Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Recreational Angler Survey of Sea Turtle Interactions, 96646-96647 [2024-28501]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 234 (Thursday, December 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 96646-96647]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-28501]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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; Recreational Angler Survey of Sea Turtle Interactions

    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 July 30, 2024 during a 60-day comment period. This 
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Commerce.

[[Page 96647]]

    Title: Recreational Angler Survey of Sea Turtle Interactions.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0774.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular Submission [Revision and Extension of a 
current information collection].
    Number of Respondents: 6,667.
    Average Hours per Response: 10 minutes for the Fishing Site 
Characterization Form, 5 minutes for the Survey Cover Sheet, 10 minutes 
for the Angler Intercept Survey.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,111 hours.
    Needs and Uses: NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA 
Fisheries) proposes to revise and extend a current information 
collection designed to assess the extent of hook and line interactions 
between recreational anglers on piers and other shore-based fishing 
locations and sea turtles. The collection comprises an Angler Intercept 
Survey, a Fishing Site Characterization Form, and a Survey Cover Sheet. 
The Angler Intercept Survey will be verbally administered on piers and 
shore-based fishing locations within NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic 
Region and Southeast Region, and will be administered over three years' 
time to approximately 20,000 individual recreational Anglers (6,667 per 
year). The respondents will be verbally asked a series of questions 
about their fishing practices and observations of sea turtles and the 
interviewer will record their answers. The survey will also assess the 
feasibility of an intercept survey for this purpose in terms of 
response rates and data collection. The Fishing Site Characterization 
Form will be completed by the survey administrator at each fishing 
location who will also collect information on the structure and 
operation of the pier or shore-based fishing location. The survey 
administrator will complete the Site Characterization Sheet during each 
survey period and collect information on the environmental conditions 
for that particular day, the number of anglers fishing, number of lines 
in the water, and the number of surveys completed. The collection 
previously included a Sea Turtle Incidental Capture Form. This form 
will be removed from this collection and is now included in the 
National Sea Turtle Stranding & Salvage Network Stranding & Gear 
Interaction Data Collection (0648-0496).
    Collection of data on sea turtle interactions in the shore-based 
recreational fishing sector is necessary to fulfill statutory 
requirements of the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et. seq.). 
This collection will allow NOAA Fisheries obtain specific information 
about recreational piers (defined here to include piers and other 
shore-based structures), the anglers that fish on piers, the nature of 
interactions between pier-based anglers and sea turtles, as well as to 
determine specific factors that may influence the rate of interactions. 
NOAA Fisheries can use the information collected to evaluate the impact 
of these interactions on sea turtle populations and determine 
conservation measures that can be implemented to reduce interactions 
and support the conservation and recovery of endangered and threatened 
sea turtle populations.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Frequency: Once.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Collection of these data on sea turtle 
interactions in the shore-based recreational fishing sector is 
necessary to fulfill statutory requirements of the Endangered Species 
Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 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 0648-0774.

Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024-28501 Filed 12-4-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P