Justification for Change

JUSTIFICATION FOR CHANGE
ATLANTIC SEA SCALLOP AMENDMENT 15 CATCH REPORTING
OMB CONTROL NO. 0648-0491

Currently, vessels fishing for scallops in scallop rotational access areas (access areas) are
required to submit daily reports of scallops kept and yellowtail flounder caught through the
vessel monitoring system (VMS). Under Amendment 15 Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery
Management Plan (Scallop FMP), the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposed to
expand the daily catch reporting requirement to scallop trips in all fishing areas.
Comments on this change were solicited in the proposed rule for MSB Specifications for the
2011 Fishing Year, Regulation Identifier Number (RIN) 0648-BA71. There were no comments
on the proposed change.
DESCRIPTION
Under Amendment 15, vessels must submit daily VMS catch reports for all declared scallop
trips. As it does currently, this provision will apply to vessels issued a limited access scallop
permit, limited access general category (LAGC) individual fishing quota (IFQ) scallop permit, or
LAGC Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) scallop permit.
There will be 620 affected vessels affected by the change, the same number of vessels currently
affected under OMB Control No. 0648-0491 for the existing catch report. There are an
estimated 27,500 days of fishing total for all affected vessels, and thus 27,500 would be the new
total daily catch report total. Currently, OMB Control No. 0648-0491 estimates 10,000
submissions of the daily catch report. With 27,500 reports under the expanded catch report
requirement, there is a total increase of 28 reports per vessel (increase of 17,500 reports divided
by 620 vessels). At 2 minutes per response, the increase in time per vessel would be 56 minutes
per vessel, or 584 hours. The cost increase per vessel would be $22.12 (28 reports * $0.79 per
report), for a total cost increase of $13,825.