[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 103 (Friday, May 26, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 34133-34137]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-13188]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 000511130-0130-01; I.D. 032900C]
RIN 0648-AN25


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Allocation 
of Pacific Cod among Vessels Using Hook-and-Line or Pot Gear in the 
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands

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

ACTION: Proposed Rule; proposed revision to the 2000 harvest 
specifications for Pacific cod; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS proposes regulations to implement Amendment 64 to the 
Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea 
and Aleutian Islands Area (FMP). This proposed amendment would also 
necessitate a revision to the 2000 harvest specifications for Pacific 
cod in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). 
Amendment 64, submitted by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council 
(Council), would apportion the hook-and-line or pot gear (fixed gear) 
allocation of total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific cod in the BSAI 
among hook-and-line catcher-processor vessels, hook-and-line catcher 
vessels, and pot gear vessels. This action is necessary to respond to 
socio-economic needs of the fishing industry that have been identified 
by the Council and is intended to promote the goals and objectives of 
the FMP.

DATES: Comments must be received by July 10, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be sent to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional 
Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 
21668, Juneau, AK 99802, Attn: Lori Gravel. Hand or courier delivered 
comments may be sent to the Federal Building, 709 West 9th Street, Room 
453, Juneau, AK 99801. Comments also may be sent via facsimile (fax) to 
907-586-7465. Comments will not be accepted if submitted via e-mail or 
the Internet. Copies of Amendment 64 and the Environmental Assessment/
Regulatory Impact Review/Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (EA/
RIR/IRFA) prepared for the amendments are available from the North 
Pacific Fishery Management Council at 605 West 4th Ave. Suite 306, 
Anchorage, AK 99501, telephone 907-271-2809.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Hale, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the groundfish fisheries in the 
Exclusive Economic Zone (3 to 200 miles offshore) of the BSAI under the 
FMP, which the Council prepared and NMFS approved in 1982 under the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, P. L. 94-265, 
16 U.S.C. 1801 (Magnuson-Stevens Act).
    The Council has submitted Amendment 64 for Secretarial review. NMFS 
published a Notice of Availability (NOA) of the FMP amendment in the 
Federal Register on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19354), with comments on the 
FMP amendment invited through June 12, 2000. Written comments may 
address the FMP amendment, the proposed rule, or both, but must be 
received by June 20, 2000 to be considered in the decision to approve 
or disapprove the FMP amendment.

Background and Need for Action

    Beginning in 1997, Amendment 46 to the FMP allocated the TAC for 
BSAI Pacific cod among vessels using jig gear, trawl gear, and hook-
and-line or pot gear. Two percent of the TAC is reserved for jig gear, 
51 percent for hook-and-line or pot gear, and 47 percent for trawl 
gear. The amendment further split the trawl allocation equally between 
catcher vessels and catcher/processor vessels, but no split was adopted 
for the 51 percent allocated to hook-and-line or pot vessels.
    Since the approval of Amendment 46, increasing competition for 
Pacific cod among catcher/processor and catcher vessels using pot or 
hook-and-line gear has given rise to new allocation issues. Increased 
prices for Pacific cod, reduced crab guideline harvest levels, and 
shortened or canceled crab seasons due to low resource abundance have 
resulted in increased harvests of Pacific cod by vessels using pot 
gear. Fishermen displaced from crab fisheries have expressed ongoing 
interest in fishing for Pacific cod aggravating the concerns of long-
term Pacific cod fishermen about erosion of their gear harvest shares 
in the cod fishery in favor of new entrants using pot gear who, until 
very recently, focused harvest activity in the BSAI crab fisheries.
    In response to these concerns, the Council initiated an analysis at 
its April 1999 meeting of the effects of splitting the hook-and-line or 
pot gear allocation of Pacific cod in the BSAI among hook-and-line 
catcher/processor vessels, hook-and-line catcher vessels, and all 
vessels using pot gear. At its June 1999 meeting, the Council reviewed 
the analysis and drafted the following problem statement to guide 
further analysis of alternatives for Amendment 64:

    The hook-and-line and pot fisheries for Pacific cod in the 
Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands are fully utilized. Competition for this 
resource has increased for a variety of reasons, including increased 
market value of cod products and a declining [acceptable biological 
catch and total allowable catch.] Longline and pot fishermen who 
have made significant long-term investments, have long catch 
histories, and are significantly dependent on the BSAI cod fisheries 
need protection from others who have little or limited history and 
wish to increase their participation in the fishery. This requires 
prompt action to promote stability in the BSAI fixed gear cod 
fishery until comprehensive rationalization is completed.

    The subsequent analysis reviewed, in addition to the status quo, 
alternatives for separate Pacific cod allocations for the different 
hook-and-line and pot gear users that approximate their historical 
catches over the past 4 years. The options analyzed determined those 
percentages based on catch histories from (1) 1996 and 1997, (2) 1997 
and 1998, (3) 1996 through 1998, and (4) 1995 through 1998. In general, 
the

[[Page 34134]]

allocations that would result from these options ranged between 80 and 
85 percent to hook-and-line vessels and between 15 and 20 percent to 
pot vessels.
    At its October 1999 meeting, the Council adopted Amendment 64 to 
set Pacific cod directed fishing allowances for the different hook-and-
line and pot gear users (sectors) in the following percentages: Hook-
and-line catcher/processor vessels, 80 percent; hook-and-line catcher 
vessels, 0.3 percent; pot gear vessels, 18.3 percent; and hook-and-line 
or pot catcher vessels less than 60 feet length overall (LOA), 1.4 
percent. These percentages represent divisions of the hook-and-line or 
pot gear TAC after a deduction of estimated incidental catch of Pacific 
cod in other groundfish hook-and-line or pot gear fisheries.
    The proposed amendment also provides that harvests by pot and hook-
and-line catcher vessels less than 60 feet LOA would accrue against the 
1.4 percent allocation only after pot vessels and hook-and-line catcher 
vessels harvest the respective 18.3 percent and 0.3 percent 
allocations. Managing the allocations in this manner would ensure that 
cod is available to the smaller catcher vessels even after the larger 
vessels in their gear sector have taken their allocation. Nevertheless, 
if the pot gear fishery lasts longer than the hook-and-line fishery, 
then the small hook-and-line catcher vessels could begin (and possibly 
finish) harvesting the 1.4 percent allocation before catcher vessels 
under 60 feet using pot gear have an opportunity to harvest any of the 
1.4 percent set aside for smaller catcher vessels.
    Because a sector of the BSAI Pacific cod fishery may not be able to 
harvest its entire allocation in a year due to halibut bycatch 
constraints or, in the case of the jig fishery, insufficient effort in 
the fishery, the Council also provided direction on how projected 
unharvested amounts of a gear's directed fishing allowance may be 
transferred to a different user group. Unharvested amounts (roll-overs) 
from the jig or trawl gear allocations would be apportioned between 
catcher-processors using hook-and-line gear and vessels equal to or 
greater than 60 ft LOA using pot gear according to the actual harvest 
of roll-overs by these two sectors during the 3-year period from 1996-
98. Projections based on information in the analysis for this proposed 
action indicate that 94.7 percent of the cod would be allocated to the 
hook-and-line catcher-processor fleet and the remaining 5.3 percent to 
the pot fleet. In addition, any amounts of Pacific cod annually 
allocated to catcher vessels using hook-and-line gear or to vessels 
less than 60 ft (18.3 meters(m)) LOA that are projected to remain 
unharvested would be rolled over to the hook-and-line catcher-processor 
fleet in September.
    The Council recommended that the Pacific cod directed fishing 
allowances proposed under Amendment 64 for the different hook-and-line 
and pot gear sectors would terminate on December 31, 2003. On that 
date, Pacific cod allocation would revert to the current regime unless 
the Council adopts and NMFS approves a new FMP amendment to continue 
the proposed allocations of Pacific cod or implement new allocation 
percentages after that date. In adopting an expiration date for the 
proposed amendment, the Council reasoned that 3 years would be 
sufficient time to evaluate the impact of this action in light of other 
impending changes for the BSAI fixed gear fishery, such as, proposed 
Amendment 67 to require Pacific cod and gear endorsements on permits 
issued under the License Limitation Program (LLP). Whereas this 
proposed action would establish allocations for different sectors of 
the fixed gear cod fishery, proposed Amendment 67 would limit the 
participants to those who meet certain historical criteria.
    In adopting Amendment 64, the Council recognized that a separate 
regulatory amendment would be needed to apportion the 900 mt Pacific 
halibut prohibited species mortality limit established for nontrawl 
gear in regulations at Sec. 679.21(e)(2) among catcher vessels and 
catcher/processor vessels fishing for Pacific cod using hook-and-line 
gear. Current regulations only authorize a separate Pacific halibut 
bycatch allowance to the ``Pacific cod hook-and-line fishery'' defined 
at Sec. 679.21(e)(4)(ii)(A). Thus, catcher/processor vessels using 
hook-and-line gear to fish for Pacific cod could attain amounts of 
halibut bycatch mortality that would result in prohibition of directed 
fishing for Pacific cod by all vessels using hook-and-line gear, 
including catcher vessels using this gear type under a separate Pacific 
cod directed fishing allowance.
    To respond to this concern, the Council has requested staff to 
develop an analysis of regulatory measures that would authorize further 
allocation of the Pacific halibut mortality limits among vessels using 
hook-and-line or pot gear. If adopted by the Council in the future, 
this regulatory amendment would be published as a separate proposed 
rule for public review and comment.

Incidental Catch Allowance

    Pacific cod also are taken incidentally in directed fisheries using 
hook-and-line or pot gear for other species. To the extent practicable, 
NMFS credits this incidental harvest against the TAC to ensure that 
Pacific cod are not overharvested. The proposed rule to implement 
Amendment 64 would require the Administrator, Alaska Region, NMFS, 
(Regional Administrator), to annually establish an incidental catch 
allowance for Pacific cod taken in other directed hook-and-line and pot 
fisheries for groundfish. The incidental catch allowance would be 
deducted from the overall hook-and-line or pot gear allocation of the 
Pacific cod TAC before that allocation is divided among the different 
hook-and-line and pot gear user groups.
    NMFS acknowledges that incidental catch of Pacific cod occurs in 
non-groundfish fisheries such as the hook-and-line gear fishery for 
Pacific halibut or crab pot gear fisheries. Sufficient data currently 
are not collected from these fisheries that would allow NMFS to 
extrapolate useful estimates of incidental catch for purposes of 
specifying the annual ICA and deducting these amounts from the Pacific 
cod TAC allocated to vessels using hook-and-line or pot gear as 
directed fishing allowances. The total incidental catch amount of 
Pacific cod in the crab and Pacific halibut fisheries likely exceeds 
several thousand metric tons (mt) based on (1) anecdotal information on 
the amount of incidentally caught Pacific cod used as bait in the crab 
fisheries, (2) the fact that the Pacific halibut fishery during summer 
months typically occurs in relatively shallow water where Pacific cod 
are prevalent, and (3) assumptions on amount of gear deployed and 
incidental catch rates. In the absence of the quantitative data needed 
to estimate incidental Pacific cod harvests in the halibut and crab 
fisheries, NMFS intends to estimate the ICA only on the basis of 
incidental catch estimated for the non-Pacific cod hook-and-line or pot 
gear groundfish fisheries.
    NMFS recognizes the potential biological significance of not 
accounting for all incidental catch of Pacific cod in non-trawl 
fisheries and intends to explore with the State of Alaska and the 
International Pacific Halibut Commission options to collect better 
information on incidental catch rates of non-target species in the crab 
and Pacific halibut fisheries. NMFS further anticipates that improved 
estimates of incidental catch amounts in these fisheries will be 
available to the Council

[[Page 34135]]

when it reassesses BSAI Pacific cod allocation issues prior to the 
proposed expiration date of Amendment 64. Until then, NMFS' stock 
assessment scientists believe that, while the amounts of Pacific cod 
taken in the crab and Pacific halibut fisheries could exceed several 
thousand mt, this level of mortality does not pose significant concerns 
for overfishing or sustainable resource management of the Pacific cod 
resource given the conservative management of this species under the 
FMP. That being said, NMFS firmly believes that steps must be taken to 
collect the data necessary to obtain better estimates of overall 
mortality of Pacific cod in the non-groundfish fisheries.
    Subsequent to the Council's October 1999 adoption of proposed 
Amendment 64, several owners of catcher/processor vessels using pot 
gear to participate in a directed fishery for Pacific cod petitioned 
the Council to initiate a separate FMP amendment that would authorize 
separate Pacific cod directed fishing allowances for catcher/processor 
vessels using pot gear and catcher vessels using pot gear. This 
petition was based on the assumptions that increased fishing effort for 
Pacific cod with pot gear is due primarily to catcher vessels using pot 
gear and that the historical harvest share of cod by catcher/processor 
vessels using pot gear is threatened. In response to these concerns, 
the Council requested staff to develop a separate FMP amendment that 
would authorize a further allocation of Pacific cod between these two 
sectors. If adopted by the Council in the future, the proposed 
amendment and its implementing rule would be published in the Federal 
Register for public review and comment.
    In December 1999, the Council recommended seasonal allowances for 
the 51 percent of the Pacific cod TAC allocated to the hook-and-line or 
pot gear fisheries. The seasonal allowances are authorized under 
Sec. 679.20(a)(7)(iv) and are based on the criteria set forth at 
Sec. 679.20(a)(7)(iv)(B). The final 2000 harvest specifications for 
BSAI groundfish were approved by NMFS and published in the Federal 
Register on February 18, 2000 (65 FR 8282).
    If approved by NMFS, the final rule implementing Amendment 64 would 
revise the final 2000 harvest specifications in concert with the hook-
and-line and pot gear allocations proposed under the amendment. The 
final 2000 harvest specifications set the hook-and-line or pot gear 
allocation of the 2000 Pacific cod TAC at 91,048 mt. An incidental 
catch allowance of 500 mt, derived from estimates of incidental catch 
of Pacific cod in other groundfish fisheries from 1996-1999, would be 
deducted from the hook-and-line or pot gear allocation of the Pacific 
cod TAC before the allocation is apportioned to the separate gear 
sectors. Table 1 lists the proposed revisions to the 2000 allocations 
and seasonal apportionments of the Pacific cod TAC.
    Consistent with Sec. 679.20(a)(7)(iv)(C), any portion of the first 
seasonal allowance of the catcher/processor hook-and-line gear 
allocation that is not harvested by the end of the first season would 
become available on September 1, the beginning of the third season. No 
seasonal apportionment of the amounts of Pacific cod allocated to 
catcher vessels or to vessels using pot gear is proposed for 2000.

 Table 1.--Gear Shares and Seasonal Apportionments of the BSAI Pacific Cod Hook-and-Line and Pot Gear Allocation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                               Seasonal appointment \1\
            Gear sector                  Percent        Share  (mt)  -------------------------------------------
                                                                                 Date               Amount (mt)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hook-and-line Catcher-processors...             80            72,438  Jan 1-Apr 30..............          52,000
                                     ...............  ..............  May 1-Aug 31..............  ..............
                                     ...............  ..............  Sept 1-Dec 31.............          20,438
Hook-and-Line Catcher Vessels......              0.3             272  Jan 1-Dec 31..............  ..............
Pot Gear Vessels...................             18.3          16,570  Jan 1-Dec 31 272..........          16,570
Catcher Vessels under 60 feet LOA                1.4           1,268  Jan 1-Dec 31..............           1,268
 using Hook-and-line or Pot Gear.
                                    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Sub-total......................            100            90,548  ..........................          90,548
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Incidental Catch Allowance.........  ...............             500  ..........................             500
                                    ============================================================================
        Total hook-and-line and pot  ...............          91,048  ..........................         91,048
         gear allocation of Pacific
         cod TAC.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Any unused portion of the first seasonal Pacific cod allowance specified for catcher/processors using hook-
  and-line fishery will be reapportioned to the third seasonal allowance.

Implementation

    In the event that NMFS approves this action and implements it mid-
season during the 2000 fishing year, any overage of a sector's annual 
allocation of Pacific cod would be deducted proportionately from the 
other sectors' allocation remaining for the year.

Classification

    At this time, NMFS has not determined that the FMP amendment this 
rule would implement is consistent with the national standards of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act and other applicable laws. NMFS, in making that 
determination, will take into account the data, views, and comments 
received during the comment period.
    The Council prepared an EA for this FMP amendment that discusses 
the impact on the environment as a result of this rule. A copy of this 
EA is available from the Council (see ADDRESSES).
    The Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) prepared for 
this action indicates that the proposed amendment could negatively 
affect a number of small entities. For purposes of the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act (RFA), all catcher vessels fishing for Pacific cod 
using hook-and-line or pot gear can be considered small businesses, 
with annual receipts of less than $3 million. Under the current LLP, 
approximately 330 catcher vessels would be authorized to participate in 
the Bering Sea Pacific cod hook-and-line or pot gear fishery. Of the 98 
catcher-processor vessels potentially authorized under the LLP to fish 
for Pacific cod, approximately one-third could be considered small 
entities.

[[Page 34136]]

Five of the ten shore-based plants and floating processors operating 
within Alaskan state waters and processing most of the Pacific cod 
harvested by hook-and-line or pot gear catcher vessels would be 
considered small businesses under RFA, processing less than 2 percent 
of the total shoreside landings of Pacific cod by catcher vessels in 
1998. Other small entities affected by the proposed amendment include 
the three Alaskan communities that are home to processing plants that 
process limited amounts of BSAI Pacific cod: King Cove, Egegik, and 
Kenai.
    The proposed amendment would allocate a portion of the Pacific cod 
resource away from the longline catcher-processor fleet and move it to 
the catcher vessels delivering to shore-based processors. Because the 
longline catcher-processor fleet comprises the highest number of large 
entities of any sector fishing off Alaska, this allocation would tend 
to favor small entities. By implementing the allocations by gear sector 
without limiting the number of vessels in any gear sector that may 
enter the fishery, this action may have the effect of increasing 
competition among users. However, the Council at its April 2000 meeting 
took final action to mitigate the effect of this action on competition 
within gear sectors by recommending for approval by NMFS a proposed 
amendment to require gear and species endorsements on licenses of those 
who wish to participate in the fixed gear BSAI Pacific cod fishery.
    The magnitude of the proposed amendment's impact cannot be 
conclusively determined with the data currently available. Most persons 
operating in the fishery affected by the proposed action are small 
entities given their expected annual gross revenues of less than $3 
million, and revenues could potentially be decreased by more than 5 
percent, but that depends on the level of catch that might have been 
achieved in the absence of an allocation. Also, impacts of this action 
on potential revenues cannot be isolated from other factors including 
price fluctuation, amount of effort exerted by latent permits, and 
stock fluctuation of alternative fisheries such as crab.
    This action would not limit the number of vessels moving into the 
Pacific cod fishery from the crab fishery because of downward trends in 
the Bering Sea crab stocks, and any increase in participation of crab 
vessels in the Pacific cod pot gear fishery would increase competition 
for the 18.3 percent of the fixed gear Pacific cod TAC allocated to pot 
gear vessels and the 1.4 percent allocated to vessels under 60 ft LOA. 
As noted here, the Council intends to mitigate this impact with 
proposed Amendment 67, which would require gear and species 
endorsements based on historical participation in the fishery.
    Nothing in this proposed action would result in any changes in 
reporting or recordkeeping requirements, or any obvious 
disproportionment regulatory impacts to small entities relative to 
large. From one perspective, setting a percentage allocation will keep 
one sector from increasing its share relative to what it could do under 
the status quo. From the information in the analysis, and from public 
testimony before the Council, it appears likely that the pot sector 
would increase its relative share in the absence of a quota split. From 
another perspective, adoption of the Council's preferred alternative 
would serve to increase the current share of the smallest entities. In 
deliberations on this action, the Council considered alternative 
allocation options, based on historical percentages of catch by the 
different gear sectors, that would have had varying degrees of impact 
on small entities in the fixed gear Pacific cod fishery. For longline 
catcher processors, the annual average harvests ranged from 80 percent 
of the fixed gear Pacific cod TAC for the years 1996-97 to 86.5 percent 
for the years 1997-98. For this gear sector the Council chose the lower 
end of the range, thus leaving a larger percentage of the TAC remaining 
for longline catcher vessels, pot vessels, and both longline and pot 
vessels under 60 ft LOA. The allocation options reviewed for longline 
catcher vessels ranged from 0 percent in the years 1996-97 to 0.25 
percent for the years 1995-98. The Council chose a slightly higher 
percentage (3.0 percent) than the highest average reviewed in the 
options. For pot vessels, the options ranged from an average harvest of 
13.5 percent for the years 1997-98 to 21 percent for 1996-97. While the 
higher average would have had less impact on small entities in the pot 
sector, the Council chose to set the pot allocation at 18.3 percent and 
provided for small entities that are pot or longline vessels under 60 
ft LOA by setting aside for those vessels an allocation that represents 
a larger percentage of the TAC than vessels under 60 ft LOA have 
historically harvested.
    This analysis did not reveal any existing Federal rules that 
duplicate, overlap, or conflict with any to the actions proposed in the 
alternatives.
    This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for 
the purposes of E.O. 12866.
    The President has directed Federal agencies to use plain language 
in their communications with the public, including regulations. To 
comply with that directive, we seek public comment on any ambiguity or 
unnecessary complexity arising from the language used in this rule.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679

    Alaska, Fisheries, Recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

    Dated: May 19, 2000.
Penelope D. Dalton,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 679 is 
proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 679--FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA

    1. The authority citation for 50 CFR part 679 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq, 1801 et seq., and 3631 et seq.

    2. In Sec. 679.20, paragraph (a)(7)(i)(C) is redesignated as 
paragraph (a)(7)(i)(D), paragraph (a)(7)(ii)(B) is redesignated as 
paragraph (a)(7)(ii)(C), redesignated paragraphs (a)(7)(i)(D) and 
(a)(7)(ii)(C) and paragraphs (a)(7)(iv)(A), (a)(7)(iv)(C) and (b)(1)(v) 
are revised, paragraph (a)(7)(iii) is removed, and new paragraphs 
(a)(7)(i)(C) and (a)(7)(ii)(B) are added to read as follows:


Sec. 679.20  General limitations.

* * * * *
    (a) * * *
    (7) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (C) Allocations among vessels using hook-and-line or pot gear 
(Applicable through December 31, 2003). (1) The Regional Administrator 
annually will estimate the amount of Pacific cod taken as incidental 
catch in directed fisheries for groundfish other than Pacific cod by 
vessels using hook-and-line or pot gear and deduct that amount from the 
portion of Pacific cod TAC annually allocated to hook-and-line or pot 
gear under paragraph (a)(7)(i)(A) of this section. The remainder will 
be further allocated as directed fishing allowances as follows:
    (i) 80 percent to catcher/processor vessels using hook-and-line 
gear;
    (ii) 0.3 percent to catcher vessels using hook-and-line gear;
    (iii) 18.3 percent to vessels using pot gear; and
    (iv) 1.4 percent to catcher vessels less than 60 feet LOA that use 
either hook-and-line or pot gear.
    (2) Harvests of Pacific cod made by catcher vessels less than 60 
feet (18.3 m)

[[Page 34137]]

LOA using pot gear will not accrue to the 1.4 percent allocation under 
paragraph (a)(7)(i)(C)(1)(iv) of this section until vessels using pot 
gear have harvested the 18.3 percent allocated to all vessels using pot 
gear under paragraph (a)(7)(i)(C)(1)(iii) of this section.
    (3) Harvests of Pacific cod made by catcher vessels less than 60 
feet (18.3 m) LOA using hook-and-line gear will not accrue to the 1.4 
percent allocation under paragraph (a)(7)(i)(C)(1)(iv) of this section 
until catcher vessels using hook-and-line gear have harvested the 0.3 
percent allocated to all catcher vessels using hook-and-line gear under 
paragraph (a)(7)(i)(C)(1)(ii) of this section.
    (D) The Regional Administrator may establish separate directed 
fishing allowances and prohibitions authorized under paragraph (d) of 
this section for vessels harvesting Pacific cod using trawl gear, jig 
gear, hook-and-line gear, or pot gear.
    (ii) * * *
    (A) * * *
    (B) Reallocation among vessels using hook-and-line or pot gear. If, 
during a fishing year, the Regional Administrator determines that 
catcher vessels using hook-and-line gear or vessels less than 60 ft 
(18.3 m) LOA using hook-and-line or pot gear will not be able to 
harvest the directed fishing allowance of Pacific cod allocated to 
those vessels under paragraphs (a)(7)(i)(C)(1)(ii) or 
(a)(7)(i)(C)(1)(iv) of this section, NMFS may reallocate the projected 
unused amount of Pacific cod as a directed fishing allowance to 
catcher/processor vessels using hook-and-line gear through notification 
in the Federal Register.
    (C) Reallocation between vessels using trawl or non-trawl gear. If, 
during a fishing year, the Regional Administrator determines that 
vessels using trawl gear, hook-and-line gear, pot gear or jig gear will 
not be able to harvest the entire amount of Pacific cod in the BSAI 
allocated to those vessels under paragraphs (a)(7)(i)(A), (a)(7)(i)(B) 
or (a)(7)(i)(C) of this section, NMFS may reallocate the projected 
unused amount of Pacific cod to vessels harvesting Pacific cod using 
the other gear type(s) through notification in the Federal Register, 
except as provided below:
    (1) Reallocation of TAC specified for jig gear. On September 15 of 
each year, the Regional Administrator will reallocate any projected 
unused amount of Pacific cod in the BSAI allocated to vessels using jig 
gear only to vessels using hook-and-line or pot gear through 
notification in the Federal Register.
    (2) Reallocation of TAC to catcher/processor vessels using hook-
and-line gear or vessels using pot gear. Any unharvested amounts of 
Pacific cod TAC that are reallocated from vessels using trawl or jig 
gear to catcher/processor vessels using hook-and-line gear or vessels 
using pot gear to increase directed allowances established under 
paragraphs (a)(7)(i)(C)(1)(i) or (a)(7)(i)(C)(1) (iii) of this section, 
will be apportioned so that catcher/processor vessels using hook-and-
line gear will receive 95 percent and vessels using pot gear will 
receive 5 percent of any such reallocation.
    (iv) * * *
    (A) Time periods. NMFS, after consultation with the Council, may 
divide the directed fishing allowances allocated to vessels using hook-
and-line or pot gear under paragraph (a)(7)(i)(C) of this section among 
the following three periods: January 1 through April 30, May 1 through 
August 31, and September 1 through December 31.
    (B)* * *
    (C) Unused seasonal allowances. Any unused portion of a seasonal 
allowance of Pacific cod allocated to vessels using hook-and-line or 
pot gear under paragraph (a)(7)(i)(C) will be reallocated to the 
remaining seasons during the current fishing year in a manner 
determined by NMFS, after consultation with the Council.
* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (1) * * *
    (v) Pacific cod Any amounts of the BSAI nonspecific reserve that 
are apportioned to Pacific cod as provided by paragraph (b)(1)(ii) of 
this section must be apportioned among vessels using jig, hook-and-line 
or pot, and trawl gear in the same proportion specified in paragraph 
(a)(7)(i) of this section, unless the Regional Administrator determines 
under paragraph (a)(7)(ii) of this section that vessels using a certain 
gear type will not be able to harvest the additional amount of Pacific 
cod. In this case, the nonspecific reserve will be apportioned to 
vessels using the other gear type(s).
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 00-13188 Filed 5-25-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P