[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 96 (Tuesday, May 19, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28637-28638]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-12048]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R5-FHC-2015-N092; FF05F24400-FXFR13350500000]
Information Collection Request Sent to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for Approval; Horseshoe Crab Tagging Program
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) have sent an Information
Collection Request (ICR) to OMB for review and approval. We summarize
the ICR below and describe the nature of the collection and the
estimated burden and cost. This information collection is scheduled to
expire on May 31, 2015. 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 submit comments on or before June 18, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Send your comments and suggestions on this information
collection to the Desk Officer for the Department of the Interior at
OMB-OIRA at (202) 395-5806 (fax) or OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov
(email). Please provide a copy of your comments to the Service
Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, MS BPHC, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803
(mail), or hope_grey@fws.gov (email). Please include ``1018-0127'' in
the subject line of your comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request additional information
about this ICR, contact Hope Grey at hope_grey@fws.gov (email) or 703-
358-2482 (telephone). You may review the ICR online at http://www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to review Department of the
Interior collections under review by OMB.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Information Collection Request
OMB Control Number: 1018-0127.
Title: Horseshoe Crab Tagging Program.
Service Form Number(s): 3-2310 and 3-2311.
Type of Request: Extension of currently approved collection.
Description of Respondents: 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 Number of
Activity annual annual Completion time per Annual burden
respondents responses response hours
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FWS Form 3-2310...................... 1,160 2,750 10 minutes............... 458
FWS Form 3-2311...................... 18 18 95 hours *............... 1,710
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Totals........................... 1,178 2,768 ......................... 2,168
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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, record, and
report data. Each agency determines the number of tags it will apply.
Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: None.
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. Effective January 12, 2015, the red knot was
listed as threatened 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.
Restrictive measures have been taken in recent years, but
populations are increasing slowly. 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,
U.S. 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:
Organization name.
Contact person name.
Tag number.
Sex of crab.
Prosomal width.
Capture site, latitude, longitude, waterbody, State, and
date.
Members of the public who recover tagged crabs provide the
following information using the online submission
[[Page 28638]]
form (http://www.fws.gov/crabtag/) or via a toll-free telephone number:
Tag number.
Whether or not tag was removed.
Condition of crab.
Date captured/found.
Crab fate.
Finder type.
Capture method.
Capture location.
Reporter information.
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 that was found or captured.
Comments Received and Our Responses
Comments: On February 10, 2015, we published in the Federal
Register (80 FR 7490) a notice of our intent to request that OMB renew
approval for this information collection. In that notice, we solicited
comments for 60 days, ending on April 13, 2015. We did not receive any
comments.
Request for Public Comments
We again 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. 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 OMB in your comment to withhold your personal
identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that it
will be done.
Dated: May 13, 2015.
Tina A. Campbell,
Chief, Division of Policy, Performance, and Management Programs, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-12048 Filed 5-18-15; 8:45 am]
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