
[Federal Register: August 10, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 153)]
[Notices]               
[Page 48357-48359]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10au10-64]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[USCG-2010-0231]

 
Collection of Information Under Review by Office of Management 
and Budget; OMB Control Number: 1625-0089

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Thirty-day Notice requesting comments; correction.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Coast Guard is issuing a correction to a Federal 
Register Notice published on July 9, 2010 to extend the comment period 
for ten (10) additional days, and address previous comments received on 
this collection of information: 1625-0089, National Recreational 
Boating Survey. The Notice stated that no comments were received from 
the public when in fact we received four. The comment period for the 
Notice, which closes August 9, 2010, is now extended to August 19, 
2010. All comments and related material must either be submitted to our 
online docket via http://www.regulations.gov on or before August 19, 
2010, or reach the Docket Management Facility (DMF) by that date.

DATES: Please submit comments on or before August 19, 2010.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket 
number [USCG-2010-0231] to the DMF at the U.S. Department of 
Transportation (DOT) or to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs (OIRA). To avoid duplicate submissions, please use only one of 
the following means:
    (1) Online: (a) To Coast Guard docket at http://www.regulation.gov. 
(b) To OIRA by e-mail via: oira_submission@omb.eop.gov.
    (2) Mail or Hand delivery. (a) DMF (M-30), DOT, West Building 
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 
20590-0001. Hand deliver between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone number is 202-
366-9329. (b) To OIRA, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503, 
attention Desk Officer for the Coast Guard.
    (3) Fax. (a) To DMF, 202-493-2251. (b) To OIRA at 202-395-5806. To 
ensure your comments are received in a timely manner, mark the fax, 
attention Desk Officer for the Coast Guard.
    The DMF maintains the public docket for this Notice. Comments and 
material received from the public, as well as documents mentioned in 
this Notice as being available in the docket, will become part of the 
docket and will be available for inspection or copying at room W12-140 
on the West Building Ground Floor, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays. You may also find the docket on the Internet 
at http://www.regulations.gov.
    A copy of the ICR is available through the docket on the Internet 
at http://www.regulations.gov. Additionally, copies are available from: 
Commandant (CG-611), ATTN Paperwork Reduction Act Manager, U.S. Coast 
Guard, 2100 2nd St., SW., Stop 7101, Washington, DC 20593-7101.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Arthur Requina, Office of 
Information Management, telephone 202-475-3523, or fax 202-475-3929, 
for questions on these documents. Contact Ms. Renee V. Wright, Program 
Manager, Docket Operations, 202-366-9826, for questions on the docket.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Coast Guard is issuing this correction 
to an earlier Notice published on July 9, 2010, (75 FR 39552) in order 
to extend ten (10) additional days to the comment period and address 
previous comments received on this collection of information: 1625-
0089, National Recreational Boating Survey.
    Comments to Coast Guard or OIRA must contain the OMB Control Number 
of the ICR. They must also contain the docket number of this request, 
[USCG-2010-0231]. For your comments to OIRA to be considered, it is 
best if they are received on or before August 19, 2010.
    Public participation and request for comments: We encourage you to 
respond to this request by submitting comments and related materials. 
We will post all comments received, without change, to http://
www.regulations.gov. They will include any personal information you 
provide. We have an agreement with DOT to use their DMF. Please see the 
``Privacy Act'' paragraph below.
    Submitting comments: If you submit a comment, please include the 
docket number [USCG-2010-0231], indicate the specific section of the 
document to which each comment applies, providing a reason for each 
comment. You may submit your comments and material online (via http://
www.regulations.gov) or by fax, mail, or hand delivery, but please use 
only one of these means. If you submit a comment online via 
www.regulations.gov, it will be considered received when you 
successfully transmit the comment. If you fax, hand deliver, or mail 
your comment, it will be considered received by the Coast Guard when it 
is received at the DMF. We recommend you include your name, mailing 
address, an e-mail address, or other contact information in the body of 
your document so that we can contact you if we have questions regarding 
your submission.
    To submit your comment online, go to http://www.regulations.gov, 
click on the ``submit a comment'' box, which will then become 
highlighted in blue. In the ``Document Type'' drop down menu, select 
``Notices'' and insert ``USCG-2010-0231'' in the ``Keyword'' box. Click 
``Search'' then click on the balloon shape in the ``Actions'' column. 
If you submit your comments by mail or hand delivery, submit them in an 
unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for 
copying and electronic filing. If you submit them by mail and would 
like to know that they reached the Facility, please enclose a stamped, 
self-addressed postcard or envelope. We will consider all comments and 
material received during the comment period and address them 
accordingly.
    Viewing comments and documents: Go to http://www.regulations.gov to 
view documents mentioned in this Notice as being available in the 
docket. Click on the ``read comments'' box, which will then become 
highlighted in blue. In the ``Keyword'' box insert ``USCG-2010-0231'' 
and click ``Search.'' Click the ``Open Docket Folder'' in the 
``Actions'' column. You may also visit the DMF in room W12-140 on the 
West Building Ground Floor, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, 
between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays. To find out OIRA's decision on this ICR, visit http://
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain after the comment period. An OMB 
notice of action on this request will become available on that Web site 
through a hyperlink in the OMB Control Number: 1625-0089. Privacy Act: 
Anyone can search the electronic form of all comments received in 
dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or 
signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, 
business, labor union, etc.). You may review the Privacy Act statement 
regarding our public dockets in the

[[Page 48358]]

January 17, 2008 issue of the Federal Register (73 FR 3316).

Previous Request for Comments

    The Coast Guard published the 60-day Notice (75 FR 19413, April 14, 
2010) as required by 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2). That Notice elicited four 
comments from the public. We diligently reviewed each of the comments 
received, and made changes to our survey's supporting statement where 
deemed appropriate. The present document provides a summary of public 
comments, our responses thereto, and changes made to the supporting 
statement.

i. General Supportive Comments

    All comments supported the National Recreational Boating Survey's 
broad goals, and reiterated the importance of collecting more targeted 
data in response to the elements included in the National Recreational 
Boating Safety (NRBS) Program's strategic plan. This Plan calls for the 
collection of participation/exposure data to develop reliable national 
and state level measures of the risk incidental to recreational 
boating. Valid comparisons of injury or fatality rates across States or 
other geographic entities, which have always been of interest, require 
the use of participation/exposure data as common base for calculating 
rates' denominators. This survey will make exposure data available to 
the boating community, in addition to collecting various other boating 
participation data broken down by various boat characteristics 
including type and length.

ii. The Survey and the Strategic Plan Objectives

    One commenter indicated that the current survey does not account 
for the more recent developments in the NRBS strategic planning 
efforts. While it is accurate that the NRBS strategic plan is 
undergoing some changes, the Coast Guard had to base the design of its 
survey on the latest version of the Plan that was adopted by the 
National Boating Safety Advisory Council. However, it is expected that 
subsequent iterations of the survey will be updated as new versions of 
the Plan are adopted.

iii. Survey Costs

    A number of comments raised a concern that the cost for conducting 
this survey was unduly high, suggesting the questionnaires could be 
trimmed substantially to the point of collecting only information that 
is critical to the implementation of the NRBS strategic plan. It is 
accurate that government surveys are increasingly expensive, especially 
when conducted by mail/telephone. But the definitive costs of the 2011 
survey have not yet been determined, and will ultimately be negotiated 
with the Coast Guard's contractor ICF-Macro. The Coast Guard will 
negotiate the lowest price possible for each survey iteration without 
significantly altering data requirements as specified by its boating 
partners from States, academia, and industry. To reduce survey costs, 
the Coast Guard will encourage survey participants to take the web 
version of the survey whenever possible. Another option for reducing 
cost is not to produce state-level statistics for those not providing 
registration data to the Coast Guard. Collecting data in States with 
legislation that precludes them from releasing boat registration to the 
Coast Guard will increase data collection costs dramatically. However, 
it appears essential to the Coast Guard to satisfy all its boating 
partners who put in the effort to express their data needs.

iv. Collection of 2010 Data

    Some comments indicated that Coast Guard's effort to collect 2010 
data in the first survey cycle, where participants will have to recall 
a year's worth of information will result in poor data quality. It is 
accurate that in addition to collecting the 2011 data on a monthly 
basis, the Coast Guard will ask questions regarding the 2010 boating 
season. While accurate 2010 exposure data will be difficult to obtain, 
the Coast Guard expects to be able to collect accurate and useful 2010 
information on boat ownership and demographic data on the boating 
population. This data will be compiled and made available much faster 
than the 2011 data which will be collected until the beginning of 2012.

v. Miscellaneous

    [diams] A commenter pointed out the difficulty most boaters have in 
identifying life jacket types they use. The Coast Guard's contractor 
discovered this problem during the pilot test. The decision was made to 
eliminate the lifejacket type question from the telephone survey. 
However, this question will remain on the web version of the trip 
survey, where respondents will be able to visualize the different 
lifejacket types.
    [diams] Another comment questioned the need to ask boaters whether 
lifejackets were worn during the outing, when the Coast Guard's 
observational study collects the same information. This survey is not 
duplicating other Coast Guard information collection efforts. The 
objective here is to understand the reasons why boaters do not wear 
lifejackets, or the reasons why they wear them when they do.
    [diams] A comment was made regarding the estimated time to complete 
the different survey questionnaires that may be understated. While 
survey questionnaires were field-tested by our contractor, times 
reported on the Supporting Statement are estimated averages across 
questionnaires and across survey respondents. It is understood that 
some survey questionnaires will take longer to complete than others. 
Moreover, even respondents taking the same survey will spend varying 
amounts of time depending on the information being reported. It is 
anticipated that some respondents with limited involvement in boating 
may take less than five minutes to complete a questionnaire that may 
take 15 to 20 minutes for respondents who are heavy boaters.

Information Collection Request

    Title: National Recreational Boating Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 1625-0089.
    Type of Request: Re-instatement with change.
    Respondents: Recreational boating participants/owners of 
recreational boaters/vessels.
    Abstract: The Federal Boat Safety Act of 1971 determines the 
framework of the Coast Guard Recreational Boating Safety Program. This 
Program, as set forth in 46 U.S.C., Chapter 131, requires the Coast 
Guard to ``encourage greater State participation and uniformity in 
boating safety efforts, and particularly to permit the States to assume 
a greater share of boating safety education, assistance, and 
enforcement activities.'' (See 46 U.S.C. 13102.) The Coast Guard Office 
of Boating Safety achieves these goals by providing timely and relevant 
information on subject activities that occur in each respective 
jurisdiction. The boating information provided by the Coast Guard 
enables each State agency to tailor and implement safety initiatives 
addressing specific needs of boaters in local jurisdictions. The 
primary objective of this collection is to provide the Coast Guard with 
the required information in a format suitable to effectively manage the 
Program.
    Forms: None.
    Burden Estimate: This is a biennial requirement. In the year the 
survey is conducted, the burden is estimated to be 10,880 hours.

     Authority:  The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35, as amended.


[[Page 48359]]


    Dated: August 3, 2010.
R.E. Day,
Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Assistant Commandant for Command, 
Control, Communications, Computers and Information Technology.
[FR Doc. 2010-19632 Filed 8-9-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110-04-P

