Notice2025-23080
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Surfclam/Ocean Quahog Individual Transfer Quota (ITQ) Administration
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
December 17, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 240 (Wednesday, December 17, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 240 (Wednesday, December 17, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58550-58551]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-23080]
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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; Surfclam/Ocean Quahog Individual Transfer Quota (ITQ)
Administration
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 July 14, 2025, during a 60-day comment period. This
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
Title: Surfclam/Ocean Quahog Individual Transfer Quota (ITQ)
Administration.
OMB Control Number: 0648-0240.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Request: Regular submission [extension of a current
information collection].
Number of Respondents: 180 unique respondents.
Average Hours per Response: ITQ permit application form, review of
a pre-filled form for renewing entities, ITQ transfer form, 5 minutes
each; 1 hour to complete the ITQ ownership form for new applicants and
30 minutes for the application to shuck Surfclams and ocean quahogs at
sea. The requirements under the paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP)
protocol are based on the number of vessels that land Surfclams or
ocean quahogs and the number of trips taken into the area.
Total Annual Burden Hours: 194 hours.
Needs and Uses: This request is for an extension of a currently
approved collection associated with the Atlantic surfclam and ocean
quahog fisheries. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Greater
Atlantic Region manages these fisheries in the Exclusive Economic Zone
(EEZ) of the Northeastern United States through the Atlantic Surfclam
and Ocean Quahog Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The Mid-Atlantic
Fishery Management Council prepared the FMP pursuant to the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).
The regulations implementing the FMP are specified at 50 CFR part 648.
The recordkeeping and reporting requirements at Sec. Sec. 648.74,
648.75, and 648.76 form the basis for this collection of information.
We request information from surfclam and ocean quahog individual
transferable quota (ITQ) permit holders to issue ITQ permits and to
process and track requests from permit holders to transfer quota share
or cage tags. We also request information from surfclam and ocean
quahog ITQ permit holders to track and properly account for surfclam
and ocean quahog harvest shucked at sea. Because there is not a
standard conversion factor for estimating unshucked product from
shucked product, NMFS requires vessels that shuck product at sea to
carry a NMFS-approved observer on board the vessel to certify the
amount of these clams harvested. This information, upon receipt,
results in an efficient and accurate database for management and
monitoring of fisheries of the Northeastern U.S. EEZ.
Georges Bank has been closed to the harvest of Surfclams and ocean
quahogs since 1990 due to red tide blooms that cause paralytic
shellfish poisoning (PSP). We reopened a portion of the Georges Bank
Closed Area starting in 2012 under certain conditions. We request
information from surfclam and ocean quahog ITQ permit holders who fish
in the reopened area to ensure compliance with the Protocol for Onboard
Screening and Dockside Testing in Molluscan Shellfish. The U.S. Food
and Drug Administration, the commercial fishing industry, and NMFS
developed the PSP protocol to test and verify that clams harvested from
Georges Bank continue to be safe for human consumption. The National
Shellfish Sanitation Program adopted the PSP protocol at the October
2011 Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference.
Affected Public: Individuals and Business or other for-profit
organizations.
Frequency: Frequency varies from collection to collection (e.g.,
annual, per trip, as requested by the public).
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., Section 303).
[[Page 58551]]
This information collection request may be viewed at
<a href="http://www.reginfo.gov">www.reginfo.gov</a>. 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 <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>.
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB
Control Number 0648-0240.
Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Compliance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2025-23080 Filed 12-16-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 17, 2025.
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