[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 48 (Monday, March 12, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14562-14564]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-5879]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R5-FHC-2012-N045; FXFR13340500000L4-123-FF05F24400]
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
[[Page 14563]]
collection and the estimated burden and cost. This information
collection is scheduled to expire on March 31, 2012. 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 April 11, 2012.
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_DOCKET@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 2042-
PDM, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203 (mail), or
INFOCOL@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 INFOCOL@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:
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.
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....................... 950 2,250 5 minutes............... 188
FWS Form 3-2311....................... 18 18 95 hours *.............. 1,710
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Totals............................ 968 2,268 ........................ 1,898
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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.
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 currently listed as a candidate for
protection 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 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,
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 FWS Form 3-2310 (Horseshoe Crab Recapture
Report):
Tag number.
Whether or not tag was removed.
Whether or not the tag was circular or square.
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: On September 26, 2011, we published in the Federal
Register (76 FR 59422) a notice of our intent to ask OMB to renew
approval for this information collection. In that notice, we solicited
comments for 60 days, ending on November 25, 2011. We received comments
from 10 individuals/organizations.
Commenter 1 appreciated the opportunity to tag horseshoe crabs and
suggested that public outreach is an important component of the program
and that increased public outreach would be useful.
Commenter 2 said that the public outreach component has been very
useful and the tagging program has benefited horseshoe crab management
and increased public awareness of management issues.
Commenter 3 said that both the scientific merit and public outreach
components of the program have been very useful. The tagging program
has benefited horseshoe crab management and increased public awareness
of management issues.
Commenter 4 discussed the scientific merit of the tagging program
and said
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that it has been very useful. The tagging program has benefited
horseshoe crab management and has had impacts on management of
associated shorebird species whose population levels are of concern.
The commenter had concerns on the effort of tag recoveries, and
suggested that we provide higher incentives to commercial fishermen to
report crab tags, increase efforts on spawning beaches to recover tags,
record time searching for tags to determine catch-per-unit-effort, that
online reporting can be done in a batch system, and that we increase
efforts to collect tag data from commercial fishermen. While we
recognize that all of these suggestions would make a stronger program
with more significant scientific data, some come with substantial cost.
At this time we do not have any additional funds to provide increased
incentives to fishermen, increase tag recovery efforts on beaches (done
by our cooperators at this time), or increase efforts to solicit tag
data from commercial fishermen. Through our cooperators in the future,
we can attempt to get an estimate of catch-per-unit-effort and we will
discuss this issue with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
to determine if those data would be useful. We will also explore
providing a batch-type data entry program on our Web site to report
recaptured tags. We will explore collecting catch-per-unit-effort and
online batch reporting in the future.
Commenter 5 was supportive of the information collection, and
commented that the scientific data provided by the program has been
very useful for horseshoe crab management. Information was collected
efficiently and the burden estimates were accurate.
Commenter 6 opposed the use of horseshoe crabs by biomedical
companies and proposed a ban on the use of horseshoe crabs for any
purpose.
Commenter 7 said that the tagging program is not necessary and the
data generated by the program is not useful. The commenter also opposed
the commercial harvest of horseshoe crabs and the use of horseshoe
crabs by biomedical companies. The commenter proposed a ban on the use
of horseshoe crabs for any purpose.
Commenter 8 discussed the scientific merit of the tagging program
and said that it has been very useful for horseshoe crab management
purposes. The commenter suggested that the Fish and Wildlife Service
increase efforts in resighting tagged crabs outside the Delaware Bay
area. While we recognize that increasing effort for resighting tagged
crabs would increase the quality of the scientific data, there is
substantial cost associated with increasing that effort. At this time,
we do not have any additional funds to increase tag recovery efforts on
beaches (done by our cooperators at this time). We will encourage our
cooperators to increase efforts in tag recovery outside the Delaware
Bay area. The commenter also suggested we develop an application for
smart phones in addition to the online reporting system that we
currently offer. We will explore the development of an app for smart
phones to provide another method for tag reporting.
Commenter 9 discussed the scientific merit of the tagging program
and said that it has been very useful to horseshoe crab and shorebird
management (whose population levels are of concern). The commenter
suggested that we increase efforts on spawning beaches of Maryland and
Virginia to recover tags, record time searching for tags to determine
catch-per-unit-effort, and use formal models to determine survival of
bled crabs from the Lysate industry. As with previous comments, we will
encourage our cooperators to increase tag recovery efforts on the
Maryland and Virginia beaches; however, without increased funding, we
will not be able to increase tag recovery efforts without the
assistance of cooperators. Some formal studies are being done by our
cooperators using the Service tagging program to evaluate impacts of
both tagging and of the Lysate bleeding programs. We will continue to
support the tagging programs that are evaluating crab survival. The
commenter also suggested that we should facilitate batch reporting of
crabs on the phone and to encourage tag reporting by commercial
fishermen. At this time we do not have any additional funds to provide
increased incentives to fishermen, increase tag recovery efforts on
beaches (done by our cooperators at this time), or increase efforts to
solicit tag data from commercial fishermen. We will work with our
cooperators to attempt to get better distribution of tag recovery
efforts.
Commenter 10 provided comments similar in nature to Commenters 4
and 9.
We did not make any changes to our information collection
requirements based on the above 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: March 6, 2012.
Tina A. Campbell,
Chief, Division of Policy and Directives Management, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-5879 Filed 3-9-12; 8:45 am]
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