Declaration reports are submitted to the NMFS OLE by telephone and are valid until revised by the vessel operator. Vessel operators making declaration reports receive a confirmation number that verifies that the reporting requirements were satisfied. After a vessel has made a declaration report to NMFS and has been confirmed, the vessel cannot change activities, including fishing with any gear other than the gear type that has been declared for the vessel, until a new declaration is submitted to revise the old declaration.
NMFS also proposes that OLE will default a vesselâs declaration to âotherâ if they are unable to contact the vessel operator with whom the VMS unit is associated. As required by current regulations, the vessel operator must update the declaration when they meet the requirements to do so.
These changes are related to the pending final rule titled, Fisheries off West Coast States; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan; Commercial Sablefish Fishing Regulations and Electronic Fish Tickets, RIN 0648-BF42. There were no public comments in the proposed rule, on these information collection requirements.
PL:
Pub.L. 94 - 265 303
Name of Law: Magnson-Stevens Fishery Management and Conservation Act
Adjustments:
⢠This extension also revises the number of respondents. After several years of VMS monitoring, NMFS is better able to estimate the number of participants in a given year.
o In the limited entry fishery the number of overall permits has been reduced from 399 to 350. Much of the reduction is the result of catch share programs in the fixed gear and trawl fisheries.
o The open access fishery respondents are being reduced from 1,156 to 650. In the open access fishery, vessels are not required to have groundfish permits which results in variability in the number of participants between years.
⢠The number of declaration report per vessel is reduced from 20 to 10 per respondent. The number of declaration reports varies considerably between vessels. The revised estimate is based on reporting in recent years.
⢠The cost of VMS units type-approved for the fishery has increased from $1,200-$3,800 ($2,500 on average) per unit to $3,100-$3,600 ($3,350 on average) per unit.
⢠The cost of annual VMS maintenance was not previously included ($300).
Net reductions are: 500 respondents, 20,125 responses, 1,343 hours and $647,875 in costs.
$470,000
No
No
No
No
No
Uncollected
Becky Renko 206 526-6140
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.
VMS activation checklist, and purchase, maintenance and position transmission costs
0573 Justification 091416.doc
VMS Declaration Reports