[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 49 (Monday, March 14, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 13593-13596]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-5854]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 680

RIN 0648-AY33


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea 
and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Program; Amendment 34

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability of a proposed amendment to a fishery 
management plan; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council submitted 
Amendment 34 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian 
Islands King and Tanner Crabs to NMFS for review. If approved, 
Amendment 34 would amend the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab 
Rationalization Program to exempt additional recipients of crab quota 
share from Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod and pollock harvest limits, 
called sideboards, which apply to some vessels and license limitation 
program licenses that are used to participate in these fisheries. The 
North Pacific Fishery Management Council determined that these 
additional recipients demonstrated a sufficient level of historical 
participation in Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod or pollock fisheries, and 
that they should be exempt from the current sideboards. This action is 
necessary to give these recipients an opportunity to participate in the 
Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod and pollock fisheries at historical levels. 
This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Fishery 
Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs, 
and other applicable laws.

DATES: Comments on the amendment must be submitted on or before May 13, 
2011.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Dr. James Balsiger, Regional Administrator, 
Alaska Region, NMFS, Attn: Ellen Sebastian. You may submit comments, 
identified by ``RIN 0648-AY33,'' by any one of the following methods:
    <bullet> Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal Web site at http://www.regulations.gov.
    <bullet> Mail: P. O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802.
    <bullet> Fax: 907-586-7557.
    <bullet> Hand Delivery to the Federal Building: 709 West 9th 
Street, Room 420A, Juneau, AK.
    All comments received are a part of the public record. No comments 
will be posted to http://www.regulations.gov for public viewing until 
after the comment period has closed. Comments will generally be posted 
without change. All personal identifying information (e.g., name, 
address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly 
accessible. Do not submit confidential business information or 
otherwise sensitive or protected information.
    NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required 
fields, if you wish to remain anonymous). Attachments to electronic 
comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or 
Adobe portable document file (pdf) formats only.
    Electronic copies of Amendment 34 to the Fishery Management Plan 
for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner

[[Page 13594]]

Crabs, the Environmental Assessment, the Regulatory Impact Review, and 
the Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis prepared for this action 
are available from http://www.regulations.gov or from the NMFS Alaska 
Region Web site at http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov. The Environmental 
Impact Statement, Regulatory Impact Review, Final Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis, and Social Impact Assessment prepared for the 
Crab Rationalization Program are available from the NMFS Alaska Region 
Web site at http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rachel Baker, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires that each regional 
fishery management council submit any fishery management plan amendment 
it prepares to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or partial 
approval by the Secretary of Commerce. The Magnuson-Stevens Act also 
requires that NMFS, upon receiving a fishery management plan amendment, 
immediately publish a notice in the Federal Register announcing that 
the amendment is available for public review and comment. This notice 
announces that proposed Amendment 34 to the Fishery Management Plan for 
Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs (Crab FMP) is 
available for public review and comment.
    The king and Tanner crab fisheries in the exclusive economic zone 
of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) are managed under the 
Crab FMP. The groundfish fisheries in the exclusive economic zone of 
the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) are managed under the Fishery Management Plan 
for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska. The North Pacific Fishery 
Management Council (Council) prepared the Crab FMP and the Fishery 
Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska under the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act. Amendments 18 and 19 amended the Crab FMP to 
include the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization 
Program (CR Program). Regulations implementing Amendments 18 and 19 
were published on March 2, 2005 (70 FR 10174), and are located at 50 
CFR part 680. Regulations governing GOA groundfish fisheries are 
located at 50 CFR part 679.
    The CR Program allocates BSAI crab resources among harvesters, 
processors, and coastal communities. The CR Program is a limited access 
privilege program for nine BSAI crab fisheries, in which participants 
receive exclusive harvesting and processing privileges for a portion of 
the total allowable catch (TAC) assigned to each crab fishery in the CR 
Program.
    Under the CR Program, persons received quota share (QS) based on 
their historical participation in one or more of the CR Program crab 
fisheries during a specific time period. Quota share represents an 
exclusive but revocable privilege to receive an annual allocation to 
harvest a specific percentage of the TAC from a CR Program fishery. 
NMFS allocated QS to eligible harvesters in 2005, prior to the first 
year of crab fishing under the CR Program. Each year, a person who 
holds crab QS and submits a timely and complete crab permit application 
to NMFS receives an exclusive harvest privilege for a portion of the 
annual TAC for that crab fishery. This harvest privilege, called 
individual fishing quota (IFQ), is the annual allocation of pounds of 
crab for harvest that represent a QS holder's percentage of the TAC. 
Crab QS holders may form voluntary crab harvesting cooperatives to 
combine and cooperatively manage their aggregate QS holdings. Each 
cooperative that is approved by NMFS receives the amount of cooperative 
IFQ yielded by the aggregate QS holdings of all of the members of the 
cooperative.
    The Council anticipated that crab harvesting cooperatives would 
significantly increase operating flexibility for crab fishermen because 
they could choose when and where to fish for IFQ. Crab fishermen in 
cooperatives also could potentially reduce costs by harvesting crab 
IFQs on fewer vessels during an extended season. The Council was 
concerned that increased flexibility for BSAI crab fishermen could give 
them an incentive to increase effort in other fisheries, which could 
economically disadvantage other participants in these fisheries.
    The Council developed sideboards to prevent Bering Sea snow crab 
(Chionoecetes opilio) quota share recipients from increasing their 
participation in GOA groundfish fisheries, particularly in the GOA 
Pacific cod fishery. However, in order to enable those Bering Sea snow 
crab quota share recipients who also had significant participation in, 
or dependence on, the GOA Pacific cod fishery to maintain historical 
participation levels, the Council exempted certain qualified vessels 
and license limitation program (LLP) licenses from the GOA Pacific cod 
sideboard.
    The CR Program's GOA groundfish sideboards were implemented in 
2006. Under current regulations, CR Program sideboard limits apply to 
vessels that: (1) Harvest any species of GOA groundfish with the 
exception of sablefish harvested with fixed gear; (2) are not 
authorized to conduct directed fishing for pollock under the American 
Fisheries Act (AFA) of 1998 (Public Law 105-277, Title II of Division 
C); and (3) meet one or both of the following criteria: (a) Made a 
legal landing of Bering Sea snow crab between January 1, 1996, and 
December 31, 2000, that generated any amount of Bering Sea snow crab 
QS; or (b) are named on a GOA groundfish LLP license that was generated 
by the fishing history of a vessel that also generated Bering Sea snow 
crab QS. Vessels that meet these criteria subsequently will be referred 
to as ``non-AFA crab vessels.'' The CR Program did not establish 
sideboard limits for AFA vessels with historical participation in the 
Bering Sea snow crab fishery because these vessels are subject to GOA 
harvesting and processing restrictions under the AFA and in 
implementing regulations for the AFA (50 CFR 679.64(b)).
    The Council primarily intended GOA groundfish sideboards to 
restrict vessels with Bering Sea snow crab catch history. However, the 
Council determined that, because LLP licenses are transferable, GOA 
groundfish sideboard limits should also apply to GOA groundfish LLP 
licenses derived from vessels with catch history that also generated 
Bering Sea snow crab QS. The LLP was implemented in 2000 to limit the 
number, size, and operation type (gear designation) of vessels that may 
be deployed in the groundfish fisheries in the exclusive economic zone 
of the BSAI and GOA, and in crab fisheries in the BSAI. Regulations 
require, with limited exceptions, that a vessel must be named on a 
legible copy of a valid LLP license that is on board the vessel in 
order to participate in a directed fishery for LLP species. NMFS issued 
LLP licenses based on the catch history of a vessel in specific 
fisheries (i.e., a vessel's qualifying catch history generated an LLP 
license). The Council extended the CR Program GOA groundfish sideboards 
to GOA groundfish LLP licenses derived from vessels with catch history 
that also generated Bering Sea snow crab quota to prevent crab QS 
recipients from circumventing the GOA groundfish sideboards by 
transferring an LLP license for use on a vessel that is not subject to 
the sideboards. Thus, any vessel named on a GOA groundfish LLP license 
that was generated by the GOA groundfish catch history of a non-AFA 
vessel that also generated Bering Sea crab QS is subject to the CR 
Program GOA non-AFA groundfish sideboards,

[[Page 13595]]

even if the vessel named on the LLP license did not have historical 
landings that generated Bering Sea snow crab QS.
    While most vessels and LLP licenses with catch history that 
generated Bering Sea snow crab QS are subject to the CR Program 
sideboard limits in GOA groundfish fisheries, some are exempt from the 
GOA Pacific cod sideboard. The Council established an exemption from 
the GOA Pacific cod sideboard limits for non-AFA crab vessels that 
demonstrated minimal participation in, or dependence on, the Bering Sea 
snow crab fishery and sufficient participation in, or dependence on, 
the GOA Pacific cod fishery from 1996 through 2000. Non-AFA crab 
vessels that are exempt from the GOA Pacific cod sideboard limits do 
not have to stop fishing for GOA Pacific cod when the sideboard limit 
is reached and may continue to fish as long as directed fishing for 
Pacific cod is open. The catch history of exempt participants is not 
included in the GOA Pacific cod non-AFA crab vessel sideboard limit 
calculations, and NMFS does not count the GOA Pacific cod catch of 
exempt vessels toward the non-AFA crab vessel sideboard limit.
    Each year, NMFS calculates the non-AFA crab vessel sideboard limits 
for GOA groundfish species. The sideboard limit is calculated as a 
ratio of the amount of each groundfish species retained by non-AFA crab 
vessels from 1996 to 2000, relative to the total retained catch of each 
species by all vessels during the same period. This calculation yields 
a fixed ratio, or percentage, that is multiplied by the annual TAC for 
each GOA groundfish sideboard species to determine the non-AFA crab 
vessel sideboard limit (in metric tons) for GOA groundfish species.
    NMFS opens directed fishing for a sideboard species for non-AFA 
crab vessels only when it determines that any directed fishery harvest 
for that species--and the incidental catch needs for that species by 
non-AFA crab vessels in other fisheries--would not exceed the sideboard 
limit. The CR Program GOA groundfish sideboard limits restrict the 
catch of non-AFA crab vessels in the aggregate. All targeted or 
incidental catch of a GOA groundfish sideboard species made by non-AFA 
crab vessels subject to the sideboard is deducted from the sideboard 
limit. NMFS closes directed fishing for vessels subject to a sideboard 
limit when NMFS determines that the remainder of a GOA groundfish 
sideboard limit is needed for incidental catch by non-AFA crab vessels 
in other fisheries.
    Since 2006, NMFS has determined that only Pacific cod non-AFA crab 
vessel sideboard limits in two GOA management areas were large enough 
to open a directed sideboard fishery. Although NMFS opened directed 
fishing for Pacific cod for non-AFA crab vessels subject to the 
sideboard limit, the relatively small sideboard limit amounts prompted 
NMFS to close directed fishing for these vessels earlier than it closed 
directed fishing for vessels that were not subject to sideboard limits. 
All other GOA sideboard species, including pollock, have been closed to 
directed fishing by non-AFA crab vessels subject to the CR Program 
groundfish sideboard limits because the sideboard limits were 
determined by NMFS to be insufficient to support both directed and 
incidental catch needs for these vessels.
    The Council was prompted to reexamine the CR Program GOA groundfish 
sideboard limits by non-AFA crab vessel operators who testified that 
some sideboard limits were too restrictive. These operators indicated 
that they had historically participated in GOA Pacific cod and pollock 
fisheries at levels that demonstrated sufficient dependence on these 
fisheries and had received Bering Sea crab quota share at levels that 
demonstrated minimal dependence on the Bering Sea snow crab fishery. 
Some Bering Sea snow crab QS recipients testified to the Council that 
the earlier closure of directed fishing for Pacific cod for non-AFA 
crab vessels subject to sideboard limits, as well as the complete 
closure of directed fishing for pollock for vessels subject to 
sideboard limits, represented a lost fishing opportunity for their 
vessels and thus, potential lost revenue from Pacific cod and pollock 
catch. Based on this public testimony and a review of the effects of 
the sideboard limits in the 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 crab fishing years, 
the first 2 years of the CR Program, the Council determined that the 
sideboard restrictions for the GOA Pacific cod and pollock fisheries 
should be re-examined. The Council initiated an analysis in December 
2007 to examine alternatives that would expand the criteria for non-AFA 
crab vessels to qualify for an exemption from the Pacific cod sideboard 
limits and would extend a similar exemption to the pollock sideboard 
limits. In October 2008, the Council recommended Amendment 34 to the 
Crab FMP to exempt additional vessels and groundfish LLP licenses from 
the GOA Pacific cod and pollock sideboard limits.
    Amendment 34 would implement two actions. Action 1 would revise the 
GOA Pacific cod sideboard limit exemption criteria for non-AFA crab 
vessels. Action 2 would establish new GOA pollock sideboard limit 
exemption criteria for non-AFA crab vessels. NMFS estimates that, in 
addition to the five vessels and five groundfish LLP licenses that are 
currently exempt, the Council's preferred alternative for Action 1 
would exempt three non-AFA crab vessels and three groundfish LLP 
licenses from GOA Pacific cod sideboard limits, for an estimated total 
of eight vessels and eight LLP licenses that would be exempt from the 
GOA Pacific cod sideboard. For Action 2, NMFS estimates that the 
Council's preferred alternative would exempt one non-AFA crab vessel 
and one groundfish LLP license from the GOA pollock sideboard limits. 
Exemptions from the sideboard harvest limits would provide an 
opportunity for these crab QS recipients to participate in the GOA 
Pacific cod and pollock fisheries at historical levels. The Council 
determined that the potential increased participation by these 
participants in GOA Pacific cod and pollock fisheries was unlikely to 
significantly impact other participants in these fisheries.
    The Regulatory Impact Review and Initial Regulatory Flexibility 
Analysis prepared for this action describes the costs and benefits of 
the proposed amendment (see ADDRESSES). All of the directly regulated 
entities would be expected to benefit from this action relative to the 
status quo because the proposed amendment would allow crab QS 
recipients with demonstrated dependence on GOA Pacific cod and pollock 
fisheries to participate in these fisheries at historical levels.
    Public comments are being solicited on proposed Amendment 34 to the 
Crab FMP through the end of the comment period (see DATES). NMFS 
intends to publish in the Federal Register, and seek public comment on, 
a proposed rule that would implement Amendment 34, following NMFS's 
evaluation of the proposed rule under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Public 
comments on the proposed rule must be received by the end of the 
comment period on Amendment 34 (see DATES) to be considered in the 
approval/disapproval decision on Amendment 34. All comments received by 
the end of the comment period, whether specifically directed to 
Amendment 34 or the proposed rule, will be considered in the FMP 
approval/disapproval decision. To be considered, comments must be 
received, not just postmarked or otherwise transmitted, by the close of 
business on the last day of the comment period. Comments received after 
that date will not be considered in the

[[Page 13596]]

approval/disapproval decision on the amendment.

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

    Dated: March 9, 2011.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-5854 Filed 3-11-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P