Justification for change

JUSTIFICATION FOR CHANGE

NORTHEAST MULTISPECIES AMENDMENT 16

OMB CONTROL NO. 0648-0605

Submission of trip start and trip end hails were first required in Amendment 16 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. Hails were developed to facilitate the deployment of dockside monitors to vessels selected for coverage and to inform the sector managers and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) when vessels would be landing. The dockside monitoring program assists with the monitoring and validation of landings and discards as an input to monitoring the utilization of annual catch entitlements (ACEs). Hails, among many other requirements, were approved for collection under OMB Control Number 0648-0605. NMFS is requesting a change to this information collection, to add questions for fishermen to indicate: 1) if they are carrying an observer on board, 2) whether they would be fishing exclusively in the Gulf of Maine, offshore, or on a trip targeting a particular stock, such as redfish and 3) whether they are carrying an at-sea monitor.

Members of the fishing industry involved in the Northeast Multispecies sector management program have collaborated on a proposal to voluntarily collect additional area specific information. Industry’s intent is to better track sector vessels’ activity in the inshore and offshore portions of the Gulf of Maine (GOM) Broad Stock Area. In an effort to accommodate industry’s request, NMFS would like to amend the current “Trip Start Hail” and “Trip End Hail” to include a line for vessels to indicate whether they plan to fish the inshore or offshore portion of GOM.

Similarly, at the request of industry, NMFS has developed an industry-funded monitoring program for trips targeting redfish. It is anticipated that industry will request the ability to fund additional monitoring on trips targeting other stocks (such as haddock or dogfish) in the future. Currently, there is no standardized, automated method for fishermen to report that they are targeting a specific stock. Requiring fishermen to describe a target stock or a type of trip, such as a trip targeting redfish with smaller mesh, in the Trip Start and Trip End Hail will clarify a fishermen’s intent, improve compliance, make enforcement easier, and streamline catch monitoring and accounting efforts.

A single general comment field will be added for vessels to indicate inshore/offshore or some other type of specific trip. Requesting this additional information in the Trip Start and Trip End Hail is an ideal method for vessels to indicate where they are fishing (i.e., inshore or offshore GOM) and whether their trip is targeting a particular stock. It would also help improve NMFS ability to identify trip information, rather than relying solely on gear type and catch. This is being done in a single free text area. For whether or not a monitor is on board, there will be a simple “yes/no” field.

The trip start hail would take an estimated two minutes to complete and would affect approximately 1,482 entities annually, which is the total number of limited access NE multispecies permit holders. It is estimated that NE multispecies permit holders will continue to make a total of 25,000 trips next year, issuing one trip start hail and one trip end hail per trip, for a total of 25,000 hails. The additional questions are not anticipated to require additional response time. Therefore, the total estimated time burden for all vessels continues to be 833.33 (833) hours (2 min/hail x 25,000 trip start hails). This is not anticipated to change.

This request would add two fields to the trip start hail and one field to the trip end hail. First, vessels are requested to indicate whether or not the vessel was selected for an observer or at-sea monitor. Secondly, a general comment field would be added so vessels can indicate: 1) whether they are fishing inshore/offshore, and/or 2) taking a special trip targeting specific species. This area would also include space for future notes or changes. The most expensive VMS provider currently charges $0.004 per haracter plus $0.50 per email transmission. The maximum cost per trip start hail will increase from $0.752 to a maximum cost of $0.884 per hail. This results in a total cost to the public of $22,100 ($0.884/hail x 25,000 hails). This represents an increase of $3,500 in costs to the public for improved trip start hails.

Trip end hails notify the dockside monitoring provider of the intent to land a trip and to schedule a dockside monitor to meet the vessel upon landing.  This hail can be done through VMS or by phone and is estimated to take 15 minutes to complete. It is estimated that NE multispecies permit holders will continue to make a total of 25,000 trips next year, issuing one trip-end hail per trip, for a total of 25,000 trip-end hails, plus continuing to make an estimated 2,500 correction hails.  A free text general comment field similar to that in the trip start hail is being added to the trip end hail. The additional questions are not anticipated to require additional response time. Therefore, the total estimated time burden to the public for complying with this requirement continues to be 6,875 hours.

For the purpose of estimating cost burden, it was assumed that all entities would make the trip-end hail via VMS, as opposed to by radio or phone.  The most expensive VMS provider currently charges $0.004 per character plus $0.5 per email transmission, for a total cost per hail of $0.9. Adding a free text line so vessels can indicate if they are fishing inshore or offshore, or targeting a specific stock. This will increase the price from $0.90 to $1.024 per trip end hail. Assuming 27,500 items, at one hail per trip (including 2,500 correction hails), the total cost to the public of fulfilling this requirement would increase by $3,410: from $24,750 to $28,160 ($1.024/hail x 27,500 hails).

See table on next page for cost changes.

	# of Entities	Items per Entity	Total # of Items	Response Time (hours)	Total Burden (hours)	Public Expense (dollars)	Govt.
Original Trip start hail	1,482	17	25,000	2 minutes	833	18,600	0
New Trip start hail	1,482	17	25,000	2 minutes	833	22,100	0
Original Trip End Hail	1,482	17	27,500	15 minutes	6,875	24,750	0
New Trip End Hail	1,482	17	27,500	15 minutes	6,875	28,160	0

2