[Federal Register: December 10, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 238)]
[Notices]
[Page 75125-75126]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10de08-73]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R5-FHC-2008-N0330] [51320-1334-0000 L4]
Information Collection Sent to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for Approval; OMB Control Number 1018-0127; Horseshoe Crab
Tagging Program
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We (Fish and Wildlife Service) have sent an Information
Collection Request (ICR) to OMB for review and approval. The ICR, which
is summarized below, describes the nature of the collection and the
estimated burden and cost. This ICR is scheduled to expire on December
31, 2008. 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. However, under OMB regulations, we may
continue to conduct or sponsor this information collection while it is
pending at OMB.
DATES: You must send comments on or before January 9, 2009.
ADDRESSES: Send your comments and suggestions on this ICR to the Desk
Officer for the Department of the Interior at OMB-OIRA at (202) 395-
6566 (fax) or OIRA_DOCKET@OMB.eop.gov (e-mail). Please provide a copy
of your comments to Hope Grey, Information Collection Clearance
Officer, Fish and Wildlife Service, MS 222-ARLSQ, 4401 North Fairfax
Drive, Arlington, VA 22203 (mail) or hope_grey@fws.gov (e-mail).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request additional information
about this ICR, contact Hope Grey by mail or e-mail (see ADDRESSES) or
by telephone at (703) 358-2482.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
OMB Control Number: 1018-0127.
Title: Horseshoe Crab Tagging Program.
Service Form Number(s): FWS Forms 3-2310 and 3-2311.
Type of Request: Extension of currently approved collection.
Affected Public: Tagging agencies include Federal and State
agencies, universities, and biomedical companies. Members of the
general public provide recapture information.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Frequency of Collection: On occasion. When horseshoe crabs are
tagged and when horseshoe crabs are found or captured.
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Number of annual Number of annual Completion time per Annual burden
Activity respondents responses response hours
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FWS Form 3-2310................. 500 1,500 10 minutes......... 250
FWS Form 3-2311................. 10 10 73 hours*.......... 730
Totals...................... 510 1,510 ................... 980
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*Average time required per response is dependent on the number of
tags applied by an agency in 1 year. Agencies tag between 25 and 9,000
horseshoe crabs annually, taking between 2 to 5 minutes per crab to
tag. Each agency determines the number of tags it will apply.
Abstract: Horseshoe crabs play a vital role commercially,
biomedically, and ecologically along the Atlantic coast. Horseshoe
crabs are commercially harvested and used as bait in eel and conch
fisheries. Biomedical companies along the coast also collect and bleed
horseshoe crabs at their facilities. Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate is
derived from crab blood, which has no synthetic substitute, and is used
by pharmaceutical companies to test sterility of products. Finally,
migratory shorebirds also depend on the eggs of horseshoe crabs to
refuel on their migrations from South America to the Arctic. One bird
in particular, the red knot, feeds primarily on horseshoe crab eggs
during its stopover. That bird is under a status review for listing
under the Endangered Species Act.
In 1998, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), a
management organization with representatives from each State on the
Atlantic Coast, developed a horseshoe crab management plan. The ASMFC
plan and its subsequent addenda established mandatory State-by-State
harvest quotas, and created the 1,500 square mile Carl N. Shuster, Jr.
Horseshoe Crab Sanctuary off the mouth of Delaware Bay.
Although restrictive measures have been taken in recent years,
populations are not showing immediate increases. Because horseshoe
crabs do not breed until they are 9 years or older, it may take some
time before the population measurably increases. Federal and State
agencies, universities, and biomedical companies participate in a
Horseshoe Crab Cooperative Tagging Program. The Maryland Fishery
Resources Office, Fish and Wildlife Service, maintains the information
that we collect under this program and uses it to evaluate migratory
patterns, survival, and abundance of horseshoe crabs.
Agencies that tag and release the crabs complete FWS Form 3-2311
(Horseshoe Crab Tagging) and provide the Service with:
(1) Organization name.
(2) Contact person name.
(3) Tag number.
(4) Sex of crab.
(5) Prosomal width.
(6) Capture site, latitude, longitude, waterbody, State, and date.
Members of the public who recover tagged crabs provide the
following information using FWS Form 3-2310 (Horseshoe Crab Recapture
Report):
(1) Tag number.
(2) Whether or not tag was removed.
(3) Whether or not the tag was circular or square.
(4) Condition of crab.
(5) Date captured/found.
(6) Crab fate.
(7) Finder type.
(8) Capture method.
(9) Capture location.
(10) Reporter information.
(11) Comments.
If the public participant who reports the tagged crab requests
information, we send data pertaining to the tagging program and tag and
release information on the horseshoe crab he/she found or captured.
Comments: On June 24, 2008, we published in the Federal Register
(73 FR 35705) a notice of our intent to request that OMB renew this
ICR. In that notice, we solicited comments for 60 days, ending on
August 25, 2008. We received one comment. The commenter did not address
the necessity, clarity, or accuracy of the information collection,
[[Page 75126]]
but did oppose the use of horseshoe crabs by biomedical companies and
proposed a ban on the use of horseshoe crabs for any purpose. We have
not made any changes to our information collection as a result of the
comment.
We again invite comments concerning this information collection on:
(1) Whether or not the collection of information is necessary,
including whether or not the information will have practical utility;
(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the burden for this collection
of information;
(3) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
(4) 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. Before including your address, phone number, e-mail
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 OMB in your comment to withhold your personal
identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that it
will be done.
Dated: November 18, 2008
Hope Grey,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. E8-29139 Filed 12-9-08; 08:45 am]
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