2012-426. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).

Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Title: Alaska Region Logbook Family of Forms.

OMB Control Number: 0648-0213.

Form Number(s): NA.

Type of Request: Regular submission (revision and extension of a current information collection).

Number of Respondents: 832.

Average Hours per Response: Daily fishing logs, 20 minutes; daily cumulative production logs, 30 minutes; check-in/check-out reports, 5 minutes; buying station reports, 23 minutes; vessel activity reports, 14 minutes; product transfer reports, 20 minutes.

Burden Hours: 40,058.

Needs and Uses: This request is for revision and extension of a current information collection. A program change is due to motherships and catcher/processors no longer using the check-in/check-out report as the reports are now made through vessel monitoring systems, covered under OMB Control No. 0648-0445.

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Alaska Region manages the United States (U.S.) groundfish fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off Alaska under the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska and the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMPs). The North Pacific Fishery Management Council prepared the FMPs pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The regulations implementing the FMPs are at 50 CFR part 679.

The recordkeeping and reporting requirements at 50 CFR Part 679 form the basis for this collection of information. NMFS Alaska Region requests information from participating groundfish participants. This information, upon receipt, results in an increasingly more efficient and accurate database for management and monitoring of the groundfish fisheries of the EEZ off Alaska.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.

Frequency: Daily, on occasion, and annually.

Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.

OMB Desk Officer: [e-mail].

Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained by calling or writing Jennifer Jessup, Departmental Paperwork Clearance Officer, [phone], Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at [e-mail]).

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to [e-mail].

Dated: January 9, 2012.

Gwellnar Banks,

Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.