Electronic Monitoring and Vessel Monitoring Systems for Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fisheries Temporary Data Collection
New collection (Request for a new OMB Control Number)
No
Regular
Approved without change
03/04/2026
03/04/2026
The collection is pre-approved, contingent upon no substantive changes being made to this collection after adoption of the final rule. Otherwise, this collection should be re-submitted to OMB for review.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
03/31/2029
36 Months From Approved
899
0
0
891
0
0
101,746
0
0
This is a new, temporary collection of information pursuant to Amendment 15 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP) (Amendment 15) and associated rulemaking, or RIN 0648-BI10. This temporary collection, OMB Control Number 0648-0816, was created due to timing conflicts with OMB Control Number 0648-0372, which came up for renewal before publication of the final rule for Amendment 15. Once 0648-0372 is renewed and the Amendment 15 final rule information collection is approved, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) will submit a request to merge this temporary collection into 0648-0372. Amendment 15 will establish two pelagic longline (PLL) monitoring areas, in which PLL vessels that are approved to fish will be required to report interactions with select bycatch species by set via their vessel monitoring system (VMS) units.
Several changes were made to this information collection (ICR) from the proposed to the final rule that resulted in changes to the burden and cost estimates for this collection. Previously, NMFS had proposed to make the pelagic longline fleet responsible for covering their EM monitoring costs consistent with the NOAA Cost Allocation Policy (Procedure 04-115-02). Based in part on public comment, NMFS has decided to maintain the status quo, and continue to cover these costs, for now, for vessels fishing outside of the proposed monitoring areas. However, vessel owners would still need to pay for and arrange for video review of sets from trips that occur wholly or in part in monitoring areas. Under the proposed rule, 100 percent of sets for trips that occurred within the monitoring areas were to be reviewed, but under the final rule that sampling rate has been lowered to 50 percent. To mitigate the economic impact of this added cost to the PLL fleet, NMFS is still establishing a vendor certification process to encourage additional EM vendors to enter the market, and decrease costs through competition and by leveraging the existing infrastructure of vendors already providing video services to other fisheries. However, vessel owners would only be allowed to employ these vendors for EM monitoring and video review for trips within the monitoring areas. For trips outside of monitoring areas, where NMFS will still pay for EM monitoring, vessel owners must continue to use the government contracted EM vendor. Additionally, NMFS has increased the effort caps for pelagic longline sets conducted within the monitoring areas, based on public comments expressing concerns that the proposed caps were too low to provide the needed data to evaluate the effectiveness of closed areas. This increase in the monitoring area effort caps will result in higher burden estimates as vessel owners will be required to submit effort and catch reports via their VMS units for each set within the monitoring areas.
US Code:
16 USC 971
Name of Law: Atlantic Tunas Convention Act of 1975
US Code:
16 USC 1801 et seq.
Name of Law: Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
Electronic video and gear monitoring requirement was included in the proposed rule but removed from the final rule. It is anticipated that one service provider application may be rejected over the course of the burden period which will cause a decrease. Burden estimates and costs were adjusted to reflect several program changes, including a shift in EM sampling costs from the agency to the PLL fleet when fishing voluntarily within the new monitoring areas, new VMS bycatch reports for vessels fishing within monitoring areas under an EFP, and new reporting requirements for EM service providers.
$67,924
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Clifford Hutt 301 427-8588
No
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
05/14/2024
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EMSPR- Debrief of EM Staff