0648-0633 Supporting Statement A

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

U.S. Department of Commerce

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

Alaska Chinook Salmon Economic Data Report (EDR)

OMB Control No. 0648-0633

Abstract

This is a request by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Alaska Region for extension of this currently approved information collection for the Annual Alaska Chinook Salmon Economic Data Report (Chinook Salmon EDR).

The Chinook Salmon EDR evaluates the effectiveness of Chinook salmon bycatch management measures for the Bering Sea pollock fishery that were implemented under Amendment 91 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Management Area. The Chinook Salmon EDR Program provides information to the NMFS analysts and North Pacific Fisheries Management Council staff. It is intended to be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the Chinook Salmon Incentive Plan Agreement (IPA) (see OMB Control No. 0648-0401); to evaluate where, when, and how pollock fishing and salmon bycatch occur; and to provide data to study and verify conclusions drawn by industry in the IPA annual reports.

Justification

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. Attach a copy of the appropriate section of each statute and regulation mandating or authorizing the collection of information.

The Secretary of Commerce is responsible for the conservation and management of marine fishery resources within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the United States through National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/NMFS. NMFS manages the groundfish fisheries in the EEZ off Alaska. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) prepared the BSAI FMP under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. (Magnuson-Stevens Act). The BSAI FMP is implemented under regulations at 50 CFR part 679.

NMFS manages the Bering Sea pollock fishery under the American Fisheries Act (AFA)

(16 U.S.C. 1851). The AFA allows for the formation and management of fishery cooperatives in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. AFA fishing vessels harvest pollock using pelagic (mid-water) trawl gear, which consists of large nets towed through the water by the vessel. At times, Chinook salmon and pollock occur in the same locations in the Bering Sea. Consequently, Chinook salmon are incidentally caught in the nets as pollock is harvested. This incidental catch of Chinook salmon is called prohibited species catch (PSC). Chinook salmon are defined as a prohibited species because they are caught by a vessel issued a Federal Fisheries Permit under § 679.4(b) while fishing for groundfish (pollock) in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI) or Gulf of Alaska.

The Chinook Salmon EDR is a mandatory reporting requirement under 50 CFR 679.65 for all entities participating in the AFA BSAI pollock trawl fishery. This includes vessel masters and businesses that own or lease one or more AFA‐permitted vessels active in fishing or processing BSAI pollock, Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) groups receiving allocations of BSAI pollock, and representatives of sector entities receiving allocations of Chinook salmon PSC from NMFS.

The Chinook Salmon EDR, also known as the Amendment 91 EDR, was implemented in 2012 (77 FR 5389, February 3, 2012) to evaluate the effectiveness of Chinook salmon bycatch management measures for the Bering Sea pollock fishery that were implemented under Amendment 91 to the FMP (75 FR 53025, August 30, 2010). Additional changes were made to the EDR program to reduce costs and improve data access and usability in 2023 (88 FR 7586, February 6, 2023). The Chinook Salmon EDR Program provides additional data to assess the effectiveness of the Chinook salmon bycatch management measures implemented under Amendment 91 to the FMP. The information collected is a combination of quantitative and qualitative data to conduct descriptive and quantitative analysis and comparisons of the annual and seasonal changes in the pollock fleet under Amendment 91.

2. Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.

The Chinook Salmon EDR Program is managed primarily by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, with support from NMFS Alaska Region, and is administered in collaboration with Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (Pacific States). The only change in this collection over time is that the responses are now all entered online.

The Chinook Salmon EDR Program uses three separate survey forms:

♦ Chinook PSC Allocation In-season Compensated Transfer Report (CTR) — collects transfer and monetary compensation information for Chinook salmon PSC allocations;

♦ Vessel Fuel Survey — collects average fuel consumption and annual fuel costs; and

♦ Vessel Master Survey — collects vessel master impressions of fishing experiences during the year as well as Chinook salmon PSC avoidance efforts.

In addition to the EDR program, the data collection measures developed by the Council for Amendment 91 also specified modification of the Daily Fishing Logbook (see OMB Control No. 0648-0213) for BSAI pollock trawl catcher vessels and catcher/processors (implemented for the 2012 fishing year) to add a "checkbox" to the tow‐level logbook record requiring vessel operators to indicate instances when a vessel fishing pollock in the BSAI changed fishing locations, prior to each tow, for the primary purpose of avoiding Chinook salmon PSC. For AFA catcher/processors, this information is recorded in the Trawl Catcher/processor Electronic Logbook (see OMB Control No. 0648-0515) and submitted to NMFS via the eLandings system.

Pacific States has been designated by NMFS to be the Data Collection Agent (DCA) for the Annual Chinook Salmon EDR. Pacific States mails EDR announcements and filing instructions to affected quota share permit holders, vessel owners, and applicable CDQ entities. The applicable Chinook Salmon EDR forms must be submitted annually online at Pacific States website on or before 1700 hours Alaska local time on June 1.

NMFS sends login credentials for use with the online Chinook Salmon EDR submittal site to submitters by certified mail. The combination of the login credentials and the signature certification statement on the online form are equivalent to a signature for confidentiality and accuracy purposes. In addition, all AFA vessel owners and other known entities subject to Chinook Salmon EDR submission requirements are contacted directly by Pacific States with instructions for using the EDR web application to submit the required forms.

• The following must complete and submit the CTR EDR forms:

• An owner or leaseholder of an AFA-permitted vessel and the representative of any entity that received an allocation of Chinook salmon PSC from NMFS must complete and submit the Certification Page (Part 1) for the previous calendar year.

• Any person who transferred Chinook salmon PSC allocation after January 20, and paid or received money for the transfer, must submit a completed CTR (Part 1 and Part 2) for the previous calendar year.

• The following must complete and submit the Vessel Fuel Survey EDR forms:

• An owner or leaseholder of an AFA-permitted vessel must submit a completed Vessel Fuel Survey for each vessel used to harvest pollock in the Bering Sea in a given year.

• A catcher/processor leaseholder who harvested or processed groundfish in the Gulf of Alaska in that vessel.

• The following must complete and submit the Vessel Master Survey EDR forms:

• An owner or leaseholder of an AFA-permitted vessel used to harvest pollock in the Bering Sea in the previous year must complete the Vessel Owner Certification (Part 1).

• The vessel master of an AFA-permitted vessel used to harvest pollock in the Bering Sea in the previous year must complete the Vessel Master Survey, and the Vessel Master Certification (Part 2).

• If a vessel did not participate in the Bering Sea pollock fishery during the reporting year, the vessel owner is required to submit only the Vessel Owner Certification Page of the Vessel Master Survey.

Uses of Chinook Salmon EDR Program Data

The CTR is intended to provide information to fishery managers to evaluate the effectiveness of Chinook salmon bycatch management measures. The CTR collects information on transfers of Chinook salmon PSC allocation to or from another person during each calendar year for which the transferor or transferee paid or received monetary compensation. Compensated transfers are those transfers that include monetary compensation for a part of or the whole value of the transferred Chinook salmon PSC allocation.

NMFS examines data reported for each transaction and tabulates the data to compare the amount of Chinook salmon PSC transferred in each transaction, number of transactions by vessel type (sector and AFA cooperative), and time intervals of the transfers in a season or year. NMFS also tabulates the average and variation in price paid for transactions by vessel operation type, sector, and AFA cooperative.

NMFS uses data from these collections to compare the annual, seasonal, and, where possible, trip-level and haul-level changes in the behavior of the pollock fleet by sector, cooperative, and vessel. The four AFA sectors are catcher/processor, mothership, inshore processor, and CDQ. NMFS allocates annual transferrable or non-transferrable Chinook salmon PSC to members of a qualifying catcher/processor sector, the mothership sector, inshore cooperatives, and CDQ groups. Chinook salmon PSC may be transferred between these entities and among members of each entity.

Information on the affiliation of transferor and transferee is used to determine the independence of the parties of any reported compensated transfer. This is required to differentiate market-based transactions and associated prices from transfer payments between affiliated or integrated entities. The majority of the respondents are vessels engaged in either catching or catching and processing pollock. Firms that also own inshore processing plants as well as catcher vessels and/or catcher/processors are ownership affiliated entities. Owners of inshore processing plants may also be familiar with specific Chinook salmon PSC transfers and are potential respondents for the CTR.

The Vessel Fuel Survey collects information on the estimated quantity and cost of all fuel consumed by each AFA vessel harvesting or processing pollock during the calendar year. This survey collects data on average fuel used fishing and transiting, and annual fuel use and costs. Data are reported on a vessel basis annually. These data, when used with existing data and data concerning Chinook salmon avoidance efforts, allow analysts to examine fuel use and costs associated with choices of fishing grounds and Chinook salmon PSC avoidance.

These data, combined with other information in the Chinook Salmon EDR Program, provide information on movements of a vessel to avoid Chinook salmon in order to minimize Chinook salmon PSC. Fuel use and price data are not available for vessels in the pollock fishery in any uniform format. NMFS applies fuel usage data to assess the extent to which fleet members are willing to incur these expenses to avoid Chinook salmon PSC. These data provide useful estimates of fuel usage for evaluating the effects of Amendment 91.

The Vessel Master Survey is a qualitative assessment survey that poses a series of questions to elicit vessel operator input on factors that influenced the vessel’s performance during the year. The questions in this survey are primarily qualitative questions concerning operator on-grounds impressions and choices made during the pollock season, including incentives, fishing location choices, and salmon PSC reduction measures.

Many masters compile notes in-season to be used for response to the specific survey at year-end. The burden associated with tracking vessel activity in order to complete the survey varies depending on the circumstances encountered during the year.

Information Requirements and Needs and Uses of Information Collected

Requirement	Statute	Regulation	Submission Method	Needs and Uses
Annual Chinook Salmon EDR	16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.	50 CFR 679.65	On-line via web form	Used by NMFS in annual reports and regulatory analysis. Used by Council staff and NMFS staff in evaluating effectiveness of BSAI FMP Amendment 91. Used by partnered researchers to conduct fishery economic research.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g. permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection. Also, describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden.

This collection is 100 percent electronic; the Chinook salmon EDR reports are all submitted online using the Pacific States economic data reporting web application at https://chinookedr.psmfc.org/.

Pacific States ensures compliance by emailing non-respondents to remind them of the requirement to complete the Chinook Salmon EDR. If necessary, a follow up email is sent as a further reminder. A referral to the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement can be used to enforce compliance; however, this action has not been necessary since the Chinook Salmon EDR program was enacted.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purposes described in Question 2.

None of the information collected as part of this information collection duplicates other collections. This information collection is part of a specialized and unique technical program.

5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities, describe any methods used to minimize burden.

This collection applies only to those entities that participate in the AFA directed pollock trawl fishery in the Bering Sea. The only small entities that are directly regulated by this action are the six CDQ organizations. If a CDQ group chooses to make or receive a compensated transfer of Chinook salmon PSC allocation, a representative of the CDQ group is required to complete some portion of the transfer report.

NMFS attempts to minimize the burden of this reporting requirement on all respondents, including directly regulated small entities, by allowing the online submission of this report. To date, no CDQ groups have submitted or contributed to a compensated transfer report. In addition, although the vessel owners are not considered small entities, NMFS has worked with them to reduce the burden by allowing multiple vessel masters to complete the Vessel Master Survey using the login credentials of one owner and by allowing multiple Vessel Fuel Survey responses in a single online submission.

6. Describe the consequence to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.

Chinook salmon caught in the pollock fishery are considered PSC under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the BSAI FMP, and NMFS regulations at 50 CFR part 679. National Standard 9 of the Magnuson-Stevens Act requires the Council to select, and NMFS to implement, conservation and management measures that, to the extent practicable, minimize bycatch and bycatch mortality.

The CTR in conjunction with data from IPA reports provides information on the number and characteristics of Chinook salmon PSC transfers. Without this data, NMFS will not be able to tell how vessels differ from each other in terms of efficient use of Chinook salmon PSC or of the costs of avoiding Chinook salmon PSC. Without this data, it will not be possible to determine if the trading of Chinook salmon PSC is occurring and, if it is occurring, what impact it may have on mitigating the impacts of Chinook salmon PSC limits.

Without the Vessel Master Survey, we will not understand the tradeoffs vessel masters made to avoid Chinook salmon. NMFS may not be able to detect if there is essential information missing in other survey or report data that is needed to evaluate the effect of the IPAs implemented by Amendment 91.

Without the Vessel Fuel Survey NMFS would not be able to apply fuel usage data to assess the extent to which fleet members are willing to incur these expenses to avoid Chinook salmon PSC. These data provide useful estimates of fuel usage for evaluating the effects of Amendment 91.

In February 2022, the Council received a Final Review Draft Regulatory Impact Review that was developed following a comprehensive review of the Chinook Salmon EDR, along with the three other Alaska Region/North Pacific EDR Programs. One of the issues that was addressed in the review of the EDRs is whether annual submission of data by each respondent continues to be necessary to provide the data needed to monitor and evaluate the Bering Sea pollock fishery. An option was specifically considered to change the frequency of the information collection from annually to either every other or every third year. The Council chose to retain annual EDR submission in all remaining EDRs (88 FR 7586, February 6, 2023). This decision was influenced by the fact that the agency and contractor infrastructure would likely have to be maintained annually, as would industry bookkeeping practices, resulting in little reduction in either recoverable agency costs or industry compliance costs. Concerns about data quality were also raised in that if an anomalous event occurred in a year when data is not collected the resulting impact to the analyst’s ability to evaluate economic impacts, to both fishery participants and fishery dependent communities would be severely constrained. An apt example of this risk specific to the BSAI crab rationalization program fisheries is the complete closure of the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery in 2022, and a nearly 90 percent reduction in the Bering Sea snow crab catch in 2022–23. Annual crab EDR data is instrumental in evaluating the overall impacts to participants and communities and in assessing any economic disaster declarations that may occur. Similarly, the Annual Trawl Catcher/Processor EDR will be instrumental in evaluating potential impacts that abundance based management of halibut prohibited species catch may have in the future on the Amendment 80 fleet.

7. Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with OMB guidelines.

This collection is conducted in a manner that is consistent with OMB guidelines.

8. If applicable, provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publications in the Federal Register of the agency's notice, required by 5 CFR 1320.8 (d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB. Summarize public comments received in response to that notice and describe actions taken by the agency in response to these comments. Specifically address comments received on cost and hour burden.

A Federal Register notice was published (90 FR 30822, July 11, 2025) to solicit public comment. The Federal Register notice requested that commenters (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. No comments regarding this information collection were received.

NOAA consulted with nine past respondents to this information collection to obtain their views on the accuracy of the burden estimate (time and cost) to comply with program requirements and whether there are paths to minimize the burden of these requirements, or any other aspect of these requirements. No comments were received.

9. Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

No payment or gift is provided under the Chinook Salmon EDR program.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy. If the collection requires a system of records notice (SORN) or privacy impact assessment (PIA), those should be cited and described here.

The data requested in the Chinook Salmon EDR includes detailed proprietary information provided by firms and individuals, as well as personally identifiable information and business identifiable information. These data are considered confidential under section 402(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and under NOAA Administrative Order 216-100, which sets forth procedures to protect confidentiality of fishery statistics. The confidential EDR data can only be released to the public in aggregated and non-confidential form. Access to EDR data is tightly controlled under numerous provisions of statute, regulation, and administrative order.

The Code of Federal Regulations (50 CFR 600.415) specifies that access to confidential data collected by NMFS is restricted to the following:

♦ Federal and Council employees responsible for collection and maintenance of the data, FMP development, monitoring or enforcement, or performing research that requires access to confidential statistics, or on a demonstrable need-to-know basis.

♦ NOAA/NMFS contractors or grantees who require access to confidential statistics to perform functions authorized by a Federal contract or grant.

♦ State personnel who demonstrate a need for confidential statistics for use in fishery conservation and management, provided that the State has entered an agreement to protect confidential data to a standard comparable to that required by the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

The regulations further provide for granting access to Council members under conditions that are unlikely to be met in the case of these Chinook Salmon EDR data, and individual submitters may request that their own records be released to themselves or a third party.

In addition, the confidential proprietary data collected in this Chinook Salmon EDR meet the definition of trade secrets as defined in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552), and Trade Secrets Act (18 U.S.C. 1905), and as such are exempted from disclosure of raw, un-aggregated data under FOIA. All individuals who are determined to be authorized for access to confidential data are required to sign and submit a nondisclosure agreement, affirming the user's understanding of NMFS’ obligations with respect to confidential data and the penalties for unauthorized use and disclosure. NOAA Administrative Order 216-100 is the principal legal guidance for NMFS’ employees on specific protocols for handling confidential data, including definitions, policies, operational responsibilities and procedures, penalties, and statutory authorities and requirements.

The system of records notice that covers this information collection is COMMERCE/NOAA #16, Economic Data Reports for Alaska Federally Regulated Fisheries off the Coast of Alaska. Consistent with OMB’s guidance implementing the Privacy Act of 1974, “an agency record-keeping system on firms it regulates may contain “records” (i.e., personal information) about officers of the firm incident to evaluating the firm’s performance.  Even though these are clearly “records” under the “control of” an agency, they would not be considered part of a system as defined by the Act unless the agency accessed them by reference to a personal identifier (name, etc.).  That is, if these hypothetical “records” are never retrieved except by reference to company identifier or some other nonpersonal indexing scheme (e.g., type of firm) they are not a part of a system of records.”  This guidance speaks directly to this scenario and suggests that while the information system certainly will collect and maintain personally identifiable information (PII), they are not maintained in a system of records.

The Privacy Impact Assessment that covers this information collection is NOAA NMFS Alaska Region Local Area Network (NOAA4700).

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior or attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private. This justification should include the reasons why the agency considers the questions necessary, the specific uses to be made of the information, the explanation to be given to persons from whom the information is requested, and any steps to be taken to obtain their consent.

This information collection does not involve information of a sensitive nature.

12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information.

The Chinook Salmon EDR applies to all entities that receive pollock allocations under the AFA. The designated Data Collection Agent, Pacific States, maintains a database of survey submissions. Each submission constitutes a single response with completion of the CTR estimated at 40 hours due to its length while the Vessel Fuel Survey and the Vessel Master Survey are estimated to require 4 hours to complete. The estimated time per response includes time to respond to the data verification process if necessary. Due to low Chinook salmon encounters in the pollock fishery and low Chinook salmon abundance, compensated transfers have not occurred in recent years and are not expected to occur over the 3-year extension period of this collection. This collection is estimated to have a total number of annual responses of 151 with total burden hours of 640 resulting in a total annual wage burden cost of $27,565. Responses will vary from year to year depending on fishing effort, which has declined in the Alaska pollock fishery in recent years due to poor fishing conditions with the fleet experiencing very small fish not suitable for fillet production and fish being more widely dispersed.

Information Collection	Type of Respondent (e.g., Occupational Title)	# of Respondents/year (a)	Annual # of Responses / Respondent (b)	Total # of Annual Responses* (c) = (a) x (b)	Burden Hrs / Response (d)	Total Annual Burden Hrs (e) = (c) x (d)	Hourly Wage Rate** (for Type of Respondent) (f)	Total Annual Wage Burden Costs (g) = (e) x (f)
Compensated Transfer Report	Accountant/Manager	1	1	1	40	40	$43.07	$1,723
Vessel Fuel Survey	Accountant/ Manager	53	1	53	4	212	$43.07	$9,131
Vessel Master Survey	Accountant/Manager	97	1	97	4	388	$43.07	$16,711
Totals				151		640		$27,565

* Estimates are based on actual reporting.

** Accountant/manager staff complete the EDR form and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupation code 13-2011 (Accountants and Auditors) mean average wage rate of $43.07 for Alaska is used to estimate burden hour respondent costs. The wage rate used is the most current rate available (May 2024) on the BLS website: https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0200000.

13. Provide an estimate for the total annual cost burden to respondents or record keepers resulting from the collection of information. (Do not include the cost of any hour burden already reflected on the burden worksheet).

There are no capital/start-up or ongoing operation/maintenance costs associated with this information collection, as it is an extension of an existing collection, and equipment used is customary business equipment.

This collection does not require additional recordkeeping burden or additional record-keepers, as records already customarily maintained are used to complete the forms. This collection may involve the use of photocopying, faxes, mail, and online access estimated to be approximately $5 per respondent.

Information Collection	# of Respondents/year (a)	Annual # of Responses / Respondent (b)	Total # of Annual Responses (c) = (a) x (b)	Cost Burden / Respondent (h)	Total Annual Cost Burden (i) = (c) x (h)
Compensated Transfer Report	1	1	1	$0	0
Vessel Fuel Survey	53	1	53	Operating Costs: $5	$265
Vessel Master Survey	97	1	97	Operating Costs: $5	$485
TOTALS	151		151		$750

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government. Also, provide a description of the method used to estimate cost, which should include quantification of hours, operational expenses (such as equipment, overhead, printing, and support staff), and any other expense that would not have been incurred without this collection of information.

NMFS costs associated with data collection for the Chinook Salmon EDR are recoverable through program cost recovery fees. Under this cost recovery program, NMFS is authorized to collect direct program costs from the permit holders, including agency costs for administration of mandatory recordkeeping and reporting requirements associated with the limited access privilege program. Therefore, the estimated Federal oversight and contractor costs associated with administration of the Chinook Salmon EDR shown in the table below do not impose a cost on the Federal Government.

These costs are actual costs for a Federal oversight economist’s proportion of time applied to this collection within the overall EDR Program. Costs for the contracted services of the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission administration of data collection are based on a firm fixed prices mechanism and are inclusive of salaries, fringe benefits, supplies, and other miscellaneous costs.

The Commerce Alternative Personnel System (CAPS) pay tables at https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2024-01/CAPS_rpStandard_2024.pdf were used to determine the base salary for a ZP-III Interval 3. A multiplier of 1.5 was used to calculate the loaded salary.

Section 303A(c)(9)(e) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act authorizes NMFS to implement a fee on the permit holders in the AFA Program to recover the costs of management, data collection and analyses, and enforcement activities for the program. The Chinook Salmon EDR falls under the category of costs that are recovered from participants in the AFA Program. Under this program, all Federal and contractor costs for the Chinook Salmon EDR are recovered and deposited into the U.S. Treasury. Therefore, the costs to the Federal government for this information collection program are zero.

Cost Descriptions	Grade/Step	Loaded Salary /Cost	% of Effort	Fringe (if Applicable)	Total Cost to Government
Federal Oversight	ZP III/03	$191,547	10		$19,155
Other Federal Positions
Contractor Cost					63,378
Travel
Other Costs:
TOTAL					01

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in ROCIS.

There are no changes to this collection of information.

16. For collections of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication. Address any complex analytical techniques that will be used. Provide the time schedule for the entire project, including beginning and ending dates of the collection of information, completion of report, publication dates, and other actions.

The information collected will not be published. Information derived from the collected data will be disseminated to the public consistent with applicable requirements for nondisclosure of confidential information or used to support publicly disseminated information. NMFS will retain control over the information and safeguard it from improper access, modification, and destruction, consistent with NOAA standards for confidentiality, privacy, and electronic information. See Question 10 of this Supporting Statement for more information on confidentiality and privacy. The information collection is designed to yield data that meet all applicable information quality guidelines. Prior to dissemination, the information will be subjected to quality control measures and a pre-dissemination review pursuant to Section 515 of Public Law 106-554.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.

The agency plans to display the expiration data for OMB approval of the information collection on all instruments.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions."

The agency certifies compliance with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).

1 As indicated above, the Chinook Salmon EDR is subject to cost recovery. These costs are the program costs estimated over the next three years. These costs are recovered annually from industry; thus, the actual cost to the Federal government is zero, as indicated in the total.

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