[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 27 (Tuesday, February 10, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7490-7491]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02656]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R5-FHC-2015-N033; FF05F24400-FXFR13350500000]
Proposed Information Collection; 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) 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 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.
DATES: To ensure that we are able to consider your comments on this IC,
we must receive them by April 13, 2015.
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 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 IC, contact Hope Grey at hope_grey@fws.gov (email) or 703-
358-2482 (telephone).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. 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, this species 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 FWS Form 3-2310 (Horseshoe Crab Recapture
Report):
Tag number.
Whether or not tag was removed.
Whether 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.
I. Data
OMB Control Number: 1018-0127.
Title: Horseshoe Crab Tagging Program.
[[Page 7491]]
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 5 minutes............... 229
FWS Form 3-2311....................... 18 18 95 hours*............... 1,710
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Totals............................ 1,178 2,768 ........................ 1,939
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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.
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.
Dated: February 4, 2015.
Tina A. Campbell,
Chief, Division of Policy, Performance, and Management Programs, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-02656 Filed 2-9-15; 8:45 am]
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