Justification - Giant Manta Ray Reporting

Project Title: Giant Manta Ray Reporting

Program Office Sponsoring or Conducting this CSC Project: NMFS/SERO Protected Resources Division

Authority for this CSC Project: ESA and CCSA

Purpose of this CSC Project: This project informs species occurrences and distribution in the southeast region and increases public awareness of this threatened species.

Type(s) of Information Collected and From Whom It Is Collected: This project collects sightings information including date, location, and photo of the animal observed from individuals who participate in work or recreational activities in the marine environment.

Use of the Information: NMFS uses this information to improve its understanding of where the species occurs in the southeast U.S.

Method(s) of Information Collection: Individuals send an email to manta.ray@noaa.gov. A NMFS scientist confirms it is the correct species and enters the report (date and location) into an Excel spreadsheet that is saved on a local drive.

Affected Public: Individuals

Estimated Average Annual Number of Participants: 20

Estimated Average Annual Number of Responses per Participant: 1

Estimated Average Minutes per Response: 5

Estimated Average Annual Burden Hours: 2

Estimated Total Annual Cost to Participants in this CSC Project: $0

Estimated Average Annual Costs to the Federal Government: $112

Estimated Average Annual Number of Federal Government Employees (FTEs): 0.00

Recruitment and Retention Methods for Voluntary Participants (SSA item 1): This project will continue to focus on outreach to both current and potential data providers. Any follow-ups with data providers is intended to highlight contributions and to encourage continued participation.

Gifts or Payments (SSA Item 9): We do not plan to provide a gift or payment to the voluntary participants.

Annual and Multi-Year Schedules (SSA Item 16): This project is ongoing and does not have an end date for data collection.

Display OMB Control No. and Expiration Date (SSA Item 17): Existing education and outreach materials request voluntary reporting and do not include OMB Control No. Because shared information originates from the public voluntarily it is unclear how the OMB Control No. could be shared prior to receiving the information from the public.

Statistical Methods: This CSC project will not employ statistical methods.

Approval for Pretesting: This CSC project will not require additional pretesting with more than nine members of the public.

One or more supplemental documents are required for this CSC project. The required documents include any paper or electronic forms used to collect information (e.g., application and data forms or screenshots of the app or webpage used to collect information), scripts for interviews, and recruitment information used (e.g., what is posted on a NOAA website or social media to recruit voluntary participants).

CERTIFICATION: I certify the following are true.

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The collection will not include highly influential scientific information, ,which is information NOAA or OMB determines: (i) could have a potential impact of more than $500 million in any year, or (ii) is novel, controversial, or precedent setting or has significant interagency interest.

5. The collection complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).

6. The collection will provide qualitative and quantitative data that help inform scientific research and monitoring, validate models or tools, support STEM learning, and enhance the quantity and quality of data collected to support NOAA’s mission.

Name: Calusa Horn