Justification for change

JUSTIFICATION FOR CHANGE
NMFS OBSERVER PROGRAMS’ INFORMATION THAT CAN BE GATHERED ONLY
THROUGH QUESTIONS
OMB CONTROL NO. 0648-0593
Since the approval of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Control No. 0648-0593, it has
been noted that for the Northeast Fisheries Observer Program (NEFOP), the burden for notifications to
observers of upcoming trips by fishermen had been counted only for the actual trips observed,
rather than including the burden for all such notifications.
In addition, we are including hours for additional trips, including all related notifications to
observers, for the sector program recently approved under OMB Control No. 0648-0605, and
associated with RIN 0648-AW72. The revised estimate of the burden minutes per observed trip
(current and sector trips) is the total burden for all information collections divided by the number
of observed trips, where the total burden includes the pre-trip notification burden for both
observed and unobserved trips.
Finally, a discard log form that the region had meant to include with the original submission will
be added, at a burden of 5 minutes per form, at this point only to the non-sector trips, adding a
straight 5 minutes for each of those trips.
Reminder, in this information collection, Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) statements are not on
all forms, but are on the letter to fishermen and/or the safety inspection form, and are also
available directly from the observer on board.
NEFOP
2009-2012 Annual Average

May 26, 2009
Estimates

Active Vessels In Fisheries
With A NMFS Observer
Program

Jan 6, 2010 Estimates

Change (increase)

15,000

15,000

0

Observed Vessels

2,038

2,038

0

Observed Trips

6,171

10,638

4,467

105

1

-3; -8

Burden Minutes/Trip
Estimated Burden Hours With
100% Response
Response Rate
Response Rate-Adjusted
Estimated Burden Hours

10,799

102 For Non-Sector;
97 For Sector Trips 2
17,716

6,917

90%

90%

0

9,719

15,944

6,225

1

Due to the addition of the discard log for these trips; thus, for non-sector trips, reduced time per trip less, than that for the sector trips, due to
addition of discard log,
2
Burden reduced because of re-estimations of some of the ICs in total (not all forms always applicable to all trips), divided by total numbers of
trips.

Thus, the overall burden for OMB Control No. 0648-0593 will change from the currently
approved 17,455 to 23,680 with the addition of 6,225 hours, and responses, from 13,927 to
18,394, based on the absolute difference of 4,467 trips (although we base the hours on an overall
response rate of 90%, we still count one response per observed trip).