2011-18405. 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: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Alaska Region Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Arbitration.

OMB Control Number: 0648-0516.

Form Number(s): NA.

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

Number of Respondents: 14.

Average Hours per Response: Combined annual arbitration organization notification and report, 5 hours; contract arbitrator report, 4 hours; combined shared arbitration accounting report, 20 hours.

Burden Hours: 78.

Needs and Uses: The Crab Rationalization Program allocates Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) crab resources among harvesters, processors, and coastal communities through a limited access system that balances the interests of these groups who depend on these fisheries. Program components include quota share allocation, processor quota share allocation, individual fishing quota and individual processing quota issuance, quota transfers, use caps, crab harvesting cooperatives, protections for Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries, arbitration system, monitoring, economic data collection, and cost recovery fee collection.

The Crab Rationalization Program Arbitration System is established by the contracts required pursuant to 50CF 680.20, including the process by which the Market Report and Non-Binding Price Formula are produced, as well as the negotiation approaches, the Binding Arbitration process, and fee collection.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.

Frequency: 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 Diana Hynek, 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: July 18, 2011.

Gwellnar Banks,

Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.