Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Alaska Interagency Electronic Reporting System (IERS), 71059-71060 [2020-24720]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 216 (Friday, November 6, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71059-71060]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-24720]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Alaska Interagency Electronic Reporting System (IERS)

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and 
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of 
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on June 24, 2020 (85 FR 37877), during a 60-day 
comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public 
comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
    Title: Alaska Interagency Electronic Reporting System (IERS).
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0515.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission [extension of a current 
information collection].
    Number of Respondents: 206.
    Average Hours per Response: eLandings registration, 15 minutes; 
electronic logbooks, 15 minutes; shoreside processor production report, 
10 minutes; at-sea processor production report, 20 minutes; mothership 
landing report, 10 minutes; out-of-state landing report, 20 minutes; 
shoreside processor and catcher processor, landing reports, 30 minutes 
each; tender landing report, 35 minutes; registered buyer and 
registered crab receiver landing reports, 60 minutes each.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 20,271.
    Needs and Uses: The National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS), 
Alaska Regional Office, is requesting extension of a currently approved 
information collection for the Alaska Interagency Electronic Reporting 
System (IERS).
    IERS is a fisheries data collection system that enables the 
management of commercial fisheries off Alaska and is supported through 
a partnership among the NMFS Alaska Regional Office, the Alaska 
Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), and the International Pacific 
Halibut Commission (IPHC). IERS provides the Alaska fishing industry 
with a consolidated, electronic means of reporting commercial fish and 
shellfish information to multiple management agencies through a single 
reporting system. The recordkeeping and reporting requirements for IERS 
are located at 50 CFR 679.5.
    Users enter information into IERS using three main components, 
depending on their internet access and transmission capability:
     eLandings provides web-based access for shoreside and 
stationary floating processors to submit landings and production 
information and also by some catcher/processors and motherships who 
have access to the internet to submit their data.
     seaLandings is a fishery harvest reporting software 
program that functions without constant internet connectivity and is 
installed on computer workstations. The seaLandings interface targets 
at-sea vessels with limited access to the web (typically for catcher/
processors and motherships which report at sea). Landings, production, 
and eLog information can be sent from seaLandings via direct 
transmission (a report file is zipped up and sent over the internet and 
processed behind the scenes) or via email.
     tLandings is a USB-installed program that tender vessels 
with no web access can use to enter landings information.
    Through IERS, NMFS collects information on landings, production, 
and effort for groundfish and crab species to support the agency's 
management responsibilities. IERS has four main information 
collections: Registration, landing reports, production reports, and 
electronic logbooks. Landing reports document the harvest of fish and 
shellfish that is sold, discarded, or retained by the fisherman. 
Production reports provide information on the amount of processed 
product that is generated by processors. Logbooks provide information 
about where and when fishing effort occurs. NMFS uses information 
collected in IERS for in-season and inter-season management decisions 
that affect the fishery resources and the fishing industry that uses 
those resources.
    Information collected through the IERS promotes the goals and 
objectives of fishery management plans, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act, and other applicable laws. Collecting 
information from fishery participants is necessary for successful 
management of groundfish, crab, Pacific halibut, and salmon resources.
    Compared with paper forms and conventional logbooks, IERS is a more 
convenient, accurate, and timely method of fisheries reporting. 
Benefits of IERS include improved data quality, automated processing of 
data, improved process for correcting or updating information, 
availability of more timely data for fishery managers, and reduction of 
duplicative reporting of similar information to multiple agencies. 
Additionally, IERS provides continuous online access to individual 
accounts for participants.
    This renewal will incorporate the change request associated with 
the rule for Amendment 121 to Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of 
the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area and Amendment 110 
to Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (85 FR 
41427, July 10, 2020). The rule reclassifies sculpins as a non-target 
ecosystem component (EC) species and makes minor revisions to the 
information collection requirements to clarify the location of the 
species code for sculpins in the tables to 50 CFR part 679 to note that 
sculpins should be reported as non-target EC species rather than target 
species
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit organizations.
    Frequency: On occasion; Daily.

[[Page 71060]]

    Respondent's Obligation: Required to Obtain or Retain Benefits.
    Legal Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB 
Control Number 0648-0515.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2020-24720 Filed 11-5-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P