03-9488. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Department of Commerce has submitted 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.

Title: Limits on Application of Take Prohibitions.

Form Number(s): None.

OMB Approval Number: 0648-0399.

Type of Request: Regular submission.

Burden Hours: 4,235.

Number of Respondents: 318.

Average Hours Per Response: 20 hours for a road maintenance agreement; 5 hours for a diversion screening limit project; 30 hours for an urban development package; 15 hours for a tribal plan or joint state/tribal plan; 10 hours for a fishery harvest or hatchery plan; 5 hours for a report of aided, salvaged, or disposed of salmonids; 2 hours for a research permit; 5 hours for an artificial propagation plan; and 5 hours for an annual report.

Needs and Uses: Section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et. seq.) requires the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to adopt such regulations as it “deems necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of” threatened species. Those regulations may include any or all of the prohibitions provided in section 9(a)(1) of the ESA, which specifically prohibits “take” of any endangered species (“take” includes actions that harass, harm, pursue, kill, or capture). The first salmonid species listed by NMFS as threatened were protected by virtually blanket application of the section 9 take prohibitions. There are now 20 separate Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUs) of west coast salmonids listed as threatened, covering a large percentage of the land base in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. NMFS is obligated to enact necessary and advisable protective regulations.

NMFS makes section 9 prohibitions generally applicable to many of those threatened ESUs, but also seeks to respond to requests from states and others to both provide more guidance on how to protect threatened salmonids and avoid take, and to limit the application of take prohibitions wherever warranted. The regulations describe programs or circumstances that contribute to the conservation of, or are being conducted in a way that adequately limits impacts on, listed salmonids. The regulations do not apply the take prohibitions to those programs and circumstances. Certain of these limits on the take prohibitions entail submission of a plan to NMFS and/or annual or occasional reports by entities wishing to take advantage of these limits, or continue within them.

Affected Public: State, Local, or Tribal Government; business or other for-profit organizations, and farms.

Frequency: On occasion, annually.

Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.

OMB Desk Officer: David Rostker, [phone].

Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained by calling or writing Diana Hynek, Departmental Paperwork Clearance Officer, [phone], Department of Commerce, Room 6625, 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 David Rostker, OMB Desk Officer, Room 10202, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503.

Dated: April 10, 2003.

Gwellnar Banks,

Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.