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SUPPORTING STATEMENT
NMFS ALASKA REGION
VESSEL MONITORING SYSTEM (VMS) PROGRAM
OMB CONTROL NO. 0648-0445

INTRODUCTION
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Alaska Region manages the groundfish fisheries in
the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area
(BSAI) and Gulf of Alaska (GOA) under fishery management plans (FMP) for groundfish in the
respective areas. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) prepared, and
NMFS approved, the FMP under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. The Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 (Halibut
Act) at 16 U.S.C. 773–773k provides the Secretary of Commerce with the authority and general
responsibility to carry out the requirements of the Preservation of the Halibut Fishery of the
North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea (Convention), signed at Ottawa, Ontario, on March 2, 1953.
Commercial halibut fisheries operate within the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program,
Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program, and through area-specific
catch sharing plans. Regulations implementing the FMP appear at 50 CFR part 679.
This action is a request for renewal of an existing collection.
The VMS units integrate global positioning system (GPS) and communications electronics in a
single, tamper-resistant package to automatically determine the vessel’s position several times
per hour. The units can be set to transmit a vessel’s location periodically and automatically to an
overhead satellite in real time. In most cases, the vessel owner is unaware of exactly when the
unit is transmitting and is unable to alter the signal or the time of transmission. The VMS unit is
passive and automatic, requiring no reporting effort by the vessel operator. A communications
service provider receives the transmission and relays it to NMFS, Office for Law Enforcement
(OLE) and United States (U.S.) Coast Guard (USCG).
Traditional methods of monitoring compliance with fishing regulations do not fully meet
NMFS’s need to monitor fishing activities under protection measures. The VMS is generally
acknowledged to be an essential component of monitoring and management for complicated,
geographically widespread fishing closures. The VMS allows verification of where fishing is
taking place in real time. This, in turn, allows verification that vessels fishing in an area are
permitted to fish in that area. Much can be inferred about whether a vessel is actively fishing,
and the type of gear being used, when a VMS track is examined by an analyst knowledgeable
about the vessel, and the fisheries that are open when the track is observed. This information can
be useful for targeting vessels for more detailed observation.
The VMS also ensures that harvested fish are properly debited or reported, because NMFS can
track vessels as they arrive in port to offload the product.

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A.

JUSTIFICATION

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.
Given the large size and remoteness of the area in which Alaska fisheries occur, and the limited
enforcement infrastructure available, determination of vessel location will depend crucially on
VMS reports. Information from VMS is used to identify where vessels are operating, to organize
patrols so as to increase the number of fishing vessels visually examined, or to focus examination
of vessels of greatest concern (because of past records of fishing violations, or because of the
location of fishing activity), and as evidence in prosecutions.
Except as indicated for Pacific halibut fishermen, participants in the following fisheries of the
EEZ off Alaska are required to purchase, install, and maintain an operational, NMFS-approved
Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) on their vessel to provide precise information on vessel
location.
Source of the
requirement
Steller Sea Lion
Protection Measures

Location
§ 679.7(a)(18)

Essential Fish
Habitat 1

§ 679.7(a)(21)

Essential Fish
Habitat1
GOA Rockfish
Program

§ 679.7(a)(22)

Crab Rationalization
Program
Pacific Halibut
Individual Fishing
Quota Program

Sablefish Individual
Fishing Quota
Program

§ 679.7(n)(3)

§ 680.7(c)(2)
Annual halibut
management
measures (74 FR
11681, 3/19/09)
No. 15--Vessel
Clearance in Area
4, No. (16)
§ 679.42(k)

Fisheries affected
Vessels directed fishing for pollock, Pacific cod, and Atka mackerel
in any reporting area, whenever those fisheries are open. The VMS
must be operable when any of these three fisheries that the vessel is
endorsed for is open, regardless of the target species. The only
exemption is for vessels using jig gear.
Vessels named on a Federal Fisheries Permit or Federal Crab Vessel
Permit while operating in the Aleutian Islands subarea, without regard
for species, or operate a federally permitted vessel in adjacent State of
Alaska waters.
Vessels operating in the Gulf of Alaska
with mobile bottom contact gear onboard.
Vessels directed fishing for northern rockfish, Pacific ocean perch,
and pelagic shelf rockfish in the Gulf of Alaska. VMS requirements
extend outside the directed rockfish fisheries to cover vessels with
privileges under the Rockfish Program as they operate under
sideboards (harvest limits) in other fisheries (sideboards are meant to
protect vessels non-Limited Access Privilege Programs (LAPP)
fisheries from new competition from vessels in LAPP fisheries.
Vessels harvest Crab Rationalization Program crab in the Bering Sea.
Any vessel that carries a transmitting VMS transmitter while fishing
for halibut in Area 4A, 4B, 4C, or 4D and until all halibut caught in
any of these areas is landed is exempt from the clearance
requirements.

Vessels fishing for sablefish in the Bering Sea or Aleutian Islands IFQ
regulatory areas.

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The FMP designates essential fish habitat (EFH) and habitat areas of particular concern (HAPC) in the Gulf of Alaska. In order
to protect HAPCs, certain habitat protection areas and habitat conservation zones have been designated. A habitat protection area
is an area of special, rare habitat features where fishing activities that may adversely affect the habitat are restricted. HAPCs are
areas within essential fish habitat that are of particular ecological importance to the long–term sustainability of managed species,
are of a rare type, or are especially susceptible to degradation or development.

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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 VMS information provides a basis for determining whether changes in management are
needed to protect sensitive species, for addressing fishery interaction problems, and for
evaluating the impacts of potential changes.
The VMS vessel location reports are used to facilitate enforcement of area closures in certain
fisheries and to check the accuracy of vessel position information reported by the vessel operator
in the daily logbooks. The VMS reports not only provide real-time vessel location and activity
information, but also can be used by NMFS to help ascertain the effects of fishing on threatened
and endangered species of certain fisheries.
NMFS has management responsibility for certain threatened and endangered species under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), 16 U.S.C. 1531, et seq. and has the authority to
promulgate regulations to enforce provisions of the ESA to protect such species. To help
ascertain the effects on threatened and endangered species of certain fisheries, NMFS needs to
identify where vessels engaged in those fisheries are fishing
a. VMS Operation
Prior to participation in a fishery that requires VMS, a vessel owner must purchase a NMFSapproved VMS transmitter and install it or have it installed onboard the vessel. Installation time
for a VMS unit is estimated to be less than two hours. A higher installation estimate of 6
hours/vessel is used, based on a worst-case scenario, e.g. in which a suitable electrical hookup is
not convenient to a location where the VMS unit can be installed.
The VMS transmitter must be available for inspection by NMFS personnel, observers, or
authorized officers. The vessel owner must ensure that the VMS transmitter is not tampered
with, disabled, destroyed, or operated improperly; and must pay all charges levied by the
communication service provider.
OLE developed national standards for VMS transmitters, base stations and communication
service providers. These standards ensure that a vessel purchasing a unit for use in one region of
the U.S. will not have to purchase a different unit to fish in another region. The approved VMS
units are: Argos MAR-GE, Thrane & Thrane 3022-D, 3026-S, 3026-M, and Orbcomm. Refer to
OLE’s VMS website at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ole/ak_faqs.html.
Regulations at 50 CFR part 679.28 require that the VMS be operational. VMS equipment failure
may interfere with normal vessel operations until repairs can be made, and this may impose
additional costs. If the VMS unit is not working, the vessel operator must contact OLE who will
assist in troubleshooting the system to get it operational again. OLE treats equipment
breakdowns on a case-by-case basis and tries to avoid interrupting a fishing trip already in
progress.

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Number of distinct vessels with current FFP for Atka mackerel, pollock, Pacific cod: 584
increased from 539. Although not all Federal Crab Vessel Permits (FCVP) have been issued for
2009/2010, the number of distinct vessels with FCVPs for 2008/2009 is 120 catcher vessels, 7
catcher/processors (total endorsed for harvesting = 127; no endorsement overlap); plus 9
stationary floating processors for a grand total of 135 FCVPs, decreased from 200. Total number
of distinct persons holding Bering Sea and/or Aleutian Islands sablefish individual fishing quota
(IFQ) quota share: 159, increased from 126. Essential fish habitat (EFH) vessels were listed in
the last support statement as required to use VMS; however, it is determined that those vessels
are already counted in the other listings. Total respondents are 878, corrected from 1,854.
In this support statement, VMS transmissions are not counted as burden, because they are
automatic. The number of VMS transmissions per day is 48, decreased from 72.
VMS Operation, Respondent
Number of VMS Respondents
Atka mackerel, pollock, Pacific cod (584)
BSAI crab (135)
BSAI sablefish (159)
Total VMS Transmissions
VMS = 48 transmissions per fishing day
Atka mackerel, pollock, Pacific cod (539)
180 fishing days per vessel x 48 x 584 = 5,045,760
BSAI crab (135)
30 fishing days per vessel x 48 x 135 = 194,400
BS & AI sablefish (159)
200 fishing days per vessel x 48 x 159 = 1,526,400
Total Burden
Burden is not charged for VMS transmissions
VMS installation time for each NEW VMS
(6 hr one time charge) x 100 vessels to replace VMS unit or add a new VMS
= 600/3 year = 200 hr
VMS maintenance time (4 hr/yr x 878 vessels =3512 hr)
Total Personnel Cost @ $25/hr
Total Miscellaneous Cost
Annual VMS transmission cost @ $5/day
Atka mackerel, pollock, Pacific cod (584 x 180 x 5 = 525,600)
BSAI crab (135 x 30 x 5 = 20,250)
BS & AI sablefish (126) 200 fishing days per vessel x $5/day x126 = 126,000
Annual maintenance ($70 x 878 =61,460)

878

3,712 hr

$92,800
733,310

VMS data are monitored and interpreted by OLE. Currently, no officers are directly dedicated to
VMS; however, a program manager, information technology technician, and enforcement
technician work on VMS each day for some hours.
VMS operation, Federal Government
Total responses
Total burden hours
80 hr per time period x 26 time periods per year = 2080 hr
Total personnel cost (2080 hr x $35/hr)
Total miscellaneous costs

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878
2,080
$72,800
$0

b. VMS Check-In Report
Upon completion of purchase and installation of a VMS unit, the participant must register the
VMS unit with an approved service provider. At least 72 hours before participation in a fishery
that requires VMS, the participant must send a one-time VMS check-in report to OLE. The
information on this report enables OLE to verify that the VMS system is functioning and that
VMS data can be identified as a specific vessel. The VMS check-in report may be filled out on
the screen, printed, and faxed to (907) 586-7703.
Most of the participants have already checked in their VMS units; this check-in is required only
once to obtain the signature of the VMS unit. An estimated 5% of the vessels will need to checkin due to replaced VMS units, moving of VMS unit from one vessel to another, or new
participant required to check-in once. Any time that a VMS unit is replaced or moved from one
vessel to another (as may happen with companies that own multiple vessels), the operator must
submit another VMS check-in report.
VMS Check-In Report
Date
VMS transmitter ID or serial number
Vessel name
USCG documentation number
Federal Fisheries permit number or Federal crab vessel permit number
Name and telephone number of contact person
VMS Check-In Report, Respondent
Number of Respondents
(new, moved or replaced VMS units per year)
Total Responses
Frequency per year = 1
Total Burden Hours
Hours per response (12/60 min=0.2 hr) = 8.8 hr.
Total Personnel Cost ($25 x 4)
Total Miscellaneous Costs (Fax $6 x 44)

$225
$264

VMS Check-In Report, Federal Government
Total responses
Total Burden Hours (0.2 x 44)
Total Personnel Cost ($25 x 4)
Total Miscellaneous Costs

44
4 hr
$100
0

44
44
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c. VMS Malfunction Notification (REMOVED).
It is anticipated that the information collected will be disseminated to the public or used to
support publicly disseminated information. As explained in the following paragraphs, the
information gathered has utility. NMFS 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 to Question 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
predissemination review pursuant to Section 515 of Public Law 106-554.

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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 VMS collection-of-information is automated and integrates current information technology
in the fishery management and monitoring process.
The VMS check-in report may be completed onscreen using fillable forms, downloaded, and
printed from the NMFS Alaska Region website http://www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov. The
VMS check-in report must be faxed to: NMFS Office for Law Enforcement Fax number: (907)
586-7703.
4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.
No duplication exists with other information collections.
5. If the collection of information involves small businesses or other small entities, describe
the methods used to minimize burden.
This collection-of-information does not impose a significant impact on small entities.
6. Describe the consequences to the Federal program or policy activities if the collection is
not conducted or is conducted less frequently.
The VMS is an integral part of the management of the fisheries in the Alaska Region. It would
not be possible to carry out the mandates of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other laws if
approval to continue these previously approved collections were to be denied.
7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a
manner inconsistent with OMB guidelines.
No special circumstances exist.
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.
Public comment was solicited in a Federal Register Notice (74 FR 23390), published May 19,
2009. No comments were received
9. Explain any decisions to provide payments or gifts to respondents, other than
remuneration of contractors or grantees.
No payment or gift to respondents is provided under this program.
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10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for
assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.
All VMS units include systems to minimize the risk of direct or inadvertent disclosure of vessel
position. As stated in the applicable regulations, the information collected, including VMS
transmission – but not including information on the VMS check-in report - is confidential under
section 402(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (16 U.S.C. 1881a et seq.); and also under NOAA
Administrative Order (AO) 216-100, which sets forth procedures to protect confidentiality of
fishery statistics.
All information collected is part of a system of records: COMMERCE/NOAA #6: Fishermen's
Statistical Data.
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.
This information collection does not involve information of a sensitive nature.
12. Provide an estimate in hours of the burden of the collection of information.
Total estimated unique respondents: 878, down from 1,842. Total estimated responses: 44, down
from10,638,853. Total estimated burden hours: 3,721, down from 23,766. Total estimated
personnel costs: $93,025, down from $224,750.
13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to the respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection (excluding the value of the burden hours in Question
12 above).
Total estimated miscellaneous costs: $733,574, down from $1,276,834.
14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government.
Total estimated burden hours: 2,084, down from 7,498. Total estimated personnel costs:
$72,900, down from $213,450. Total miscellaneous costs: 0, down from $87,000.
15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments.
Program adjustments are due to the difference between initiating a new program and maintaining
an existing program. Also, responses and hours for VMS transmission are no longer counted;
only the transmission costs, per clarification from Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
VMS Check-In Report.
a decrease of 56 respondents, 44 instead of 100
a decrease of 11 responses, 33 instead of 44
an increase of 2 hr burden, 9 hr instead of 7 hr. 2
2

Previous calculation was annualized over three years.

7

an increase of $50 personnel costs, $225 instead of $175
an increase of $64 miscellaneous costs, $264 instead of $200
VMS Operation (includes installation, transmission, and maintenance)
a decrease of 964 respondents, 878 instead of 1842
a decrease of responses, 0 instead of 10,638,720
a decrease of 20,044 hr burden, 3,712 hr instead of 23,756 hr
a decrease of $131,700 personnel costs, $92,800 instead of $224,500
a decrease of $543,274 miscellaneous costs, $733,310 instead of $1,276,584
VMS Malfunction [REMOVED]
a decrease of 100 respondents, 0 instead of 100
a decrease of 100 responses, 0 instead of 100
a decrease of 3 hr burden, 0 hr instead of 3 hr
a decrease of $75 personnel costs, $0 instead of $75
a decrease of $50 miscellaneous costs, $0 instead of $50
16. For collections whose results will be published, outline the plans for tabulation and
publication.
NMFS has no plans to publish the results of this information collection.
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.
NA.
18. Explain each exception to the certification statement.
There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

B.

COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

This collection does not employ statistical methods.

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