This action would implement Amendment 116 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI) (RIN 0648-BH02). Amendment 116 would limit access to the BSAI trawl limited access sector (TLAS) yellowfin sole directed fishery by vessels delivering to motherships. Under this proposed rule, endorsements to existing license limitation program (LLP) licenses would be issued to licenses associated with vessels that have a history in the BSAI TLAS yellowfin sole fishery of delivering catch to a mothership. The eligible catch history may be assigned to only one vessel. Several vessels with catch history have more than one LLP license associated with the vessel. In these cases, information must be collected from the LLP license holder to determine which license will be issued with the new endorsement that will allow the vessel to deliver BSAI TLAS yellowfin sole to motherships in the future. In addition, an administrative appeals process is provided. Information must be collected from any person submitting an appeal to NMFS.
This is a resubmission with the draft final rule.
US Code:
16 USC 1801 et seq.
Name of Law: Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
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.