Description of change

PRA Change Request for OMB Control No.: 0084, “Basic Requirements for Special Exemption Permits and Authorizations to Take, Import, and Export Marine Mammals, Threatened and Endangered Species, and for Maintaining a Captive Marine Mammal Inventory Under the Marine Mammal Protection, Fur Seal, and Endangered Species”

Background: This information collection, Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Control No.: 0084, includes the following: 1) application instructions for research and enhancement permits; 2) letters of intent for General Authorizations; 3) photography permit guidelines; 4) application instructions for public display permits; and 5) marine mammal public display inventory reports (Mammal Transfer/Transport Notification, Marine Mammal Data Sheet, Marine, and Person/Holder/Facility Sheet). This information collection applies to protected species for which the National Marine Fisheries Service (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries) is responsible, including the marine mammal species of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) and pinnipeds (seals and sea lions) protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.; MMPA); and threatened and endangered species including sea turtles (in water), white abalone, smalltooth sawfish, and shortnose sturgeon protected by the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.; ESA).

All permit and General Authorization applications are available on the internet as Portable Document Format (PDF) or Word documents (at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/), and applications can be mailed, faxed, or emailed to applicants if requested. Applicants in turn submit both paper and electronic permit and authorization application materials. A Pre-Application Guide (PAG) is currently available to the public at http://apps.nmfs.noaa.gov/. The purpose of the PAG is to help prospective applicants determine what type of permit or authorization, if any, they may need. After answering several questions about the proposed work, the system will provide the user with a description of what the required permits or authorizations are and where to go for more information, including contact information and the appropriate application or forms currently available on the internet.

Proposed Change: The NOAA Fisheries, Office of Protected Resources Permits, Conservation and Education Division (Permits Division) is adding an on-line application system known as APPS (Authorizations and Permits for Protected Species) for application instructions for research and enhancement permits for marine mammal and threatened and endangered species under the MMPA and ESA. This system supplements our OMB Control No.: 0084 approved applications.

Purpose: The intent of the APPS on-line system is to provide a user-friendly and efficient electronic format for the public to apply for MMPA/ESA scientific research and enhancement permits for protected species, as an alternative to our currently approved paper application. Eventually the system will be expanded to include the General Authorization, photography, and public display permits. Applicants will be able to submit applications and reports electronically, thus substantially reducing the need to submit paper applications and hopefully reducing the time spent filling out the paper applications. The public will also be able to search the APPS database and obtain information available to the public more efficiently and in an electronic format.

The APPS system replaced the current ACCESS database used internally for the Permits Division to track permits and authorizations in June 2007. It is anticipated that the APPS system will be available to the public for applying for MMPA/ESA scientific research and enhancement permits in October 2007.

Appearance: The appearance of the on-line application will include web pages with fillable fields (see example screen shots below). The instructions for filling out the fields on each web page will be provided in a “Help Document” that will include the same questions that are in the current OMB Control No.: 0084 approved application instructions for MMPA/ESA scientific research and enhancement permits.

4