Justification for change

JUSTIFICATION OF CHANGE
SOUTHEAST REGION DEALER AND INTERVIEW FAMILY OF FORMS
OMB CONTROL NO. 0648-0013

The South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council (SAFMC) has instituted a commercial quota
for both Black and Red groupers in Amendment 17(b) of the Fishery Management Plan (FMP)
for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region effective January 2011. The quota
is necessary to prevent overfishing of these species in the South Atlantic waters of the United
States (U.S.). In order to be able to monitor the quotas effectively, these species need to be
added to the coastal fisheries quota monitoring form to collect this information from commercial
seafood dealers. This data collection is authorized under 50 CFR Part 622.5(c)(5).
On the dealer reporting for Coastal Fisheries Quota Monitoring form, lines have been added for
the SA–black grouper and the SA-red grouper. As relatively few new respondents are expected
to complete information on these species, the average response time is not expected to change.