Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 45 / Tuesday, March 8, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 12607 

vessels in accordance with the FMP 

appear at subpart H of 50 CFR part 600 

and 50 CFR part 679. 

In accordance with 

§ 679.22(a)(7)(i)(C), the Administrator, 

Alaska Region, NMFS (Regional 

Administrator), has determined that 113 

metric tons of Pacific cod have been 

caught by catcher vessels less than 60 ft 

LOA using jig or hook-and-line gear in 

the Bogoslof exemption area described 

at § 679.22(a)(7)(i)(C)(1). Consequently, 

the Regional Administrator is 

prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific 

cod by catcher vessels less than 60 ft 

(18.3 m) LOA using jig or hook-and-line 

gear in the Bogoslof Pacific cod 

exemption area. 

After the effective date of this closure 

the maximum retainable amounts at 

§ 679.20(e) and (f) apply at any time 

during a trip. 

Classification 

This action responds to the best 

available information recently obtained 

from the fishery. The Assistant 

Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA 

(AA), finds good cause to waive the 

requirement to provide prior notice and 

opportunity for public comment 

pursuant to the authority set forth at 5 

U.S.C. 553(b)(B) as such requirement is 

impracticable and contrary to the public 

interest. This requirement is 

impracticable and contrary to the public 

interest as it would prevent NMFS from 

responding to the most recent fisheries 

data in a timely fashion and would 

delay the closure of Pacific cod by 

catcher vessels less than 60 ft LOA 

using jig or hook-and-line gear in the 

Bogoslof Pacific cod exemption area. 

NMFS was unable to publish a notice 

providing time for public comment 

because the most recent, relevant data 

only became available as of March 2, 

2011. 

The AA also finds good cause to 

waive the 30-day delay in the effective 

date of this action under 5 U.S.C. 

553(d)(3). This finding is based upon 

the reasons provided above for waiver of 

prior notice and opportunity for public 

comment. 

This action is required by § 679.22 

and is exempt from review under 

Executive Order 12866. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 

Dated: March 3, 2011. 

Emily H. Menashes, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2011–5224 Filed 3–3–11; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 679 

[Docket No. 101126521–0640–02] 

RIN 0648–XA262 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of 

Pollock in the Bering Sea and Aleutian 

Islands 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule. 

SUMMARY: NMFS is reallocating the 

projected unused amounts of the Aleut 

Corporation’s pollock directed fishing 

allowance and the Community 

Development Quota from the Aleutian 

Islands subarea to the Bering Sea 

subarea directed fisheries. These actions 

are necessary to provide opportunity for 

harvest of the 2011 total allowable catch 

of pollock, consistent with the goals and 

objectives of the Fishery Management 

Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea 

and Aleutian Islands Management Area. 

DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local 

time (A.l.t.), March 8, 2011, until 2400 

A.l.t., December 31, 2011, unless 

otherwise modified or superseded 

through publication of a notification in 

the Federal Register. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Obren Davis, 907–586–7228. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS 

manages the groundfish fishery in the 

Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) 

exclusive economic zone according to 

the Fishery Management Plan for 

Groundfish of the Bering Sea and 

Aleutian Islands Management Area 

(FMP) prepared by the North Pacific 

Fishery Management Council (Council) 

under authority of the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act. Regulations governing 

fishing by U.S. vessels in accordance 

with the FMP appear at subpart H of 50 

CFR part 600 and 50 CFR part 679. 

In the Aleutian Islands subarea, the 

portion of the 2011 pollock total 

allowable catch (TAC) allocated to the 

Aleut Corporation’s directed fishing 

allowance (DFA) is 15,500 metric tons 

(mt) and the Community Development 

Quota (CDQ) is 1,900 mt as established 

by the final 2011 and 2012 harvest 

specifications for groundfish in the 

BSAI (76 FR 11139, March 1, 2011). 

As of March 1, 2011, the 

Administrator, Alaska Region, NMFS, 

(Regional Administrator) has 

determined that 12,500 mt of Aleut 

Corporation’s DFA and 1,900 mt of 

pollock CDQ in the Aleutian Islands 

subarea will not be harvested. 

Therefore, in accordance with 

§ 679.20(a)(5)(iii)(B)(4), NMFS 

reallocates 12,500 mt of Aleut 

Corporation’s DFA and 1,900 mt of 

pollock CDQ from the Aleutian Islands 

subarea to the 2011 Bering Sea subarea 

allocations. The 1,900 mt of pollock 

CDQ is added to the 2011 Bering Sea 

CDQ DFA. The remaining 12,500 mt of 

pollock is apportioned to the Bering Sea 

subarea by AFA sector. The AFA 

Inshore sector receives 6,250 mt (50 

percent), the AFA catcher/processor 

sector receives 5,000 mt (40 percent), 

and the AFA mothership sector receives 

1,250 mt (10 percent). The 2011 pollock 

incidental catch allowance remains at 

33,804 mt. As a result, the harvest 

specifications for pollock in the 

Aleutian Islands subarea included in the 

final harvest 2011 and 2012 

specifications for groundfish in the 

BSAI (76 FR 11139, March 1, 2011) are 

revised as follows. For the Aleutian 

Islands subarea, 3,000 mt to Aleut 

Corporation’s DFA and 0 mt to CDQ 

pollock. Furthermore, pursuant to 

§ 679.20(a)(5), Table 3 of the final 2011 

and 2012 harvest specifications for 

groundfish in the BSAI (76 FR 11139, 

March 1, 2011) is revised to make 2011 

pollock allocations consistent with this 

reallocation. This reallocation results in 

proportional adjustments to the 2011 

Aleut Corporation and CDQ pollock 

allocations established at § 679.20(a)(5). 


emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with RULES
12608 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 45 / Tuesday, March 8, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 

TABLE 3—FINAL 2011 AND 2012 ALLOCATIONS OF POLLOCK TACS TO THE DIRECTED POLLOCK FISHERIES AND TO THE

CDQ DIRECTED FISHING ALLOWANCES (DFA) 1

[All amounts in metric tons] 

Area and sector 2011 

allocations 

2011 A season 1 2011 B 

season 1

2012 

Allocations 

2012 A season 1 2012 B 

season 1

A season 

DFA 

SCA 

harvest 

limit 2

B season 

DFA 

A season 

DFA 

SCA 

harvest 

limit 2

B season 

DFA 

Bering Sea subarea .......................................... 1,266,400 n/a n/a n/a 1,253,658 n/a n/a n/a 

CDQ DFA .......................................................... 127,100 50,840 35,588 76,260 125,366 50,146 35,102 75,219 

ICA1 .................................................................. 33,804 n/a n/a n/a 33,849 n/a n/a n/a 

AFA Inshore ...................................................... 552,748 221,099 154,769 331,649 547,222 218,889 153,222 328,333 

AFA Catcher/Processors 3 ................................ 442,198 176,879 123,816 265,319 437,777 175,111 122,578 262,666 

Catch by C/Ps ................................................... 404,612 161,845 n/a 242,767 400,566 160,227 n/a 240,340 

Catch by CVs 3 .................................................. 37,587 15,035 n/a 22,552 37,211 14,884 n/a 22,327 

Unlisted C/P Limit 4 ........................................... 2,211 884 n/a 1,327 2,189 876 n/a 1,313 

AFA Motherships ............................................... 110,550 44,220 30,954 66,330 109,444 43,778 30,644 65,667 

Excessive Harvesting Limit 5 ............................. 193,462 n/a n/a n/a 191,528 n/a n/a n/a 

Excessive Processing Limit 6 ............................ 331,649 n/a n/a n/a 328,333 n/a n/a n/a 

Total Bering Sea DFA ....................................... 1,105,496 442,198 309,539 663,298 1,094,443 437,777 306,444 656,666 

Aleutian Islands subarea 1 ................................ 4,600 n/a n/a n/a 19,000 n/a n/a n/a 

CDQ DFA .......................................................... 0 0 n/a 0 1,900 760 n/a 1,140 

ICA .................................................................... 1,600 800 n/a 800 1,600 800 n/a 800 

Aleut Corporation .............................................. 3,000 3,000 n/a 0 15,500 15,500 n/a 0 

Bogoslof District ICA7 ....................................... 150 n/a n/a n/a 150 n/a n/a n/a 

1Pursuant to § 679.20(a)(5)(i)(A), the Bering Sea subarea pollock, after subtraction for the CDQ DFA (10 percent) and the ICA (3 percent), is allocated as a DFA as 

follows: inshore sector—50 percent, catcher/processor sector (C/P)—40 percent, and mothership sector—10 percent. In the Bering Sea subarea, 40 percent of the 

DFA is allocated to the A season (January 20–June 10) and 60 percent of the DFA is allocated to the B season (June 10–November 1). Pursuant to 

§ 679.20(a)(5)(iii)(B)(2)(i) and (ii), the annual AI pollock TAC, after subtracting first for the CDQ directed fishing allowance (10 percent) and second the ICA (1,600 mt), 

is allocated to the Aleut Corporation for a directed pollock fishery. In the AI subarea, the A season is allocated 40 percent of the ABC and the B season is allocated 

the remainder of the directed pollock fishery. 2 In the Bering Sea subarea, no more than 28 percent of each sector’s annual DFA may be taken from the SCA before April 1. The remaining 12 percent of the annual DFA allocated to the A season may be taken outside of SCA before April 1 or inside the SCA after April 1. If less than 28 percent of the annual DFA is taken inside the SCA before April 1, the remainder will be available to be taken inside the SCA after April 1. 3Pursuant to § 679.20(a)(5)(i)(A)(4), not less than 8.5 percent of the DFA allocated to listed catcher/processors shall be available for harvest only by eligible catcher 

vessels delivering to listed catcher/processors. 4Pursuant to § 679.20(a)(5)(i)(A)(4)(iii), the AFA unlisted catcher/processors are limited to harvesting not more than 0.5 percent of the catcher/processors sector’s 

allocation of pollock. 5Pursuant to § 679.20(a)(5)(i)(A)(6), NMFS establishes an excessive harvesting share limit equal to 17.5 percent of the sum of the non-CDQ pollock DFAs. 6Pursuant to § 679.20(a)(5)(i)(A)(7), NMFS establishes an excessive processing share limit equal to 30.0 percent of the sum of the non-CDQ pollock DFAs. 

7The Bogoslof District is closed by the final harvest specifications to directed fishing for pollock. The amounts specified are for ICA only and are not apportioned by 

season or sector. 

Classification 

This action responds to the best 

available information recently obtained 

from the fishery. The Assistant 

Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA 

(AA), finds good cause to waive the 

requirement to provide prior notice and 

opportunity for public comment 

pursuant to the authority set forth at 5 

U.S.C. 553(b)(B) as such requirement is 

impracticable and contrary to the public 

interest. This requirement is 

impracticable and contrary to the public 

interest as it would prevent NMFS from 

responding to the most recent fisheries 

data in a timely fashion and would 

delay the reallocation of AI pollock. 

Since the pollock fishery is currently 

open, it is important to immediately 

inform the industry as to the final 

Bering Sea subarea pollock allocations. 

Immediate notification is necessary to 

allow for the orderly conduct and 

efficient operation of this fishery; allow 

the industry to plan for the fishing 

season and avoid potential disruption to 

the fishing fleet as well as processors; 

and provide opportunity to harvest 

increased seasonal pollock allocations 

while value is optimum. NMFS was 

unable to publish a notice providing 

time for public comment because the 

most recent, relevant data only became 

available as of March 2, 2011. 

The AA also finds good cause to 

waive the 30-day delay in the effective 

date of this action under 5 U.S.C. 

553(d)(3). This finding is based upon 

the reasons provided above for waiver of 

prior notice and opportunity for public 

comment. 

This action is required by § 679.20 

and is exempt from review under 

Executive Order 12866. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 

Dated: March 3, 2011. 

Emily H. Menashes, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2011–5234 Filed 3–7–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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