Expanded Vessel Monitoring System Requirement in the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery

Forms and Documents

Document Name	Status
VMS activation checklist, and purchase, maintenance and position transmission costs Form and Instruction	Unchanged
0573 Justification 091416.doc Justification for No Material/Nonsubstantive Change	2016-09-14

IC Document Collections

IC ID	Document Title	Status
45264	VMS Declaration Reports Other-worksheet before calling in declaration report	Modified
45263	VMS Exemption Reports	Unchanged
45247	VMS activation checklist, and purchase, maintenance and position transmission costs Form and Instruction	Unchanged

ICR Details

OMB Control No: 0648-0573	ICR Reference No: 201609-0648-006
Status: Historical Active	Previous ICR Reference No: 201401-0648-015
Agency/Subagency: DOC/NOAA	Agency Tracking No:
Title: Expanded Vessel Monitoring System Requirement in the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery
Type of Information Collection: No material or nonsubstantive change to a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR:  No
Type of Review Request: Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved without change	Conclusion Date: 09/15/2016
	Date Received in OIRA: 09/14/2016
Terms of Clearance:

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	04/30/2017	04/30/2017	04/30/2017
Responses	11,250	0	11,250
Time Burden (Hours)	771	0	771
Cost Burden (Dollars)	1,933,250	0	1,933,250

---

Abstract: Declaration reports are submitted to the NMFS OLE by telephone and are valid until revised by the vessel operator. Vessel operators making declaration reports receive a confirmation number that verifies that the reporting requirements were satisfied. After a vessel has made a declaration report to NMFS and has been confirmed, the vessel cannot change activities, including fishing with any gear other than the gear type that has been declared for the vessel, until a new declaration is submitted to revise the old declaration. NMFS also proposes that OLE will default a vessel’s declaration to “other” if they are unable to contact the vessel operator with whom the VMS unit is associated. As required by current regulations, the vessel operator must update the declaration when they meet the requirements to do so. These changes are related to the pending final rule titled, Fisheries off West Coast States; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan; Commercial Sablefish Fishing Regulations and Electronic Fish Tickets, RIN 0648-BF42. There were no public comments in the proposed rule, on these information collection requirements.

---

Authorizing Statute(s): PL: Pub.L. 94 - 265 303 Name of Law: Magnson-Stevens Fishery Management and Conservation Act
  

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

---

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
	Not associated with rulemaking

---

Federal Register Notices & Comments
60-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	78 FR 55060	09/09/2013
30-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	79 FR 10471	02/25/2014
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? No

---

Number of Information Collection (IC) in this ICR: 3

IC Title	Form No.	Form Name
VMS Declaration Reports
VMS Exemption Reports
VMS activation checklist, and purchase, maintenance and position transmission costs	NA	VMS Installation and Activation Report

---

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Previously Approved	Change Due to New Statute	Change Due to Agency Discretion	Change Due to Adjustment in Estimate	Change Due to Potential Violation of the PRA
Annual Number of Responses	11,250	11,250	0	0	0	0
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	771	771	0	0	0	0
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	1,933,250	1,933,250	0	0	0	0

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Increase Due to:

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: Adjustments: • This extension also revises the number of respondents. After several years of VMS monitoring, NMFS is better able to estimate the number of participants in a given year. o In the limited entry fishery the number of overall permits has been reduced from 399 to 350. Much of the reduction is the result of catch share programs in the fixed gear and trawl fisheries. o The open access fishery respondents are being reduced from 1,156 to 650. In the open access fishery, vessels are not required to have groundfish permits which results in variability in the number of participants between years. • The number of declaration report per vessel is reduced from 20 to 10 per respondent. The number of declaration reports varies considerably between vessels. The revised estimate is based on reporting in recent years. • The cost of VMS units type-approved for the fishery has increased from $1,200-$3,800 ($2,500 on average) per unit to $3,100-$3,600 ($3,350 on average) per unit. • The cost of annual VMS maintenance was not previously included ($300). Net reductions are: 500 respondents, 20,125 responses, 1,343 hours and $647,875 in costs.

---

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $470,000

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Is the Supporting Statement intended to be a Privacy Impact Assessment required by the E-Government Act of 2002? No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? No

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? Uncollected

---

Common Form ICR:  No

---

On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).

The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:

(a) It is necessary for the proper performance of agency functions;

(b) It avoids unnecessary duplication;

(c) It reduces burden on small entities;

(d) It uses plain, coherent, and unambiguous language that is understandable to respondents;

(e) Its implementation will be consistent and compatible with current reporting and recordkeeping practices;

(f) It indicates the retention periods for recordkeeping requirements;

(g) It informs respondents of the information called for under 5 CFR 1320.8 (b)(3) about:

(i) Why the information is being collected;

(ii) Use of information;

(iii) Burden estimate;

(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);

(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and

(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;

(h) It was developed by an office that has planned and allocated resources for the efficient and effective management and use of the information to be collected.

(i) It uses effective and efficient statistical survey methodology (if applicable); and

(j) It makes appropriate use of information technology.

If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.

Certification Date: 09/14/2016

---