236]
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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; West Coast Groundfish Trawl Economic Data
AGENCY: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites 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. The
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment
preceding submission of the collection to OMB.
DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed
information collection must be received on or before June 5, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments to
Adrienne Thomas, NOAA PRA Officer, at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#561819171778060417163839373778313920"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7a34353b3b542a283b3a14151b1b541d150c">[email protected]</span></a>. Please
reference OMB Control Number 0648-618 in the subject line of your
comments. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise
sensitive or protected information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed
to Erin Steiner, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, 2725 Montlake
Blvd. E, Seattle, WA 98103, (206) 860-3202 or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6500170c0b4b1611000c0b0017250b0a04044b020a13"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b2d7c0dbdc9cc1c6d7dbdcd7c0f2dcddd3d39cd5ddc4">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
This request is for revision and renewal of a currently approved
information collection. This information collection is needed in order
to meet the monitoring requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA).
In particular, the Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) needs
economic data on all harvesters, quota share permit owners, first
receivers, shorebased processors, catcher processors, and motherships
participating in the West Coast groundfish trawl fishery. The current
approval covers collection of data for the 2019-2021 operating years.
The renewed approval will cover years 2022-2024. Data will be collected
from all catcher vessels registered to a limited entry trawl endorsed
permit, quota share permit owners, catcher processors registered to
catcher processor permits, motherships registered to mothership
permits, first receivers, and shorebased processors that received round
or head-and-gutted IFQ groundfish or whiting from a first receiver to
provide the necessary information for analyzing the effects of the West
Coast Groundfish Trawl Catch Share Program.
As stated in 50 CFR 660.114, the EDC forms due on September 1,
2023, will provide data for the 2022 operating year. Changes are being
proposed to three forms: the quota share owner form, the first receiver
and shorebased processor form, and the catcher vessel form.
Two changes are proposed for the quota share owner form. First, the
question ``Is this permit owned solely by a non-profit?'' will be
removed from the survey as it was determined that sufficient
information is available from other sources to make this question
redundant. The second proposed change is to replace the survey's third
question with a series of shorter questions guiding the participant to
provide the correct information. This change will clarify which
information should be reported for each type of respondent and will
reduce the need for lengthy instructions section describing how the
participant should answer. The series of questions are:
A. ``Which types of quota transactions were associated with QSXXXX
in 2022? Check all that apply'' This question helps the participant
determine whether any earnings need to be reported on the survey. If
appropriate categories are checked, they will be asked question B.
B. ``How much did this quota share account earn from leasing quota
in year 2022?'' Participants will answer this question with a dollar
amount. To ensure there is no duplicate reporting, participants will be
asked question C:
C. ``Did you record any earnings from 2021 quota leasing on an EDC
form?'' If participants answer ``No,'' they will be prompted to affirm
that their response to question B was correct and submit the survey. If
they answer ``Yes,'' they will be asked to respond to question D.
D. ``How much in quota lease earnings did you record on your EDC
form(s)? Participants will answer with a numerical value and proceed to
question E.
E. ``Please confirm your total quota lease earnings in 2021 was
`Response to question B + `Response to question D.' After confirming,
participants will then submit the survey.
We anticipate no additional burden with this change because the new
structure of the survey will generate fewer incorrect responses and
survey administrators will no longer need to contact participants
outside of the survey to confirm that they did not provide duplicate
responses across survey forms.
First receiver and shorebased processor form changes are more
extensive. The purpose of the changes are fourfold: remove requests for
information that are not used in development of a Pacific Fishery
Management Council Fishery Management Plan, consolidate questions where
additional detail is no longer required, clarify handling of
intercompany transfers and inventory, and collect more accurate
information about hourly wages.
First, we propose a complete removal of Question 18: ``Provide the
following information about the landing origin of groundfish received
at this facility.'' Throughout the eleven years of the program, these
data have not been used in the Council process and we do not
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anticipate using this information in the future.
Second, we propose consolidating the fishery-level detail requests
from Question 19: ``Fish Received. In the table below provide the
weight and cost of fish received.'' For groundfish species, the
existing form requests weight not paid for, weight paid for, and cost
of fish by species group for three fisheries (LE Trawl, LE Fixed Gear,
and Other) as well as Non-vessel sources. In the revised form, the
table will be consolidated to only request Vessel sources and Non-
vessel sources. This will be a net reduction of 72 data entry cells on
the form (12 species groups x removal of 2 fisheries x 3 fields). We
will no longer request this information because fishery-detail
information can be obtained from other sources.
Third, we propose revising how intercompany transfers and inventory
are reported on the form. Similar to the quota share owner survey,
there are extensive instructions on handling these two topics, but
reporting errors are extremely common. To facilitate accurate reporting
of intercompany transfers, we will remove a column dedicated to
transfer information from Question 19 and remove instructions about
recording transfers in Question 20. Then, all of the transfer-related
information will be moved to a separate question/table. This change
will make the survey instructions easier to understand, allow companies
that do not have intercompany transfers to skip the question entirely,
and will make it easier to detect and remedy mistakes. Similarly, there
are extensive instructions on how to record inventory in Question 20 on
the existing form, but no dedicated field for inventory. Instead,
participants are currently instructed to add inventory to the other
sales categories. We propose adding a new line for each species group
to record the inventory volume and value. Similar to the changes to
transfers in Question 19 and 20, the new structure of Question 20
clarifies how to complete the form and facilitates identifying and
resolving errors. Finally, this change will provide new important
information about inventory volumes across years, providing better
information about the status of the processing sector to the Pacific
Fishery Management Council.
Lastly, a common performance metric for fisheries programs is
hourly wage payments to processing workers. In the current form, we
request the total number of workers and total hours worked for the week
that includes the 12th of each month and total annual compensation
payments. To calculate hourly wages, we must extrapolate to the total
hours worked for the year. Through conversations with participants, it
has become apparent that within-month employment can have high
variability and our extrapolations are not always accurate. We propose
requesting the equivalent compensation value for each of the one-week
windows to allow for a more accurate calculation of hourly wages. This
additional field will also allow us to generate an estimate of within-
month employment variability.
The only proposed change to the Catcher Vessel survey form is to
remove two questions. In 2018, at the request of participants in the
trawl catch share program, two additional questions were added,
Question 17: ``Do you track capitalized expenditures and expenses on
fishing gear by type (e.g., midwater trawl gear, groundfish bottom
trawl gear)?'' and Question 18: ``Provide the 2021 total capitalized
expenditures and expenses associated with each type of fishing gear
used in West Coast Fisheries (Washington, Oregon, and California).''
Since the implementation of the questions in 2018, there has only been
one ``Yes'' out nearly 700 total responses to Question 17 and therefore
no further information about gear-specific costs have been collected.
Therefore there will be no information loss associated with removal of
these two questions and there will be a small reduction in total burden
hours.
II. Method of Collection
Vessel, first receiver, and shorebased processor forms may be
submitted via mail or electronically. All quota share owner survey
forms must be submitted online as part of the quota share permit
renewal system.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0648-0618.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Review: Regular submission (Revision and extension of a
current information collection).
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit and not-for-profit
organization.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 352.
Estimated Time per Response: 8 hours for catcher processors,
catcher vessels, and motherships, 1 hour for quota share permit owners,
and 20 hours for first receivers and shorebased processors.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,209.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $3,668.45 in recordkeeping/
reporting costs.
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: 50 CFR 660.114.
IV. Request for Comments
We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is
necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether
the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy
of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed
collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions
used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of
the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden
on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
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 may 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.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2023-07236 Filed 4-5-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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