Justification - Aquaculture Ecosystem Services Horizon Scan

Project Title: Aquaculture Ecosystem Services Horizon Scan

Program Office Sponsoring or Conducting this CSC Project: NMFS/Office of Aquaculture and NOAA National Centers for Coastal and Ocean Science

Authority for this CSC Project: CCSA

Purpose of this CSC Project: This project is designed to update the state of the science, identify research gaps and detail priority areas for both research and operationalization related to aquaculture ecosystem services.

Type(s) of Information Collected and From Whom It Is Collected: NMFS will ask participants to list important or key research needs related to the topic (aquaculture ecosystem services) as well as areas where the research excels but application or operationalization fails.

Use of the Information: NMFS will use that information to inform a "Horizon Scan" intended to be a peer-reviewed publication outlining the state of the science, research gaps/needs, policy/management needs and the highest value targets or priorities related to aquaculture ecosystem services.

Method(s) of Information Collection: NMFS will collect that information electronically with online forms and with feedback opportunities in virtual webinars.

Affected Public: Individuals (with expertise in aquaculture ecosystem services; may include industry members, academic scientists, state and federal employees)

Estimated Average Annual Number of Participants: 100

Estimated Average Annual Number of Responses per Participant: 1

Estimated Average Minutes per Response: 25

Estimated Average Annual Burden Hours: 42

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

Estimated Average Annual Costs to the Federal Government: $2,700

Estimated Average Annual Number of Federal Government Employees (FTEs): 0.02

Recruitment and Retention Methods for Voluntary Participants (SSA item 1): Participants will be recruited via email using an existing list of aquaculture ecosystem service experts as identified and compiled by the project team with input from NOAA Fisheries Regional Aquaculture Coordinators. Currently that list totals 200 individuals representing resource management, industry, and academia throughout the United States but we anticipate that not all who are invited will participate. Listed and invited participants will also have the ability to share the invitation with others who may be relevant to the project aims.

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): Pending approval, we anticipate inviting participants to attend a virtual introduction of the project. We hope to invite participants in January 2023 and host the introductory webinar in February 2023. One of the team members (Michaelis) will also present the project and invite additional participants at the Aquaculture America meeting in February 2023. The webinar and presentation will ask participants to provide their input via a Data Call (a Google Form) that will be available online for one month. We expect to close the Data Call by the end of March 2023 and synthesize initial findings by the end of May 2023. At this time (May/June 2023), all participants will be invited to attend a subsequent virtual presentation of the findings and asked to provide feedback and help prioritize the topics identified in the data call. Feedback from this presentation will be assessed and synthesized into a manuscript to be submitted as a peer-reviewed publication in the fall of 2023.

Display OMB Control No. and Expiration Date (SSA Item 17): This information will be provided when individuals sign up to participate in this CSC project.

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.

Supplemental Documents: The supplemental document for this CSC project is a data call form. Note: the images in that document represent the printed output of the survey, which is not as clean/streamlined as the online form that participants will encounter. For example, the list of states is a drop-down table in the actual form rather than a long list shown all at once.

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: Adriane Michaelis