NOMINATION AND DESIGNATION OF FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCIL MEMBERS AND APPLICATION FOR REINSTATEMENT OF STATE AUTHORITY OMB CONTROL NO. 0648-0314
JUSTIFICATION
This request is for extension of a current information collection.
There is no form associated with this collection.
This submission contains five information collection requirements associated with implementation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act):
Principal State Officials and Their Designees. Section 302(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that each Governor designate the principal state fishery official that will perform certain duties under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The information submitted with the designation allows the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to determine whether the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act are being met in terms of the responsibilities and expertise of the individual named, and to ensure that the person named is a full-time State employee.
Governors' Nominees for Council Appointments. Section 302(b)(2)(C) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act requires Governors to nominate people to serve as members of the Councils. Information is needed to determine the qualifications of individuals and to meet other requirements under the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Treaty Indian Tribal Governments' Nominees for Council Appointments. Section 302(b)(5) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act requires tribal governments of Indian tribes with Federally- recognized fishing rights in California, Oregon, Washington, or Idaho to nominate representatives to serve on the Pacific Fishery Management Council. Information is needed to determine the qualifications of individuals and to meet other requirements under the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Background Documents Completed by Nominees and Submitted to Governors or Treaty Indian Tribal Government. Nominees must furnish a current resume, or equivalent, describing career history and other such information as required in order to be considered as a candidate by the Governor or Treaty Indian Tribal Government.
Application for Reinstatement of State Authority. Section 306(b)(2) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act allows states to apply for reinstatement of their authority to manage a fishery after the Secretary has assumed the responsibility for that fishery. In its application for reinstatement of its authority, the state must provide information documenting why the reasons causing the Secretary to assume that authority no longer prevail.
Principal State Officials and Their Designees. The information is used by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) to appoint state officials as voting members of Councils under Section 302(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The Secretary seeks, on an annual basis, information about the expertise, employment, and responsibilities of the Governors' designees to meet the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The information has been collected and used in the Council appointment process since 1977.
Governors' Nominees for Council Employments. The information is used by the Secretary to annually appoint members to the Councils. One third of the Councils' membership is appointed by the Secretary annually. The information submitted helps the Secretary ensure that the candidates are properly qualified as specified in Section 302(b)(2)(B) and (C) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and to ensure that there is a balance in Council representation between sectors with fishery interests (e.g., commercial, environmental, and recreational interests). This information has been collected and used by the Secretary in the Council appointment process since 1977 and in mandated reports to Congress since 1991. Information required includes the following: Part 1, written statement as to why you want to be a Council member; a current resume, or equivalent, describing career history, detailing fisheries background and experience; and a statement of your guiding philosophy on the conservation and management of living marine resources; Part 2, Nominees must specify their personal fisheries experience and background, participation in a fishing sector, and other management interests within a Council’s geographic area; Part 3, Nominees must meet applicable financial disclosure requirements as required by Section 302(j) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act prior to appointment.
The requirements are listed on NOAA Form 88-195 “Statement of Financial Interests for Use by Voting members of, and Nominees to, the Regional Fishery Management Councils.” In addition, nominees must select the appropriate block, and sign/date the cover sheet to Part 3, which pertains to potential participation by nominees in a National Marine Fisheries Service Incentive Plan Agreement (IPA); Part 4, Each nominee to, and member of, the eight Councils must certify, pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, if they serve as an agent of a foreign principal. In addition, each nominee to, and member of, the eight Councils must certify, pursuant to the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, as amended, if they serve as a registered Federal lobbyist. Nominees cannot be appointed to one of the eight councils if they are acting as an agent of a foreign principal required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended, or if they are a registered Federal lobbyist pursuant to the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, as amended.
Treaty Indian Tribal Governments' Nominees for Council Appointment. Section 302(b)(5)(B) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act requires tribal governments of Indian tribes with Federally-recognized fishing rights in California, Oregon, Washington, or Idaho to nominate representatives to serve on the Pacific Fishery Management Council. Criteria set forth for appointment by the Secretary, includes requirements for information on the qualifications of nominees, geographic area in which the tribe of the nominee is located, and the various fishing rights of the Indian tribes involved and judicial cases that set out how those rights are to be exercised. One appointment will be made to the Pacific Fishery Management Council every third year from not less than three nominees proposed by the Indian tribal governments. The Indian tribal governments may act either as a group or individually in proposing nominees.
Background Documents completed by Nominees and Submitted to Governors or Treaty Indian Tribal Government. The current resume, or equivalent, describing career history, and other such information as required are necessary to evaluate who is believed best qualified, knowledgeable, and broadly experienced to address management actions that the Council will consider in the upcoming future. Nominees must meet all requirements and have a favorable adjudication on background checks conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and NOAA’s Office of Enforcement. Information submitted by the Governors on their nominees helps the Secretary ensure that the nominees are properly qualified as specified in Section 302(b)(2)(B) and (C) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and can be considered for possible appointment to one of the Regional Fishery Management Councils.
Application for Reinstatement of State Authority. A state may apply, under Section 306(b)(2), to the Secretary for reinstatement of state authority over a fishery. The state making application must provide information to the Secretary to enable the Secretary to determine whether the reasons for which the Secretary had assumed responsibility still exist, or whether the Secretary should return responsibility back to the state in question. There is no expectation that a state will request the Secretary to exercise this authority in the next three years.
NOAA, NMFS, will retain control over the information and safeguard it from improper access, modification, and destruction, consistent with NOAA standards for confidentiality, privacy, and electronic information. The information collection is designed to yield data that meet all applicable information quality guidelines. The information will be subjected to quality control measures pursuant to Section 515 of Public Law 106-554.
NMFS has created a Web site to assist Governors and Treaty Indian Tribal Governments in compiling nomination lists for the annual appointments process http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/reg_svcs/Councils/CouncilNomination.htm.
A completed nomination kit is required for any individual seeking nomination to one of the eight Councils. A fillable PDF of the application kit is available, as of 2012, for the nominees of Governors and Treaty Indian Tribal Governments. The Governors and Treaty Indian Tribal Governments are responsible for gathering completed nomination information and application kits from their nominees and submitting to NMFS via overnight mail (this is to ensure receipt of the packages on or before the March 15th deadline. It also helps us track a package if it is lost or arrives late). The use of electronic submission of responses is not possible, and the results of the information collected will not be made available to the public over the internet. Use of automated technology has not been deemed to offer the opportunity to substantially reduce collection-of-information burden on the respondents.
The NMFS is the sole organization collecting nomination information for the Secretary and administering the appointment process. The NMFS is also the sole organization charged with the regulation of fisheries in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. Thus there is no possible duplication of other collections.
The respondents for collections listed in Question 2, sub-paragraphs 2(a), 2(b), and 2(e) above are state governments, not small entities. The respondents for the collection listed in sub-paragraph 2(c) above are Indian tribal governments. The burden is considered not to be significant and has been further reduced from the information collection burden placed on the state governments in the following ways:
The nomination process and information collection takes place only every third year for one Council member's seat on the Pacific Fishery Management Council.
Participation in the nomination process by the 27 Indian tribes is at the discretion of the individual tribal governments.
The tribal governments have the option of combining to nominate qualified persons in order to further reduce the burden on any one tribal government.
Congress has mandated the program activities and the frequency of reporting requirements in the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Not Applicable.
A Federal Register Notice was published on November 15, 2018 (83 FR 57454). No comments were received.
Each year we interact with the state fisheries management representatives and governors' offices on the accuracy of the burden estimates, clarity of information and the collection method. This information is collected as part of the appointment process and is via phone conversations and e- mail. We do make changes to the Web site and forms as a result of the feedback received from these offices and the nominees.
No payment or gift will be made for responses.
There is no confidentiality promised. NMFS receives the resume and background documents on the nominees, but not from them: these items are submitted to the State, who then provides them to NMFS. Sometimes this information is published publicly, therefore, there is no promise of confidentiality. Financial disclosures may also be made public, per regulation (dependent on a number of factors). If PII is inadvertently received, NMFS will follow internal procedures to protect the information. The System of Records Notices that covers this information collection is COMMERCE/NOAA-11, Contact Information for Members of the Public Requesting or Providing Information Related to NOAA’s Mission.
No sensitive questions are asked.
The estimated burden is 4,607 hours.
Principal State Officials and Their Designees:
15 Governors x 1 response (1 nomination/year) x 1 hour/response = 15 hours Estimated labor cost: 15 hours x $65/hour (average Governor's pay/hour) = $975
Governors' Nominees for Council Appointments:
1 nomination package (of 3 nominees) x 30 Governors x 80 hours per package per year = 2,400 hours.
Estimated labor cost: 2,400 x $65/hour (average Governors pay/hour) = $156,000
Indian Tribal Governments' Nominees for Council Appointments:
9 tribal governments x 1 response (3 nominations)/year x 80 hours/response = 720 hours
Estimated labor cost: 720 hours x $47/hour (average senior tribal government official pay/hour) = $33,840.
Background Documents Completed by Nominees and submitted to Governors: 92* Nominees x 16 hours per year = 1,472
Estimated cost: 1,472 x $25.00 (average nominee’s pay/hour) = $36,800
Applications for Reinstatement of State Authority (none has been submitted to date): 0 respondents x 2 hours/response = 0 hours
*Based on actual nominees accepting nominations in past three years, annualized.
Public costs for this collection include copying and mailing.
At an estimated $27.60 for copying costs (3 pages per resume x $.10) for 92 nominees’ background documents,
$115.00 for mailing 92 responses by nominees ($1.25 per mailing), and
$607.50 for mailing 54 response ($11.25 each) by Principal state officials/designees, Governors, and Treaty Indian Tribal Government
Total Cost = $750.10.
The estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government are:
Principal State Officials and Their Designees: GS-15 ($55/hour) x 40 hours = $ 2,200 GS-11 ($35/hour) x 20 hours = $ 700 GS-11 ($35/hour) x 20 hours = $ 700
GS-08 ($25/hour) x 20 hours = $ 500
$ 4,100
Governors' Nominees for Council Appointment:
GS-15 ($55/hour) x 80 hours = $ 4,400 GS-11 ($35/hour) x 560 hours = $ 19,600 GS-11 ($35/hour) x 560 hours = $ 19,600 GS-08 ($25/hour) x 160 hours = $ 4,000
$ 47,600
Indian Tribal Governments' Nominees for Council Appointment: GS-15 ($55/hour) x 80 hours = $ 4,400
GS-11 ($35/hour) x 160 hours = $ 5,600 GS-11 ($35/hour) x 160 hours = $ 5,600 GS-08 ($25/hour) x 80 hours = $ 2,000
$17,600
Applications for Reinstatement of State Authority 0 cost estimated.
Total: Estimated Federal cost: $69,300.
There are no changes or adjustments.
The collection results will not be published.
No forms will be involved. The requirements are described in the regulations governing appointments to, and procedures for, the Councils. The instructions are also on the Web site (link in Question 3).
Not Applicable.
This collection does not employ statistical methods.
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