Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; National Marine Sanctuary Permits, 38686 [2021-15560]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 138 (Thursday, July 22, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 38686]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-15560]



[[Page 38686]]

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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; National Marine Sanctuary Permits

    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 February 19, 2021 (86 FR 10249) during a 60-day 
comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public 
comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Commerce.
    Title: National Marine Sanctuary Permits.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0141.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission (revision and extension of a 
current information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 424.
    Average Hours per Response: General permits and authorizations, 1 
hour and 30 minutes; special use permits, 8 hours; archaeological 
research permits, 13 hours; baitfish permits, 40 minutes; permit 
amendments and certifications, 30 minutes; voluntary registrations, 15 
minutes; appeals, 24 hours; Tortugas access permits, 15 minutes.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 2149.25.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for revision and extension of a 
currently approved information collection by the Office of National 
Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS). ONMS manages national marine sanctuaries 
pursuant to the purposes and policies of the National Marine 
Sanctuaries Act (NMSA, 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.).
    National marine sanctuary regulations at 15 CFR part 922 list 
specific activities that are prohibited in national marine sanctuaries. 
These regulations also state that otherwise prohibited activities may 
be conducted if a permit is issued by ONMS. For most types of permits, 
persons desiring a permit must submit an application, and anyone 
obtaining a permit is generally required to submit one or more reports 
on the activity allowed under the permit. The recordkeeping and 
reporting requirements at 15 CFR part 922 form the basis for this 
collection of information.
    This information is required by ONMS to protect and manage 
sanctuary resources. The permit application collects information about 
the proposed activities, the methods proposed to be used, the potential 
effects to sanctuary resources, and information on the regulatory 
review criteria at 15 CFR part 922. ONMS uses this information to 
evaluate whether the proposed activities are consistent with the 
purposes and policies of the NMSA, the purposes for which the sanctuary 
was designated, and the implementing regulations at 15 CFR part 922.
    Changes to this information collection include revisions to the 
permit application and instructions to improve clarity. The estimated 
number of permits issued per year also changed from 555 to 424. This is 
based on an estimated five additional permits from the designation of 
the Mallows Bay-- Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary (84 FR 50736; 
Sept. 26, 2019), five additional permits from the designation of 
Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary (WSCNMS) (86 FR 
32737, June 23, 2021); the correction of a mathematical error that 
increased the total burden hours for baitfish permits; and a reduction 
of 141 permits per year because ONMS is no longer issuing lionfish 
removal permits in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Other 
revisions made to the application and applicant instructions were to 
improve the quality of information initially collected and to make the 
permit process more efficient.
    Affected Public: Individuals; Business or other for-profit 
organizations; Not-for-profit institutions; State, Local, or Tribal 
government; Federal government.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to Obtain or Retain Benefits.
    Legal Authority: National Marine Sanctuaries Act, 16 U.S.C. 1431 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 0648-0141.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-15560 Filed 7-21-21; 8:45 am]
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