The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) requires any commercial fisherman operating in a Category I and II fishery to register for a certificate of authorization that will allow the fisherman to take marine mammals incidental to commercial fishing operations. Category I and II fisheries are those identified by NOAA as having either frequent or occasional takings of marine mammals.
Adjustments:
As registration is integrated with existing federal and state commercial fishing license/permit registration, separate MMAP registration is only required for non-permitted fisheries. We do not anticipate any renewals and decrease our response estimate from 800 to 600 accordingly. Also, the average response time is longer, as renewals were estimated to take 9 minutes only; while new requests take 15 minutes.
There is an adjustment to recordkeeping/reporting costs, based on postage increase.
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.
Application for Commercial Fisheries Authorization under Section 118 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act
0293 ss 063015.docx
Application for Commercial Fisheries Authorization under Section 118 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act