Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Commercial Operator's Annual Report (COAR)

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 January 11, 2021 (86 FR 1943), during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.

Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

Title: Commercial Operator's Annual Report (COAR).

OMB Control Number: 0648-0428.

Form Number(s): None.

Type of Request: Regular submission (extension of a current information collection).

Number of Respondents: 72.

Average Hours per Response: Commercial Operator's Annual Report: 8 hours.

Total Annual Burden Hours: 576 hours.

Needs and Uses: The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Alaska Regional Office, is requesting renewal of the currently approved information collection for the Commercial Operator's Annual Report (COAR).

The COAR is a State of Alaska report that is required to be completed and submitted by direct marketers, catcher processors, catcher exporters, buyer exporters, shore-based processors, and floating processor permit holders pursuant to Alaska Administrative Code (5 AAC 39.130) and Federal regulations at 50 CFR 679. Under 50 CFR 679.5(p), NMFS requires motherships and catcher processors that are issued a Federal fisheries permit to annually complete and submit the appropriate sections of the COAR.

The COAR is used to gather statewide fish and shellfish information describing buying (ex-vessel) and production (wholesale or retail) activities. The information collected in the COAR is used to determine the value of Alaska's fisheries resources and products. NMFS uses the COAR database in annual Federal publications on the value of U.S. commercial fisheries, in the annual NMFS Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation reports for the groundfish fisheries of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska, and in periodic reports that describe the fisheries and that serve as reference documents to management agencies, the industry, and others.

The mothership and catcher processor data, when added to the COAR information collected from shoreside processors and stationary floating processors required under State of Alaska requirements, yield a complete database of equivalent annual product value information for all respective processing sectors. The information also provides a consistent time series according to which groundfish resources may be managed more efficiently. Use of the information generated by the COAR is coordinated between NMFS and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G).

The COAR must be submitted by April 1 to the ADF&G for the previous year's activity for all operations that are required to submit a COAR. NMFS requires the owner of a mothership or catcher processor to annually complete and submit the appropriate forms of the COAR, whether the processor operated that year or not. If no receipt or production took place for that year, the owner submits only the COAR certification page.

The COAR requires submission of information on seafood purchasing, production, and both ex-vessel and wholesale values of seafood products. The buying information is reported by species, harvest area, area of purchase, condition of fisheries resources at the time of purchase, type of gear used in the harvest, pounds purchased, and ex-vessel value. The ex-vessel value includes any post-season adjustments or bonuses paid after the fish was purchased. The production information is reported by species, area of processing, process type (e.g., frozen, canned, smoked), product type (e.g., fillets, surimi, sections), net weight of the processed product, and the first wholesale value.

Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-profit organizations.

Frequency: Annually.

Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.

Legal Authority: Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 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 0648-0428.