2013-03680. 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: Economic Surveys of U.S. Commercial Fisheries.

OMB Control Number: 0648-0369.

Form Number(s): NA.

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

Number of Respondents: 10,380.

Average Hours per Response: 2 hours.

Burden Hours: 21,000 (for the three-year approval period).

Needs and Uses: This request is for an extension and revision of a currently approved generic collection.

Economic data for selected United States (U.S.) commercial fisheries will be collected for each of the following groups of operations, based on pre-approved questions: (1) Processors, including onshore plants, floating processing plants, mothership vessels, and catcher/processor vessels; (2) first receivers of fish, including dealers, wholesalers, and auctions; (3) catcher vessels; and (4) for-hire vessels. Companies associated with these groups will be surveyed for expenditure, earnings, effort, ownership, and employment data; and basic demographic data on fishing and processing crews. These economic data collection programs contribute to legally mandated analyses required under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MFCMA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 (EO 12866 and EO 13563) as well as a variety of state statutes including Florida Statute 120.54, Hawaii Revised Statute 201M-2, New Jersey Permanent Statutes 52:14B-19 and Oregon Revised Statutes 183.335 and 183.540.

In general, questions will be asked concerning ex-vessel and wholesale prices and revenue, variable and fixed costs, expenditures, effort, ownership, dependence on the fisheries, and fishery employment. The data collection efforts will be coordinated to reduce the additional burden for those who participate in multiple fisheries. Participation in these data collections will be voluntary.

Program change: We are adding questions for first receivers to this collection.

The data will be used for the following three purposes: (1) To monitor the economic performance of these fisheries through primary processing; (2) to analyze the economic performance effects of current management measures; and (3) to analyze the economic performance effects of alternative management measures. The measures of economic performance to be supported by this data collection program include the following: (1) Contribution to net national benefit; (2) contribution to income of groups of participants in the fisheries (i.e., fishermen, vessel owners, processing plant employees, and processing plant owners); (3) employment; (4) regional economic impacts (income and employment); and (5) factor utilizations rates. As required by law, the confidentiality of the data will be protected.

Data collections will focus each year on a different component of the U.S. commercial fisheries, with only limited data collected in previously surveyed components of these fisheries. The latter will be done to update the models that will be used to track economic performance and to evaluate the economic effects of alternative management actions. This cycle of data collection will facilitate economic performance data being available and updated for all the components of the U.S. commercial fisheries identified above.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.

Frequency: One time for each survey.

Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

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: February 12, 2013.

Gwellnar Banks,

Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.