2020-11671. Agency Information Collection Activities; Sea Lamprey Control Program

AGENCY:

Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice of information collection; request for comment.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are proposing a new information collection in use without Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval.

DATES:

Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before July 31, 2020.

ADDRESSES:

Send your comments on the information collection request (ICR) by mail to the Service Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/PERMA, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803 (mail); or by email to [e-mail]. Please reference OMB Control Number “1018-Sea Lampreys” in the subject line of your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request additional information about this ICR, contact Madonna L. Baucum, Service Information Collection Clearance Officer, by email at [e-mail], or by telephone at [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we provide the general public and other Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on new, proposed, revised, and continuing collections of information. This helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. It also helps the public understand our information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format.

We are soliciting comments on the proposed ICR that is described below. We are especially interested in public comment addressing the following issues: (1) Is the collection necessary to the proper functions of the Service; (2) will this information be processed and used in a timely manner; (3) is the estimate of burden accurate; (4) how might the Service enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (5) how might the Service minimize the burden of this collection on the respondents, including through the use of information technology.

Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of public record. We will include or summarize each comment in our request to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment—including your personal identifying information—may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Abstract: The Sea Lamprey Control Program is administered and funded by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) and implemented by two control agents, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, who often partner on larger projects. The sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), a parasitic fish species native to the Atlantic Ocean, parasitizes other fish species by sucking their blood and other bodily fluids. Having survived through at least four major extinction events, the species has remained largely unchanged for more than 340 million years. The sea lamprey differs from many other fishes, in that it does not have jaws or other bony structures, but instead has a skeleton made of cartilage. Sea lampreys prey on most species of large Great Lakes fish such as lake trout, salmon, lake sturgeon, whitefish, burbot, walleye, and catfish.

In the 1800s, sea lampreys invaded the Great Lakes system via manmade locks and shipping canals. Their aggressive behavior and appetite for fish blood wreaked havoc on native fish populations, decimating an already vulnerable lake trout fishery. The first recorded observation of a sea lamprey in the Great Lakes was in 1835 in Lake Ontario. For a time, Niagara Falls served as a natural barrier, confining sea lampreys to Lake Ontario and preventing them from entering the remaining four Great Lakes. However, in the early 1900s, modifications were made to the Welland Canal, which bypasses Niagara Falls and provides a shipping connection between Lakes Ontario and Erie. These modifications allowed sea lampreys access to the rest of the Great Lakes system. Within a short time, sea lampreys spread throughout the system: Into Lake Erie by 1921, Lakes Michigan and Huron by 1936 and 1937, and Lake Superior by 1938. Sea lampreys were able to thrive once they invaded the Great Lakes because of the availability of excellent spawning and larval habitat, an abundance of host fish, a lack of predators, and their high reproductive potential—a single female can produce as many as 100,000 eggs.

Service staff at the Marquette and Ludington biological stations fulfill U.S. obligations under the 1954 Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries between the United States and Canada and the Great Lakes Fishery Act of 1956. The Service works with State, Tribal, and other Federal agencies to monitor progress towards fish community objectives for sea lampreys in each of the Great Lakes, and also to develop and implement actions to achieve these objectives. Activities are closely coordinated with State, Tribal, and other Federal and provincial management agencies, nongovernmental organizations, private landowners, and the public. Our primary goal is to conduct ecologically sound and publicly acceptable integrated sea lamprey control.

The Sea Lamprey Control Program (SLCP) maintains an internal database. In existence for more than 20 years, it contains information critical to the delivery and evaluation of an integrated control program to manage invasive sea lamprey populations in the five Great Lakes. The storage of data in this database not only documents the history of the SLCP since inception in 1953, but it also provides data to steer assessment and control of invasive sea lamprey populations in the Great Lakes in partnership with the GLFC. We provide annual population data to Federal and State regulatory agencies to inform critical evaluations used to issue permits to allow sea lamprey control actions. The SLCP database maintains the points of contact for landowners to request landowner permission to access their land for treatment. The Service collects basic contact information for the landowner (name, home address, phone number, cell phone number, and email address), along with whether they allow access to their land, methods of transportation allowed over the land, and whether the landowner irrigates the land.

Title of Collection: Sea Lamprey Control Program.

OMB Control Number: 1018-New.

Form Number: None.

Type of Review: Existing collection of information in use without an OMB Control Number.

Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals, private sector, and State/local/Tribal governments.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 600.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 400.

Estimated Completion Time per Response: 15 Minutes.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 150 hours.

Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

Frequency of Collection: Annually.

Total Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: None.

An agency may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

The authority for this action is the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

Dated: May 27, 2020.

Madonna Baucum,

Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.