Justification for change

Justification for Change

NORTHEAST MULTISPECIES AMENDMENT 16

OMB CONTROL NO. 0648-0605

As part of Final Rule 0648-BC27, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) proposes to modify the observer and at-sea monitor notification requirements in the Northeast (NE) multispecies (groundfish) fishery through the addition of a question to the pre-trip notification. Amendment 16 to the NE Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) established at-sea monitoring requirements for groundfish sectors to monitor discards by sector vessels at sea. Amendment 16 also adjusted the requirements for vessels to notify the Northeast Fishery Observer Program (NEFOP) before taking a trip, requiring all NE multispecies vessels give 48-hours advance notice to the NEFOP in order to deploy an observer aboard vessels to collect biological samples and data during commercial fishing trips. To facilitate the deployment of sector at-sea monitors on the 900 sector vessels, Amendment 16 established a separate requirement for a vessel enrolled in a sector to notify its sector’s monitoring provider of its intent to take a trip, including the gear and area it intends to fish. Both of these pre-trip notification requirements, among many other requirements, were approved for collection under OMB Control Number 0648-0605.

Framework Adjustment 48 to the NE Multispecies FMP proposes to exempt sector vessels targeting monkfish from the additional at-sea monitoring coverage necessary to monitor groundfish catch. This measure is intended to allocate limited at-sea monitoring resources to monitor those trips that catch the most groundfish. To implement this measure, NMFS is requesting a change to the 0648-0605 information collection to add a question to both the pre-trip notification and NEFOP (48-hour) notification to allow fishermen to indicate what fishery they intend to participate in. This change is necessary to identify trips that may qualify for this exemption, in order to deploy observers and at-sea monitors appropriately to achieve the coverage levels required by the FMP.

The notifications are made via a telephone call or email to the NEFOP or other at-sea monitoring provider, or through a secure database. The proposed change to this notification will not increase the time or cost burden associated with either of these requirements.

Final burden table for revised pre-trip notification requirement, with no changes to public burden or cost:

Information Collection	# of Entities	Items per Entity	Total # of Items	Response Time (Minutes)	Total Burden	Public	Govt.
Total Pre-trip Notification Estimate	900	27.78	25,000	2 minutes	833	0	0
Total 48-hour notification for all Multispecies Vessels	1,482	16.90	25,000	2 minutes	833	0	22,075