0449 Ss 2008_060608

SUPPORTING STATEMENT
DATA COLLECTION ON MARINE PROTECTED AND MANAGED AREAS
OMB CONTROL NO. 0648-0449
A. JUSTIFICATION
1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.
Executive Order 13158 (EO 13158) directs the Department of Commerce and the
Department of the Interior (DOI) to work with partners to strengthen the protection of
U.S. ocean and coastal resources by developing a national system of marine protected
areas. In order to develop that system, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and DOI have determined that it is necessary to first inventory
those areas, in order to comply with EO 13158. The United States has different levels of
protection and management regimes at many levels of government. State, local,
territorial, and tribal governments have different ways in which they protect their marine
environment through area-based management. Information about these areas has not
been centralized or organized in a coherent way. Indeed, very little is known about the
interaction between these management units and federal government programs. A
comprehensive data collection is needed to provide the federal government, its partners
and the American people with information about their marine resources and the
conservation and management of those resources. This data collection has been in
progress for the last six years and will continue for another three years in order to
complete the data set. Participants also may provide updates or corrections to their data if
it changes or as they see appropriate, including the establishment of new marine protected
areas or revisions of existing areas. The number of federal programs, states, and
territories submitting information is provided in table, below.
Number of Federal Agencies, States and Territories Reporting Through 12-07
Governmental Level
# of Respondents Through December 2007
Federal
2 federal agencies, 6 programs
# of States
29 coastal states
# of Territories
5 coastal territories
Partnerships
1 federal/state partnership program; state/local
partnership programs in 7 states; territory/local
partnership programs in 2 territories
Tribes
none
Local Governments
none
The web-based, fully automated 43-question collection tool described in the 2005
renewal, a combination of questions requiring “check the box” and narrative responses, is
no longer in use. Experience has shown that responses to the narrative questions in
particular, such as “provide a brief summary of primary restrictions and protections,”
yielded unwieldy, subjective information that provided limited, if any, comparability
across sites, states, and programs. As a result, the number of questions has been
drastically reduced, to 15.

2. Explain how, by whom, how frequently, and for what purpose the information
will be used. If the information collected will be disseminated to the public or used
to support information that will be disseminated to the public, then explain how the
collection complies with all applicable Information Quality Guidelines.
The information will be used: 1) by federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal
governments as well as non-governmental organizations, universities, and individuals for
scientific research, management, and operational purposes; 2) by industry when seeking
federal licenses or permits or preparing environmental impact statements required for
various offshore activities; 3) to glean basic information about the United States’ marine
and coastal waters, such as the area that is explicitly managed or protected, what
protections exist and where they are located, and how these management areas are related
to each other; and 4) to improve management of these areas and allow for more efficient
and effective communication and coordination between management entities. The data
will be provided on the website, mpa.gov, where information from the federal programs
areas and the several states and territories that have responded are available. Examples of
how the data will be presented can be seen in the MPA Inventory section of mpa.gov at
http://mpa.gov/helpful_resources/inventory.html.
Specifically, the data form collects: 1) general information about the site, such as name
and year established; 2) general information about each site’s conservation focus and
regulatory scope; 3) information about the site’s management capabilities as provided
through the site’s management plan; and 4) information about the availability of
geographic information systems (GIS) shape files.
Collected information describes attributes of each MPA such as level of protection (e.g.
ranging from whether it is a multiple-use area with limited protection to restriction of all
uses); does the protection exist year-round and is it focused on protecting natural
resources, cultural resources or both?; does the site have any restrictions on fishing and
what kind?; and its planned management capabilities (e.g. does it have monitoring,
research, education, permitting programs, etc.) When completed, the form provides
information about each MPA for the database that is comparable across different
programs (e.g. parks, refuges, sanctuaries) and levels of government (i.e., federal, state,
territorial, partnership) and can be applied at local, state, regional, and national scales.
Metadata is being created to order to organize that data, make it more easily retrievable,
and further ensure its quality.
As explained in the preceding paragraphs, the information gathered has utility. NOAA’s
Ocean Service will retain control over the information and safeguard it from improper
access, modification, and destruction, consistent with NOAA standards for
confidentiality, privacy, and electronic information. See response #10 of this Supporting
Statement for more information on confidentiality and privacy. The information
collection is designed to yield data that meet all applicable information quality
guidelines. Prior to dissemination, the information will be subjected to quality control
measures and a pre-dissemination review pursuant to Section 515 of Public Law 106-554.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the
use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological techniques or other
forms of information technology.
The new 15-question collection tool included in this request is completed: 1) by a site’s
(respondent) staff and sent via e-mail to the National MPA Center or 2) through the
respondent’s telephone discussion with National MPA Center staff.
Reestablishment of an automated capability allowing the respondents to access the new
15 question data collection survey via a password-protected, secure Data Entry and
Editing website is planned for the future. Resources are not available at this time to adapt
the previous online capability for the 15 question collection tool. Once this capability is
reestablished, respondents will then have the option of working directly with National
MPA Center staff or submitting the data online and, with the database automatically
updated in a SQL Server Database. The database is accessible over the Internet at
http://mpa.gov.
4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.
Respondents for each site will be identified and asked to submit information. In some
cases, regional coordination will be voluntarily provided by non-governmental
organizations, such as the Coastal States Organization. Comprehensive data collection for
most sites, the first such collection, was completed in FY2001 though FY2007. Library
and Internet searches, as well as ongoing conversations with interested parties, has
revealed that the information proposed for collection is both currently absent and needed
for improved management and understanding of coastal and marine resources.
5. If the collection of information involves small businesses or other small entities,
describe the methods used to minimize burden.
The data collection involves federal agencies, all coastal state and territorial
governments, and could involve a few coastal tribal and local governments. The
collection does not involve small businesses. Small local governments are provided
assistance in filling out the form, when requested, either by the National MPA Center
and/or the appropriate state or territorial partner.
6. Describe the consequences to the Federal program or policy activities if the
collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently.
Data will be collected once for each site; however, respondents are able to provide
updates or edits to their data as appropriate. If data are not collected, the marine protected
inventory process will not be able to proceed, the public will not receive complete, vital
information about their coastal and ocean resources and the protection and management
of those resources, and the Federal government cannot proceed with identifying which

existing marine protected areas should be a part of the National System of Marine
Protected Areas established under EO 13158.
7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a
manner inconsistent with OMB guidelines.
The collection will be conducted consistent with OMB guidelines.
8. Provide information on the PRA Federal Register Notice that solicited public
comments on the information collection prior to this submission. Summarize the
public comments received in response to that notice and describe the actions taken
by the agency in response to those comments. Describe the efforts to consult with
persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data,
frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or
reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or
reported.
A Federal Register Notice published on March 4, 2008 (73 FR 11619) solicited public
comment on this collection. No comments were received.
Representatives from the Department of the Interior, other federal MPA programs, as
well as members of regional fisheries offices have reviewed this form in the past. These
representatives were encouraged to comment on the usability of the form.
9. Explain any decisions to provide payments or gifts to respondents, other than
remuneration of contractors or grantees.
Gifts or payments are not currently planned.
10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis
for assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.
There will be no assurance of confidentiality. This will be clearly stated on the
Paperwork Reduction Act information associated with the form.
11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as
sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are
commonly considered private.
There are no questions of a sensitive nature included in the survey.
12. Provide an estimate in hours of the burden of the collection of information.
The data collection was not complete in the first six years. Therefore, an extension is
necessary to complete the data collection for the remaining federal, state, commonwealth,
and territorial governments, obtain information about new or modified sites, as well as to

initiate the tribal and local government data collection. The total estimated responses are
3,250 over the duration of the collection, including updates; about 2,500 responses were
received in the first six years of collection.
During the extension, another 500 new site responses and 250 updates of existing
information are estimated. The reduction of the number of questions from 43 to 15,
resulting in the reduction of the potential annual hours per new site from 5 hours to 1
hour and 30 minutes, yields an overall estimated reduction of 1,750 burden hours for the
500 new sites, from a previously estimated 2,500 hours to 750. This estimate includes
research time as well as time to fill out the form. An additional 30 minutes’ work time
each for an estimated 250 sites needing to update existing information will result in an
additional 125 hours. There will be an estimated 875 burden hours during this three year
extension request, annualized to 293. (750 + 125 = 875/3 = 293). The total responses
over the three year period will be 750 (500 + 250), annualized to 250. Note: although the
actual hours come out to 292 “even”, rounding-off in ROCIS of the respondents and
burden for the form completion by new sites resulted in a total of 293 annualized burden
hours.
13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to the respondents or
recordkeepers resulting from the collection.
There will be no financial cost associated with completing the survey.
14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government.
There is no specific programmatic cost to the government. This survey is part of a greater
Inventory effort, and as such it will fall under regularly scheduled Inventory activities.
15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items
13 or 14 of the OMB 83-I.
Program changes: 1) due to the revised instrument, average burden time per response has
decreased from 5 hours to 1 hour and 30 minutes; 2)125 responses averaging 30 minutes
have been added to cover updates. There is thus a net decrease in total burden of 1,625
due to program changes.
Adjustment: previously, the burden was not annualized, but acknowledging that the
responses may be spread over a three-year period, we are now annualizing the burden.
Thus, the total 3-year burden is decreasing from 2,500 to 875 hours, but the annualized
burden will be 293 hours. The decrease in annualized burden due to this adjustment is
582 hours.

16. For collections whose results will be published, outline the plans for tabulation
and publication.
Results from the first six years of data collection are tallied and compiled in a database
currently housed at the NOAA Ocean Service’s National MPA Center in Monterey,
California. The information is currently available on the website, mpa.gov. New data
collected during the extension will be added to this database and made available on the
web.
17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the
information collection, explain the reasons why display would be inappropriate.
No approval will be sought to not display the expiration date.
18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19 of the
OMB 83-I.
There are no exceptions to the certification statement.
B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL
METHODS
This data collection does not employ statistical methods.