[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 145 (Thursday, July 29, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44758-44759]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-18644]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


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: American Fisheries Act Reports in the Bering Sea and 
Aleutian Islands Management Area.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0401.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission (extension of a currently 
approved information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 11.
    Average Hours per Response: 12 hours for AFA Annual Report; 30 
minutes for Non-member vessel contract fishing application; 5 minutes 
for Inshore catcher vessel cooperative pollock catch report; 5 minutes 
for Agent for service of process; 40 hours for Salmon Bycatch Reduction 
Inter-Cooperative Agreement (ICA).
    Burden Hours: 101.
    Needs and Uses: This is an extension of a currently approved 
information collection. The American Fisheries Act (AFA) was signed 
into law in October of 1998. The AFA established an allocation program 
for the pollock fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 
Management Area (BSAI). The AFA established a limited access program 
for the inshore sector of the BSAI pollock fishery that is based on the 
formation of fishery cooperatives around each inshore pollock 
processor. Implementing regulations are found at 50 CFR part 679, 
Subpart F.
    The original purposes of the AFA were to tighten United States 
ownership standards that had been exploited under the Anti-reflagging 
Act, to provide Alaska's BSAI pollock fleet the opportunity to conduct 
their fishery in a more rational manner, and to protect non-AFA 
participants in other fisheries. In addition, a voluntary civil 
agreement among pollock cooperatives, Western Alaska Community 
Development Quota (CDQ) groups, and western Alaska subsistence salmon 
user groups is intended to coordinate the pollock fishery in a manner 
that reduces incidental catch rates of salmon. Reduced bycatch, higher 
utilization rates, increased economic returns, and improved safety are 
among the direct benefits of the AFA. The flexibility provided by 
cooperatives and by individual vessel allocations of pollock and other 
species has allowed the BSAI pollock fleet to spread their fishing 
effort in time and space. The cooperative management structure has 
shifted more of the monitoring and enforcement burden to the 
cooperatives and their members, allowing NMFS to manage the fishery 
more precisely. The AFA cooperative annual reports are required to 
provide information about how the cooperative allocated pollock, other 
groundfish species, and prohibited species among the vessels in the 
cooperative; the catch of these species by area for each vessel in the 
cooperative; information about how the cooperative monitored fishing by 
its members; and a description of any actions taken by the cooperative 
to penalize vessels that exceeded the catch and bycatch allocations 
made to the vessel by the cooperative.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: Annually and on occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.

[[Page 44759]]

    OMB Desk Officer: David Rostker, (202) 395-3897.
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Diana Hynek, Departmental Paperwork Clearance 
Officer, (202) 482-0266, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 
[email protected]).
    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, FAX number (202) 395-7285, or 
[email protected].

    Dated: July 26, 2010.
Gwellnar Banks,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010-18644 Filed 7-28-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P