2024-19307. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Individual Fishing Quotas for Pacific Halibut and Sablefish in the Alaska Fisheries

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Department of Commerce

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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 April 5, 2024, during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.

Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Commerce.

Title: Individual Fishing Quotas for Pacific Halibut and Sablefish in the Alaska Fisheries.

OMB Control Number: 0648-0272.

Form Number(s): None.

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

Number of Respondents: 3,442.

Average Hours per Response: Application for IFQ/CDQ Hired Master Permit, 1 hour; Application for IFQ/CDQ Registered Buyer Permit, 30 minutes; Application for Replacement of Certificates or Permits, 30 minutes; Application for Eligibility to Receive QS/IFQ by Transfer, 2 hours; QS Holder: Identification of Ownership Interest, 2 hours; Application for Transfer of QS, 2 hours; Application for Transfer of QS/IFQ by Self Sweep Up, 2 hours; Application for Medical Transfer of IFQ, 1.5 hours; Application for Temporary Transfer of Halibut/Sablefish IFQ, 2 hours; (emergency) Application for Temporary Transfer of Halibut/Sablefish IFQ, 2 hours; Annual Report for CDQ IFQ Transfers, 40 hours; QS/IFQ Beneficiary Designation Form, 30 minutes; Appeals, 4 hours; IFQ Administrative Waiver, 6 minutes; Prior Notice of Landing, 15 minutes; IFQ Departure Report, 15 minutes; Transshipment Authorization, 12 minutes; Dockside sales, 6 minutes; Application for a Non-profit Corporation to be Designated as a Recreational Quota Entity, 200 hours; Application for Transfer of Quota Share To or From a Recreational Quota Entity, 2 hours; Recreational Quota Entity Annual Report, 40 hours; NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region eFISH On-line Services User Authorization Form, 30 minutes.

Total Annual Burden Hours: 11,239.

Needs and Uses: The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Alaska Regional Office, is requesting renewal and revision of this currently approved information collection that contains requirements for the Pacific Halibut and Sablefish Individual Fishing Quota Program (IFQ Program). Minor editorial changes were made to the forms to improve clarity and consistency. The Application for IFQ/CDQ Hired Master Permit was revised to remove an unnecessary checkbox. Four transfer applications were revised to collect information on fees paid, which is required by regulations, to remove the need to submit a copy of the permit, and to no longer require a separate form for each transfer. The revisions do not change the burden hours or costs of these forms. The NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region eFISH On-line Services User Authorization Form, which had been inadvertently omitted from this collection, has been added and does not significantly increase the burden or cost for this information collection.

This information collection for the IFQ Program is required to manage commercial halibut and sablefish fishing under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the Halibut Act, and under 50 CFR parts 300 and 679. Commercial halibut and sablefish fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands are managed primarily under the IFQ Program. The IFQ Program is managed under the authority of the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 (16 U.S.C. 773c; Halibut Act), with respect to Pacific halibut, and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.; Magnuson-Stevens Act), with respect to sablefish. Regulations implementing the IFQ Program are set forth at 50 CFR part 679. A key objective of the IFQ Program is to support the social and economic character of the fisheries and coastal fishing communities where many of these fisheries are based. Participation in the IFQ Program is limited to persons that hold quota share (QS), although there are several very limited provisions for “leasing” of annual IFQ. QS is a transferable permit that was initially issued to persons who owned or leased vessels that made legal commercial fixed-gear landings of Pacific halibut or sablefish in the waters off Alaska from 1988 through 1990. NMFS annually issues eligible QS holders an IFQ fishing permit that authorizes participation in the IFQ fisheries. Those to whom IFQ permits are issued may harvest their annual allocation at any time during the eight plus-month IFQ halibut and sablefish seasons.

More information on the IFQ Program is provided on the NMFS Alaska Region website at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/​alaska/​sustainable-fisheries/​pacific-halibut-and-sablefish-individual-fishing-quota-ifq-program.

Some of the collection instruments in this information collection are used by participants in the Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program. The purpose of the CDQ Program is to provide eligible western Alaska villages with the opportunity to participate and invest in fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI); to support economic development in western Alaska; to alleviate poverty and provide ( print page 68591) economic and social benefits for residents of western Alaska; and to achieve sustainable and diversified local economies in western Alaska. In fitting with these goals, NMFS allocates a portion of the annual catch limits for a variety of commercially valuable marine species in the BSAI to the CDQ Program. Pacific halibut is one of these species. More information on the CDQ Program is provided on the NMFS Alaska Region website at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/​alaska/​sustainable-fisheries/​community-development-quota-cdq-program. Information collection requirements for the CDQ Program are also approved under OMB Control Number 0648-0269.

This information collection contains the forms used by participants in the IFQ Program to apply for, renew, or replace permits; transfer or lease IFQ and QS; determine compliance with IFQ program requirements; and designate a beneficiary for a QS holder. Two of the permit applications are also used by participants in the CDQ Program. This information collection also contains annual reports and other collections submitted by telephone or other methods and that do not have forms.

The type of information collected includes information on the applicants, transferors, transferees, permits, IFQ or QS types and owners, beneficiaries, vessels, business operations, medical declarations, landings, gear types, products, and harvests and harvest areas.

This information is used to identify and authorize participants in the halibut and sablefish fisheries, to track and transfer quota share, to limit transfers to authorized participants, and to monitor quota share balances and harvest in these fisheries.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations; Not-for-profit institutions.

Frequency: Varies upon situation and documents requirements.

Respondent's Obligation: Based on completed form the following obligation may occur: Voluntary, Required to Obtain or Retain Benefits, and Mandatory.

Legal Authority: Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.; Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982, 16 U.S.C. 773c.

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 0648-0272.

Sheleen Dumas,

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.