[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 180 (Tuesday, September 21, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52445-52446]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-20423]


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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; Implementation of Vessel Speed Restrictions To Reduce the 
Threat of Ship Collisions With North Atlantic Right Whales

    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 March 22, 2021 (86 FR 15202) during a 60-day 
comment period. This notice allows for

[[Page 52446]]

an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Commerce.
    Title: Implementation of Vessel Speed Restrictions To Reduce the 
Threat of Ship Collisions With North Atlantic Right Whales.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0580.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission [revision of a currently 
approved collection].
    Number of Respondents: 3,624.
    Average Hours per Response: One hour for electronic surveys, 2.5 
hours for focus groups, 5 minutes for logbook entries.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 674.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for a revision to a currently 
approved information collection. On October 10, 2008, NMFS published a 
final rule (0648-AS36) implementing seasonal speed restrictions along 
the east coast of the U.S. to reduce the incidence and severity of 
vessel collisions with North Atlantic right whales (73 FR 60173). The 
final rule contained a mandatory collection-of-information requirement 
subject to the Paperwork Reduction act (PRA), which collects 
information about safety deviations from the rule in alignment with 50 
CFR 224.105(c). The restrictions are in effect seasonally in discrete 
areas along the U.S. eastern seaboard. NMFS provided a safety exception 
to the restrictions due to poor weather or sea conditions. Ships' 
captains are required to make an entry into the vessel's Official 
Logbook when an exception is necessary.
    This revision to the current information collection includes a 
voluntary survey effort of vessel operators to evaluate their ability 
and willingness to: (1) Comply with North Atlantic right whale 
mandatory speed restrictions, and (2) cooperate with voluntary speed 
reduction efforts to protect North Atlantic right whales, which are 
promoted through NMFS outreach efforts. We will collect information 
from two types of vessels (pleasure yachts and large ocean going 
vessel) in two different areas of the North Atlantic right whales' 
range using voluntary online surveys and small focus groups. The 
surveys will collect information about vessel operators time spent on 
the water, experience and knowledge about large whales, knowledge of 
North Atlantic vessel strike reduction efforts, opinions about these 
whales and conservation efforts, and their preferred means of receiving 
information. Results from this information collection will be used to 
develop effective outreach to these vessel communities, with the long-
term goal of improving the communities' compliance with mandatory 
measures and cooperation with voluntary measures that support North 
Atlantic right whale vessel strike reduction conservation efforts.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit organizations.
    Frequency: One time for electronic surveys and focus groups, 
logbook entries on occasion as necessary.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: US Code: 16 U.S.C. 1531-1543 Name of Law: 
Endangered Species Act.
    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 0648-0580.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-20423 Filed 9-20-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P