Alaska Region Gear Identification Requirements

This is a resubmission with the final rule, of a request by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Alaska Regional Office, for revision and extension of this currently approved information collection. This information collection is revised due to the final rule that allows use of longline pot gear and adds an exception to the 9-inch tunnel opening requirement for pot gear when directed fishing for Greenland turbot in the Bering Sea subarea for holders of License Limitation Program groundfish licenses that are endorsed for non-trawl gear (RIN 0648-BM77). This rule is necessary to improve efficiency, provide economic benefits for the hook-and-line catcher/processer subsector, and minimize potential fishery interactions with killer whales. This collection is revised because the rule requires that vessel operators using longline pot gear to fish Greenland turbot in the Bering Sea subarea mark a buoy in the buoy cluster with the initials “LP” to distinguish this gear type from others authorized for this fishery. This revision increases the respondents for Longline Pot Gear Marker Buoys, which increases the total annual responses, burden hours, and costs for this collection. This rule does not change the burden or cost estimates because they allow for differences in the time and cost to mark buoys. This rule also affects information collection requirements approved under OMB Control Number 0648-0515. NMFS is submitting a separate request to revise -0515. This information collection for -0353 contains the gear identification requirements for groundfish fisheries in the Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska and is necessary to facilitate enforcement of fishery regulations.

The latest form for Alaska Region Gear Identification Requirements expires 2028-04-30 and can be found here.

Groundfish Hook-and-Line Marker Buoys

Federal Enterprise Architecture: Natural Resources - Conservation, Marine and Land Management