Proposed Information Collection; Injurious Wildlife; Importation Certification for Live Fish and Fish Eggs

AGENCY:

Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice; request for comments.

SUMMARY:

We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) will ask the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) described below. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and as part of our continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, we invite the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on this IC. This IC is scheduled to expire on March 31, 2017. We may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

DATES:

To ensure that we are able to consider your comments on this IC, we must receive them by February 17, 2017.

ADDRESSES:

Send your comments on the IC to the Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS BPHC, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803 (mail); or tina_campbell@fws.gov (email). Please include “1018-0078” in the subject line of your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request additional information about this IC, contact Tina Campbell at tina_campbell@fws.gov (email) or 703-358-2676 (telephone).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

The Lacey Act (18 U.S.C. 42) (Act) prohibits the importation of any animal deemed to be and prescribed by regulation to be injurious to:

• Human beings;
• The interests of agriculture, horticulture, and forestry; or
• Wildlife or the wildlife resources of the United States.

The Department of the Interior is charged with enforcement of this Act. The Act and regulations at 50 CFR 16 allow for the importation of animals classified as injurious if specific criteria are met. To effectively carry out responsibilities and protect the aquatic resources of the United States, we must gather information on the animals being imported with regard to their source, destination, and health status. It is also imperative that we ensure the qualifications of those individuals who provide the fish health data and sign the health certificate upon which we base our decision to allow importation.

We use three forms to collect this information:

(1) FWS Form 3-2273 (Title 50 Certifying Official Form). New applicants and those seeking recertification as a title 50 certifying official provide information so that we can assess their qualifications.

(2) FWS Form 3-2274 (U.S. Title 50 Certification Form). Certifying officials use this form or their own health certificate to affirm the health status of the fish or their reproductive products to be imported.

(3) FWS Form 3-2275 (Title 50 Importation Request Form). We use the information on this form to ensure the safety of the shipment and to track and control importations.

II. Data

OMB Control Number: 1018-0078.

Title: Injurious Wildlife; Importation Certification for Live Fish and Fish Eggs, 50 CFR 16.13.

Service Form Numbers: 3-2273, 3-2274, and 3-2275.

Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Description of Respondents: Aquatic animal health professionals seeking to be certified title 50 inspectors; certified title 50 inspectors who have performed health certifications on live salmonids; and any entity wishing to import live salmonids or their reproductive products into the United States.

Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain a benefit.

Frequency of Collection: On occasion.

III. Comments

We invite comments concerning this information collection on:

• Whether or not the collection of information is necessary, including whether or not the information will have practical utility;
• The accuracy of our estimate of the burden for this collection of information;
• Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
• Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents.

Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of public record. We will include or summarize each comment in our request to OMB to approve this IC. Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment, including your personal identifying information, may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.