Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 111 / Friday, June 8, 2001 / Proposed Rules 30869

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 010108006–1136–02; I.D.

050101D]

RIN 0648–AO97

Fisheries off West Coast States and in

the Western Pacific; Pacific Coast

Groundfish Fishery; Amendment 14

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for

comments.

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes a rule to

implement portions of Amendment 14

to the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery

Management Plan (FMP). Amendment

14 would create a permit stacking

program for limited entry permits with

sablefish endorsements. This permit

stacking program would lengthen the

duration of the limited entry, fixed gear

primary sablefish fishery. It is intended

to increase safety in that fishery and

provide flexibility to participants.

Amendment 14 would allow a single

vessel to carry up to three permits and

fish the sablefish cumulative limits with

those permits during the primary

sablefish fishery.

DATES: Comments must be submitted in

writing by July 9, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments on Amendment

14 or supporting documents should be

sent to Donna Darm, Acting

Administrator, Northwest Region,

NMFS, Sand Point Way NE., Seattle,

WA 98115–0070; or to Rebecca Lent,

Administrator, Southwest Region,

NMFS, 501 West Ocean Boulevard,

Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 90802–

4213. Copies of Amendment 14 and the

environmental assessment/regulatory

impact review (EA/RIR) are available

from Donald McIsaac, Executive

Director, Pacific Fishery Management

Council (Council), 2130 SW Fifth Ave.,

Suite 224, Portland, OR 97201.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Yvonne deReynier or Becky Renko

(Northwest Region, NMFS), phone: 206–

526–6140; fax: 206–526–6736 and; email: yvonne.dereynier@noaa.gov,

becky.renko@noaa.gov or Svein Fougner

(Southwest Region, NMFS) phone: 562–

980–4000; fax: 562–980–4047 and; email: svein.fougner@noaa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Access

This Federal Register document is

also accessible via the Internet at the

website of the Office of the Federal

Register: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su–

docs/aces/aces140.html.

NMFS is proposing this rule to

implement Amendment 14 to the FMP,

a permit stacking program for limited

entry permits with sablefish

endorsements. These regulations would

lengthen the duration of the major

limited entry, fixed gear season for

sablefish and provide participation

requirements for that season. This

proposed rule is based on

recommendations of the Council, under

the authority of the Pacific Coast

Groundfish FMP and the Magnuson

Stevens Fishery Conservation and

Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens

Act). Implementing Amendment 14

would significantly increase safety in

the fishery, allow individual fishery

participants to more fully use their

existing vessel capacity, and reduce

overall capacity in the primary fixed

gear sablefish fishery. The background

and rationale for the Council’s

recommendations are summarized here.

Further detail appears in the EA/RIR

prepared by the Council for Amendment

14.

Background

For many years, sablefish harvested

by the limited entry, fixed gear fleet has

been separated into a small, year-round

daily trip limit fishery and a two-part

‘‘primary’’ fishery. Annually, about 85

percent of the limited entry fixed gear

sablefish allocation is taken in the

primary fishery. The two parts of the

primary fishery have been the ‘‘regular’’

season, which was a derby fishery until

1997, and the ‘‘mop-up’’ season to take

any primary season sablefish not taken

in the regular season. Prior to 1997, the

Council managed harvest in the regular

season by setting the season length short

enough to ensure that the fishery would

not exceed its quota. During the regular

season, there were no cumulative

sablefish limits for participating vessels.

The mop-up season was commonly 2

weeks in duration, with each participant

allowed to fish against a small, vesselspecific cumulative limit. Over time,

sablefish fleet capitalization increased

and the Council needed to set ever

shorter regular seasons to control catch

levels. By 1996, the regular season was

just 5 days long.

Concern for the safety of participants

in the sablefish derby led the Council to

develop Amendment 9 to the FMP, a

sablefish endorsement program for

limited entry permit holders.

Amendment 9, implemented in 1997,

limited the number of vessels allowed to

participate in the primary (regular +

mop-up) fixed gear sablefish fishery.

Limited entry permit holders with at

least 16,000 lb (7,257 kg) of sablefish

landed in any one year from 1984

through 1994 received sablefish

endorsements. This program was

intended to restrict primary fishery

participation to those permit holders

with historical participation in and

dependence upon the sablefish fishery.

Today, 164 limited entry permit holders

have sablefish endorsements.

The Council saw the sablefish

endorsement as a first step in improving

management of the limited entry, fixed

gear primary sablefish fishery. In 1998,

NMFS implemented the Council’s next

step, which was to manage the season

with a three-tiered cumulative limit

regime (63 FR 38101, July 15, 1998.) For

the three-tier system, the Council

divided sablefish endorsement holders

into three tiers based on historical

landings associated with their permits.

During the limited entry fixed gear

regular season, a participant has been

allowed to land an amount of sablefish

up to the cumulative limit associated

with his/her permit’s tier.

To qualify for the highest tier, Tier 1,

a permit had to be associated with at

least 898,000 lb (407.33 mt) of sablefish

landings made from 1984 through 1994.

To qualify for the middle tier, Tier 2, a

permit had to be associated with

between 380,000 lb (172.36 mt) and

897,999 lb (407.33 mt) of sablefish

landings made from 1984 through 1994.

Permits with sablefish endorsements

that were associated with less than

380,000 lb (172.36 mt) of sablefish

landings from 1984 through 1994

qualified for the lowest tier, Tier 3. The

three-tier system also set a between-tier

ratio to describe the relationship

between the cumulative limits that

would be available to each tier during

the regular season. That ratio is 1 (Tier

3): 1.75 (Tier 2):3.85 (Tier 1). For

example, if Tier 3 had a cumulative

limit of 10,000 lb (4,536 kg), Tier 2

would have a corresponding cumulative

limit of 17,500 lb (7,938 kg), and Tier 1

would have a corresponding cumulative

limit of 38,500 lb (17,463 kg).

The three-tier system has been in

place since the 1998 season and has

somewhat slowed the pace of the fishery

and the rate of capitalization in the

fishery. Vessels owners no longer have

an incentive to increase their fishing

speed because they are limited in how

much sablefish they can catch by the

tiered cumulative limits. Even under the

three-tier system, however, the Council

continued to constrain regular season

30870 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 111 / Friday, June 8, 2001 / Proposed Rules

harvest by setting a short duration

season, followed by the longer mop-up

season. Three-tier system regulations set

the regular fishery at no more than 10

days in duration.

A fishery where all participants have

the opportunity to catch a cumulative

limit and are all able to catch that limit

is an Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ)

fishery as defined by the MagnusonStevens Act. The Magnuson-Stevens Act

includes a moratorium on the

implementation of new IFQ programs.

To avoid having its three-tier

management program classified as an

IFQ program, the Council set short

season lengths intended to prevent all

participants from catching their

cumulative limits. Cumulative limits

were also set high, to ensure that some

participants would not attain those

limits during the short season. To

provide a resource conservation buffer

against the possibility that more vessels

than expected would meet their

cumulative limits in the regular season,

the Council set season lengths and

cumulative limits to take 80–87 percent

of the primary season quota. Any quota

not taken in the regular season as a

result of this buffer was available during

the mop-up season as an equal

cumulative limit for all participating

vessels. This conservative management

provision successfully kept the primary

season within its quota for the 1998–

2000 three-tier seasons.

The moratorium on new IFQ

programs has been extended to October

1, 2002 (Pub. L. 106-553.) However,

Congress exempted from the

moratorium a Pacific Council IFQ

program for the fixed gear sablefish

fishery that: (1) allows the use of more

than one limited entry groundfish

permit per vessel; and/or (2) sets

cumulative trip limit periods, up to 12

months in any calendar year, that allow

fishing vessels a reasonable opportunity

to harvest the full amount of the

associated trip limits. At its November

2000 meeting, the Council

recommended a permit stacking

program that met the moratorium

exemption requirements.

Permit Stacking and Amendment 14

Amendment 14 to the FMP, which the

Council adopted at its November 2000

meeting, would introduce a permit

stacking program to the limited entry,

fixed gear primary season. Under this

permit stacking program, a vessel owner

would be allowed to register more than

one sablefish-endorsed permit for use

with his/her vessel to harvest the

cumulative limits associated with each

of the stacked permits. This is referred

to as stacking permits. Current

groundfish regulations associate

cumulative limits with vessels, so that

no vessel may take more than one

cumulative limit of a particular species

during a single cumulative limit period.

Amendment 14 would associate the

sablefish cumulative limits of the threetier system with permits. A vessel

carrying more than one permit could

harvest more than one sablefish

cumulative limit per cumulative limit

period.

By exempting the Pacific Coast fixed

gear permit stacking program from the

IFQ moratorium, Congress removed the

need to set short seasons designed to

prevent participants from catching their

full cumulative limits. The initial

season recommendation is for an April

through October season, which would

allow participants ample time to catch

their full sablefish cumulative limits. In

2001, the season would run from August

15 through October 31, a significant

improvement over the brief seasons of

past years. Under Amendment 14, the

primary season would no longer be

separated into regular and mop-up subseasons because the Council would

simply divide the overall quota

available to the fishery among the

participants with the expectation that

each vessel would be able to take its

cumulative limits. With this increased

harvest control, the Council would not

need to use the traditional buffer of a

mop-up season to prevent over-harvest

in a regular season. Amendment 14

would also eliminate the need for the

pre- and post-season closure periods

that the Council used to control regular

season sablefish harvest rates. The 48-

hour pre-season closure requires that all

participating vessels keep their gear out

of the water, to prevent vessels from

fishing in advance of the start time. The

36-hour post-season closure allows

vessels to fish up until the last minute

of the season end time, and then unload

their catch during the closure period

without penalty.

Beyond the basic provisions of

allowing vessels to harvest more than

one sablefish cumulative limit during

the season and lengthening the season,

Amendment 14 includes numerous

provisions for managing the permit

stacking program. There is not enough

time to implement all of these

provisions for the 2001 season. The

provisions not included in this

proposed rule will be implemented for

the 2002 season by another rule.

Gear Endorsements

Each limited entry permit has a gear

endorsement for trawl, longline, or pot.

Most permits have only one gear

endorsement, although there are a few

with more than one gear endorsement.

A permit’s gear endorsement indicates

the gear that a vessel registered to the

permit may use to participate in the

limited entry fishery. Of the 164 permits

with sablefish endorsements, 131

permits have longline endorsements, 1

has both a longline and trawl

endorsement, 27 have pot

endorsements, 1 has both a pot and

trawl endorsement, and 4 have both

longline and pot endorsements. The

relatively small number of pot permits

limits the permit market for vessels that

fish with pot gear. In developing

Amendment 14, the Council decided

that it wanted to provide flexibility for

vessel owners wishing to stack permits,

regardless of whether they use longline

or pot gear.

Amendment 14 would allow a vessel

owner to stack permits with different

gear endorsements together, allowing

the vessel to fish for sablefish with any

of the fixed gears endorsed on at least

one of the stacked permit. For example,

a pot vessel could own a pot permit

with a sablefish endorsement and a

longline permit with a sablefish

endorsement, and then fish against the

cumulative limits associated with each

permit using pot gear. A vessel could

not participate in the primary sablefish

fishery using any gear other than the

fixed gear indicated on at least one of

the permits associated with that vessel.

If one of the permits registered for use

with a vessel includes a trawl

endorsement in addition to the required

fixed gear endorsement, and if that

permit’s length endorsement is equal to

or greater than that of the base permit,

the vessel may continue to use trawl

gear, but not in the fixed gear fishery.

In such a case, if the permit is registered

for use with a vessel more than 5 ft (1.52

m) shorter than the length endorsement

on the trawl endorsed permit, the trawl

endorsed permit would not be subject to

trawl permit size reduction

requirements at § 660.333 (h)(2). These

provisions would be implemented for

the 2001 fishery via this action.

Separating and ‘‘Unstacking’’ Permits

Under Amendment 14, a permit

owner who has stacked multiple

permits on a single vessel may separate,

or ‘‘unstack,’’ those permits from each

other and transfer those permits

individually to another vessel. That is,

once two or more permits have been

stacked together, they are not required

to remain permanently stacked. The

Council supported this provision

because it will allow permit holders

flexibility for moving permits within the

fleet. If Amendment 14 had required

stacked permits to remain permanently

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 111 / Friday, June 8, 2001 / Proposed Rules 30871

stacked, it would have been more

effective at permanently removing effort

from the sablefish fishery. However,

Council members felt that a requirement

for permanent stacking would have been

a disincentive to stack permits,

particularly because there is uncertainty

whether permits will include other

species endorsements or IFQs in the

future. Thus, this provision of

Amendment 14 is intended to provide

an incentive for vessels to stack permits

to decrease the number of vessels in the

fishery, while allowing permit holders

flexibility for the future.

As discussed earlier, the permit

stacking program would associate

sablefish cumulative limits in the

primary fishery with permits rather than

with vessels. This means that if a vessel

owner unstacks and transfers a permit

associated with his/her vessel during

the primary season, the next vessel

using that permit would only have

access to that portion of the sablefish

cumulative limit not caught by the first

vessel. Provisions to allow unstacking

and to require association of cumulative

limits with permits for purposes of

transferring permits with sablefish

endorsements would be implemented

for the 2001 season via this action.

Ownership Controls

One of the Council’s concerns in

developing Amendment 14 was that,

without controls, a permit stacking

program could allow a few permit

owners to control most of the sablefish

catch and landings in the primary

fishery. In IFQ programs where

percentage of ownership has not been

restricted, like the Atlantic surf clam

fishery, a few large corporations own

most of the access privileges for the

fishery. The Council wanted to maintain

the traditional character of the primary

sablefish fishery, which has historically

consisted of small business owners

operating vessels throughout the length

of the West Coast.

In 2000, approximately 139 vessels

participated in the primary fishery.

During the 2000 primary season, 136

people owned sablefish endorsed

permits, which meant that some persons

owned more than one of the 164

sablefish endorsed permits. As of

November 1, 2000, 2 people owned 5

permits, 3 people owned 3 permits, and

14 people owned 2 permits. The

Council included several provisions in

Amendment 14 intended to prevent a

small number of permit owners from

controlling access to the primary

sablefish fishery.

First, Amendment 14 would allow

permit holders to stack no more than

three permits on any one vessel. As

there are 164 permits with sablefish

endorsements, the restriction to no more

than three permits per vessel would

make the minimum fleet size 55 vessels.

Permit transfers must be made through

the NMFS Northwest Region Fisheries

Permits Office, so the agency will be

able to track the number of permits

registered for use with each vessel

participating in the fishery. This

provision would be implemented for the

2001 season through this proposed

action.

Second, no person would be allowed

to have ownership interest in more than

three permits with sablefish

endorsements. Both persons owning a

whole permit outright and persons

owning a portion of a corporation or

partnership where the corporation or

partnership is the permit-owning entity

would be subject to this provision.

When the Council finalized Amendment

14, there were some permit owners who

already owned more than three permits.

People (including partnerships and

corporations) who had an ownership

interest in more than three permits with

sablefish endorsements on November 1,

2000, would not be allowed to

accumulate more permits, but neither

would they be required to sell their

excess permits. NMFS announced this

restriction in an Advance Notice of

Proposed Rulemaking on April 3, 2001

(66 FR 17681). This ‘‘grandfathering’’ of

the privilege to own more than three

permits would last only for as long as

a permit holder owns the particular

permits that he/she owned as of

November 1, 2000. This provision

would be implemented for the 2001

season in that the Fisheries Permits

Office will monitor ownership levels

with information that it can obtain from

public records. NMFS will collect

ownership information on permitowning partnerships and corporations

during the 2002 season.

Third, only individual (human)

persons would be allowed to own

limited entry permits with sablefish

endorsements. Corporations and

partnerships that owned permits with

sablefish endorsements as of November

1, 2000, could continue to own the

permits as corporations and

partnerships. Exemptions for a

particular corporation or partnership

that owned permits on November 1,

2000, would cease with a change in the

identity of that corporation or

partnership. Amendment 14 requires

that permits be owned by individuals to

increase the probability that harvest

privileges would remain under the

ownership of fishers within local fishing

communities. Requiring that permits be

owned by an individual would not

restrict other aspects of the business

operation from being organized as a

partnership, corporation or other type of

legal entity. This provision would be

implemented for the 2001 season in that

the Fisheries Permits Office would not

transfer a permit to a partnership or

corporation that did not own a permit

as of November 1, 2000. This provision

will be fully implemented for the 2002

season by another rule.

Fourth, Amendment 14 would require

that permit owners be on board the

vessel when the vessel is participating

in the primary sablefish fishery.

Persons, partnerships or corporations

who were owners of permits with

sablefish endorsements as of November

1, 2000, would again have the

grandfathered privilege to be exempt

from this requirement. During the

primary fishery, grandfathered permit

owners would not have to be on board

the vessel during the primary fishery.

However, permit owners acquiring

permits after November 1, 2000, would

be required to be on board the vessel

while participating in the primary

fishery. This provision is intended to

ensure that permits are owned by

persons within the fishing community

who will fish their permits, rather than

leasing them out to others. Like the

requirement that permit owners be

individual human persons, the owneron-board requirement is designed to

retain the character of the fishery as one

populated by small businessmen who

work their own vessels, rather than

allow absentee owners to control the

fishery. Amendment 14 allows NMFS to

grant exemptions from the owner-onboard requirement for medical and

personal emergencies beyond the

control of the permit owner. NMFS does

not have time to implement the owneron-board requirement for the 2001

season. This requirement will be

implemented for the 2002 season by

another rule.

Cumulative Limits for Groundfish

Fisheries Outside of the Primary

Sablefish Fishery

Under Amendment 14, only the tiered

sablefish cumulative limits for the

primary fishery would be associated

with permits rather than with vessels.

This means that a vessel with more than

one permit will still be allowed only

one cumulative limit per cumulative

limit period of any species except

sablefish taken in the primary fishery.

Vessels participating in the daily trip

limit fishery for sablefish will also be

subject to a single daily trip limit and

a single monthly or two-month

cumulative limit per vessel. These

provisions are intended to allow the

30872 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 111 / Friday, June 8, 2001 / Proposed Rules

permit stacking program to consolidate

some of the effort in the groundfish

fishery. A vessel owner who wishes to

carry more than one permit on his/her

vessel will have to buy or lease a permit

from another vessel owner. The vessel

owner who sells or leases his permit

would be removing his/her vessel from

the entire groundfish fishery while the

recipient vessel owner will only be able

to harvest multiple cumulative limits in

the primary sablefish fishery. Thus,

permit stacking will result in fewer

limited entry vessels participating in

groundfish fisheries for species other

than sablefish. This provision would be

implemented for the 2001 season.

Daily Trip Limit Fishery for Sablefish

Under Amendment 9 to the FMP, the

limited entry sablefish daily trip limit

fishery may not occur during either the

regular or mop-up seasons that make up

the limited entry, fixed gear primary

sablefish fishery. This provision was

essentially an enforcement measure

intended to prevent permit holders

without sablefish endorsements from

trying to access the larger sablefish

cumulative limits associated with the

regular and mop-up fisheries. However,

the effect of that provision has mainly

been to eliminate some of the confusion

of having multiple unendorsed vessels

on the water during the rapid pace

derby. Most enforcement activities

occur after the fact, when investigators

check landings records and processor

receipts to ensure that vessels are

landing amounts appropriate to their

permits. At-dock enforcement efforts

would include checking permits for

sablefish endorsements and any

suspected forgery would be investigated

after the landing.

Restricting unendorsed vessels to

participating in the daily trip limit

fishery only outside of the regular and

mop-up seasons is not overly

burdensome when those fisheries

together take up 3–4 weeks per year.

Under Amendment 14, however, the

primary season would be 3 months

duration in 2001 and 6 months duration

in 2002 and beyond. To ensure that the

limited entry daily trip limit fishery

could continue throughout the longer

primary season, Amendment 14

removed the Amendment 9 prohibition.

This change is not expected to

significantly affect enforcement

practices and will relieve a burden for

permit holders wishing to participate in

the daily trip limit fishery. This

provision would be implemented for the

2001 season.

Processing Sablefish At Sea

Amendment 14 would prohibit

participants in the primary sablefish

fishery from processing their sablefish at

sea. A longer sablefish season would

give vessels the opportunity to slow

their fishing operations and have more

time to dress their catch. Many sablefish

fishers dress their catch at sea, removing

the head and entrails from the sablefish

before landing it at processing plants.

Most West Coast sablefish is sold frozen

in headed-and-gutted form to Japanese

markets. Processing a sablefish involves

either receiving a whole fish and

heading and gutting it or receiving a

headed-and-gutted fish, and then further

cleaning and bleeding the headed-andgutted fish. These headed-and-gutted,

cleaned fish are glazed with an icewater wash and then frozen for market.

Although processing sablefish that is

already headed-and-gutted is not as

demanding as processing species that

require filleting, processors ensure that

West Coast marketed sablefish meets the

high standards of Japanese fish buyers.

In prohibiting primary fishery

participants from landing processed

sablefish, the Council wished to ensure

that allowing a longer sablefish primary

season would not deprive processing

plants of a traditional income

opportunity. The Council also wanted to

discourage the large longlining catcherprocessors that operate off Alaska from

entering into the West Coast sablefish

fishery. In addition to changing the

character of the fishery and eliminating

an income opportunity for shore-based

processors, allowing at-sea processing

could complicate efforts to monitor

sablefish landings. A vessel that

processes its catch at sea could also sell

that fish at sea, which could make

enforcement of individual vessel quotas

difficult. This prohibition would not

preclude a primary fishery participant

from processing his/her sablefish catch

once that catch has been landed on

shore, and then marketing that catch

without the aid of a processing plant.

In past primary fisheries, very few

vessels have landed fully processed

sablefish. Because there are some permit

owners that have done so, however, the

Council wished to also provide

grandfathering privileges to exempt

those permit owners from the

prohibition on at-sea sablefish

processing. Amendment 14 would allow

permit owners who can prove that they

landed at least 2,000 lb (907 kg) of

frozen sablefish in one year of 1998,

1999, or 2000 to continue to land

processed or frozen sablefish in future

primary fisheries. NMFS does not have

enough time to determine a permit

owner’s qualification for the

grandfathered privilege to land frozen

sablefish for the 2001 season. Thus, for

2001, primary fishery vessels would not

be prohibited from processing their

sablefish catch at sea. This prohibition

and the associated grandfathering

allowance will be implemented for the

2002 season by another rule.

Fees

NMFS is required under Section

304(d)(2) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act

to collect fees from participants in an

IFQ program to recover the actual costs

directly related to the management and

enforcement of the program. These fees

shall not exceed 3 percent of the exvessel value of sablefish harvested

under this IFQ program, to be collected

as landings fees. NMFS has not yet

analyzed the cost of managing and

enforcing this program and will be

better able to predict this cost with data

from the 2001 primary season. This

required fee system will be

implemented for the 2002 season by

another rule.

Classification

At this time, NMFS has not

determined whether Amendment 14,

which this proposed rule would

implement, is consistent with the

national standards of the MagnusonStevens Act and other applicable laws.

NMFS, in making that determination,

will take into account the data, views,

and comments received during the

comment period.

This proposed rule has been

determined to be not significant for

purposes of Executive Order 12866.

The Council prepared an initial

regulatory flexibility analysis that

describes the effect this proposed rule,

if adopted, would have on small entities

as follows:

This proposed rule would primarily

affect the owners of the 164 limited

entry permits with sablefish

endorsements, with some minor

positive effects on the 66 permit holders

without sablefish endorsements. These

permit holders use longline or pot gear

to participate in the limited entry,

primary sablefish fishery. Most sablefish

endorsed longline vessels are under 50

ft(15.24 m) in length while most

sablefish endorsed pot vessels are over

50 ft (15.24 m) in length. While there is

a statistical relationship between size of

vessel and amount of sablefish harvest,

there are smaller sablefish vessels

(under 40 ft) (12.192 m) that catch as

much and more than larger vessels each

year. All of the permit owners and

vessels in the Pacific Coast, limited

entry, fixed gear fleet are considered

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 111 / Friday, June 8, 2001 / Proposed Rules 30873

small entities under Small Business

Administration (SBA) standards.

Amendment 14 would significantly

improve the safety of the primary

fishery for participating vessels. Under

the current management system, the

primary fishery is less than 10 days

long- a brief and intense fishery. This

proposed rule would lengthen the

fishery to 3 months duration in 2001

and a rule to be implemented in 2002

would extend the season to 6 months

duration for the future. Participants

would have the opportunity to fish

against their tiered cumulative limits at

a more safe and rational pace than in

past years. Changes to expenses

associated with participating in the

fishery could be both positive and

negative. Vessel owners would likely

hire fewer crew members if they do not

have to fish in the same rapid-pace

manner. Similarly, participants would

have fewer gear costs, because they

would not be trying to maximize catch

over a brief period. However, if these

vessel owners catch their cumulative

limits over a longer period of time, they

may take more trips to do so and

thereby use more fuel to catch the same

amount of fish. The major financial

benefit to fishery participants would be

that they would have more flexibility in

deciding where and how to distribute

operating expenses.

Permit owners who decide to

purchase additional permits to have

access to more sablefish within the

primary season will have to contend

with the initial cost of those additional

permits. Some of the permit owners

who have not participated in the

primary season in past years may decide

to sell their permits and will receive

compensation for leaving the fishery.

In the past, limited entry permit

holders without sablefish endorsements

have been prohibited from participating

in the daily trip limit fishery during the

primary (regular + mop-up) season.

Amendment 14 would revise the FMP to

allow the daily trip limit fishery to

occur during the primary season. This

change would relieve a burden for

limited entry permit holders without

sablefish endorsements and allow them

to schedule their sablefish fishing at

their convenience.

On the whole, Amendment 14 is

expected to bring greater operational

safety and more business planning

flexibility to the participants in both the

primary sablefish fishery and the daily

trip limit fishery for sablefish. A copy of

the RFA analysis for this action is

available from the Council (see

ADDRESSES).

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660

Administrative practice and

procedure, American Samoa, Fisheries,

Fishing, Guam, Hawaiian Natives,

Indians, Northern Mariana Islands,

Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements.

Dated: June 4, 2001.

William T. Hogarth,

Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries,

National Marine Fisheries Service.

For the reasons set out in the

preamble, 50 CFR part 660 is proposed

to be amended as follows:

PART 660—FISHERIES OFF WEST

COAST STATES AND IN THE

WESTERN PACIFIC

l. The authority citation for part 660

continues to read as follows:

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

2. In § 660.302, a new definition for

‘‘Ownership interest’’ is added to read

as follows:

§ 660.302 Definitions.

* * * * *

Ownership interest, with respect to a

sablefish endorsed permit, means

participation in ownership of a

corporation, partnership or other entity

that owns a sablefish endorsed permit.

Participation in ownership does not

mean owning stock in a publicly owned

corporation.

* * * * *

3. In § 660.306, paragraphs (s) and (t)

are revised to read as follows:

§ 660.306 Prohibitions.

* * * * *

(s) Take, retain, possess or land

sablefish under the cumulative limits

provided for the ‘‘primary’’ limited

entry, fixed gear sablefish season,

described in § 660.323(a)(2), from a

vessel that is not registered to a limited

entry permit with a sablefish

endorsement.

(t) Take, retain, possess, or land more

than a single cumulative limit of a

particular species, per vessel, per

applicable cumulative limit period,

except for sablefish taken in the

‘‘primary’’ limited entry, fixed gear

sablefish season from a vessel

authorized under § 660.323 (a)(2)(i) to

participate in that season, as described

at § 660.323(a)(2)(ii)(C).

* * * * *

4. In § 660.323, paragraph (a)(2) is

revised to read as follows:

§ 660.323 Catch restrictions.

(a) * * *

(2) Fixed gear sablefish. This

paragraph (a)(2) applies to the primary

season for the fixed gear limited entry

sablefish fishery north of 36° N. lat.,

except for paragraph (a)(2)(iii) of this

section, which also applies to the open

access fishery north of 36° N. lat.

Limited entry and open access fixed

gear sablefish fishing south of 36° N. lat.

is governed by routine management

measures imposed under paragraph (b)

of this section.

(i) Sablefish endorsement. A vessel

may not participate in the primary

season for the fixed gear limited entry

fishery, unless the vessel’s owner holds

(by ownership or otherwise) at least one

limited entry permit for that vessel,

affixed with both a gear endorsement for

longline or trap (or pot) gear, and a

sablefish endorsement. Permits with

sablefish endorsements are assigned to

one of three tiers, as described at

§ 660.336.

(ii) Primary season—limited entry,

fixed gear sablefish fishery. (A) Season

dates. North of 36° N. lat., the primary

sablefish season for limited entry, fixed

gear vessels will begin on August 1 and

end on October 31. Unless otherwise

announced, the primary season will

begin and end at 12 noon, l.t.

(B) Gear type. During the primary

season and when fishing against

primary season cumulative limits, each

vessel authorized to participate in that

season under paragraph (a)(2)(i) of this

section may fish for sablefish with any

of the gear types, except trawl gear,

endorsed on at least one of the permits

registered for use with that vessel.

(C) Cumulative limits. (1) A vessel

participating in the primary season will

be constrained by the sablefish

cumulative limit associated with each of

the permits registered for use with that

vessel. The Regional Administrator will

annually calculate the size of the

cumulative trip limit for each of the

three tiers associated with the sablefish

endorsement such that the ratio of limits

between the tiers is approximately

1:1.75:3.85 for Tier 3: Tier 2: and Tier

1, respectively. The size of the

cumulative trip limits will vary

depending on the amount of sablefish

available for the primary fishery. The

size of the cumulative trip limits for the

three tiers in the primary fishery will be

announced in the Federal Register each

year before the fishery opens.

(2) During the primary season, each

vessel authorized to participate in that

season under paragraph (a)(2)(i) of this

section may take, retain, possess, and

land sablefish, up to the cumulative

limits for each of the permits registered

for use with that vessel. If multiple

limited entry permits with sablefish

endorsements are registered for use with

a single vessel, that vessel may land up

30874 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 111 / Friday, June 8, 2001 / Proposed Rules

to the total of all cumulative limits

announced in the Federal Register for

the tiers for those permits, except as

limited by paragraph (a)(2)(ii)(c)(3) of

this section. Up to 3 permits may be

registered for use with a single vessel

during the primary season; thus, a single

vessel may not take and retain, possess

or land more than 3 primary season

sablefish cumulative limits in any one

year. A vessel registered for use with

multiple limited entry permits is subject

to per vessel limits for species other

than sablefish, and to per vessel limits

when participating in the daily trip

limit fishery for sablefish under

paragraph (a)(2)(iii) of this section.

(3) If a permit is registered to more

than one vessel during the primary

season in a single year, the second

vessel may only take the portion of the

cumulative limit for that permit that has

not been harvested by the first vessel to

which the permit is registered. The

combined primary season sablefish

landings for all vessels registered to that

permit may not exceed the cumulative

limit for the tier associated with that

permit.

(4) A cumulative trip limit is the

maximum amount of sablefish that may

be taken and retained, possessed, or

landed per vessel in a specified period

of time, with no limit on the number of

landings or trips.

(iii) Limited entry daily trip limit

fishery. (A) Before the start of the

primary season, all sablefish landings

made by a vessel authorized under

paragraph (a)(2)(i) of this section to

participate in the primary season will be

subject to the restrictions and limits of

the limited entry daily trip limit fishery

for sablefish, which is governed by

routine management measures imposed

under paragraph (b) of this section.

(B) Following the start of the primary

season, all landings made by a vessel

authorized under paragraph (a)(2)(i) of

this section to participate in the primary

season will count against the primary

season cumulative limit(s) associated

with the permit(s) registered for use

with that vessel. Once a vessel has

reached its total cumulative allowable

sablefish landings for the primary

season under paragraph (a)(2)(ii)(C) of

this section, any subsequent sablefish

landings by that vessel will be subject

to the restrictions and limits of the

limited entry daily trip limit fishery for

sablefish for the remainder of the

calendar year.

(C) Vessels registered for use with a

limited entry, fixed gear permit that

does not have a sablefish endorsement

may participate in the limited entry,

daily trip limit fishery for as long as that

fishery is open during the year, subject

to routine management measures

imposed under paragraph (b) of this

section.

(D) Open access vessels may

participate in the limited entry, daily

trip limit fishery for as long as that

fishery is open during the year, subject

to the routine management measures

imposed under paragraph (b) of this

section.

(iv) Trip limits. Trip and/or frequency

limits may be imposed in the limited

entry fishery on vessels that are not

participating in the primary season,

under paragraph (b) of this section. Trip

and/or size limits to protect juvenile

sablefish in the limited entry or openaccess fisheries also may be imposed at

any time under paragraph (b) of this

section. Trip limits may be imposed in

the open-access fishery at any time

under paragraph (b) of this section.

* * * * *

5. In § 660.333, paragraphs (a), (f)(1),

and (h)(1)(i) are revised, and new

paragraphs (h)(3) and (j) are added to

read as follows:

§ 660.333 Limited entry fishery—general.

(a) General. Participation in the

limited entry fishery requires that the

owner of a vessel hold (by ownership or

otherwise) a limited entry permit affixed

with a gear endorsement registered for

use with that vessel for the gear being

fished. A sablefish endorsement is also

required for a vessel to participate in the

primary seasons for the nontrawl,

limited entry sablefish fishery, north of

36° N. lat. There are three types of gear

endorsements: trawl, longline, and pot

(or trap.) More than one type of gear

endorsement may be affixed to a limited

entry permit. While participating in the

limited entry fishery, the vessel

registered to the limited entry permit is

authorized to fish the gear(s) endorsed

on the permit. While participating in the

limited entry, primary fixed gear fishery

for sablefish described at

§ 660.323(a)(2), a vessel registered to

more than one limited entry permit is

authorized to fish with any gear, except

trawl gear, endorsed on at least one of

the permits registered for use with that

vessel. During the limited entry fishery,

permit holders may also fish with open

access gear; except that vessels fishing

against primary sablefish season

cumulative limits described at

§ 660.323(a)(2)(ii)(C) may not fish for

sablefish with open access gear.

* * * * *

(f) Transfers. * * *

(1) The permit owner may convey (by

sale, assignment, lease, bequest,

intestate succession, barter, trade, gift,

or other form of conveyance) the limited

entry permit to a different person. The

new permit owner will not be

authorized to use the permit until the

change in permit ownership has been

registered with and approved by the

SFD. The SFD will not approve a change

in permit ownership for limited entry

permits with sablefish endorsements

that does not meet the ownership

requirements for those permits

described at § 660.336(e).

* * * * *

(h) Vessel size endorsements—(1)

General. (i) If the permit is registered for

use with a trawl vessel that is more than

5 ft (1.52 m) shorter than the size for

which the permit is endorsed, it will be

endorsed for the size of the smaller

vessel. This requirement does not apply

to a permit with a sablefish

endorsement that is endorsed for both

trawl and either longline or pot gear and

which is registered for use with a

longline or pot gear vessel for purposes

of participating in the limited entry

primary fixed gear sablefish fishery

described at § 660.323(a)(2).

* * * * *

(3) Size endorsement requirements for

sablefish endorsed permits.

Notwithstanding paragraphs (h)(1) and

(2) of this section, when multiple

permits are ‘‘stacked’’ on a vessel as

described in paragraph (j) of this

section, only one of the permits must

meet the size requirements of those

sections. Any additional permits that

are stacked for use with a vessel

participating in the limited entry

primary fixed gear sablefish fishery may

be registered for use with a vessel more

than 5 ft (1.52 m) longer or shorter than

the size endorsed on the permit.

* * * * *

(j)‘‘Stacking’’ Limited Entry Permits.

‘‘Stacking’’ limited entry permits, refers

to registering more than one permit for

use with a single vessel. Only limited

entry permits with sablefish

endorsements may be ‘‘stacked.’’ Up to

three limited entry permits with

sablefish endorsements may be

registered for use with a single vessel

during the primary sablefish season

described at § 660.323(a)(2)(ii).

Privileges, responsibilities, and

restrictions associated with stacking

permits to participate in the primary

sablefish fishery are described at

§ 660.323(a)(2) and at § 660.336(e).

6. In § 660.336, paragraphs (a) and (e)

are revised to read as follows:

§ 660.336 Limited entry permits—sablefish

endorsement and tier assignment.

(a) General. Participation in the

limited entry fixed gear sablefish fishery

during the primary season described in

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 111 / Friday, June 8, 2001 / Proposed Rules 30875

§ 660.323 (a)(2) north of 36° N. lat.,

requires that an owner of a vessel hold

(by ownership or lease) a limited entry

permit, registered for use with that

vessel, with a longline or trap (or pot)

endorsement and a sablefish

endorsement. Up to three permits with

sablefish endorsements may be

registered for use with a single vessel.

Limited entry permits with sablefish

endorsements are assigned to one of

three different cumulative trip limit

tiers, based on the qualifying catch

history of the permit.

* * * * *

(e) Ownership requirements and

limitations. (1) No partnership or

corporation may own a limited entry

permit with a sablefish endorsement

unless that partnership or corporation

owned a limited entry permit with a

sablefish endorsement on November 1,

2000. Otherwise, only individual

human persons may own limited entry

permits with sablefish endorsements.

(2) No person, partnership, or

corporation may have ownership

interest in more than three permits with

sablefish endorsements, except for

persons, partnerships, or corporations

that had ownership interest in more

than 3 permits with sablefish

endorsements as of November 1, 2000.

The exemption from the maximum

ownership level of 3 permits only

applies to ownership of the same

permits that were owned on November

1, 2000. Persons, partnerships or

corporations that had ownership

interest in more than 3 permits with

sablefish endorsements as of November

1, 2000, may not acquire additional

permits beyond those owned on

November 1, 2000, until they own fewer

than 3 permits; at that time they may

not exceed the ownership cap of 3

permits.

(3) A partnership or corporation will

lose the exemptions provided in

paragraphs (e)(1) and (2) of this section

on the effective date of any change in

the corporation or partnership from that

which existed on November 1, 2000. A

‘‘change’’ in the partnership or

corporation means a change in the

corporate or partnership membership,

except a change caused by the death of

a member providing the death did not

result in any new members. A change in

membership is not considered to have

occurred if a member becomes legally

incapacitated and a trustee is appointed

to act on his behalf, nor if the ownership

of shares among existing members

changes, nor if a member leaves the

corporation or partnership and is not

replaced. Changes in the ownership of

publicly held stock will not be deemed

changes in ownership of the

corporation.

[FR Doc. 01–14517 Filed 6–7–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S