2020-10046. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Large Pelagic Fishing Survey

The Department of Commerce will submit the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on January 7, 2020, during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.

Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Title: Large Pelagic Fishing Survey.

OMB Control Number: 0648-0380.

Form Number(s): None.

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

Number of Respondents: 15,024.

Average Hours per Response: 11 minutes for a telephone interview; 5 minutes for a dockside interview; 11/2 minutes to respond to a follow-up validation call for dockside interviews; 1 minute for a biological sampling of catch.

Total Annual Burden Hours: 3,608.

Needs and Uses: This request is for extension of a currently approved information collection. The Large Pelagic Fishing Survey consists of dockside and telephone surveys of recreational anglers for large pelagic fish (tunas, sharks, and billfish) in the Atlantic Ocean. The survey provides the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) with information to monitor catch of bluefin tuna, marlin and other federally managed species. Catch monitoring in these fisheries and collection of catch and effort statistics for all pelagic fish is required under the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Telephone survey portion species-level response options have been updated to include blue marlin, roundscale spearfish, and porbeagle beginning in 2020. The information collected by the Large Pelagic Fishing Survey is essential for the United States (U.S.) to meet its reporting obligations to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.

Frequency: Annually, weekly, or on occasion.

Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.

Legal Authority: Atlantic Tunas Convention Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

This information collection request may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB Control Number 0648-0380.

Sheleen Dumas,

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Commerce Department.