Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 108 / Monday, June 6, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 34215 

Plan processing and administration, 

thereby improving the capabilities and 

efficacy of EAS as a national system for 

distributing vital alert information to all 

Americans in a cost-effective manner. 

The following information collections 

contained in part 11 may be impacted 

by the rule amendments described 

herein. 

State EAS Plans (47 CFR 11.21) 

The establishment of a State EAS Plan 

Content Checklist for SECCs should 

have no impact or lessen SECC burdens, 

and posting it on the FCC’s website, and 

incorporating it as an appendix in the 

ARS user manual, are routine Bureau 

activities. The requirement to ensure 

State EAS Plans are updated annually 

already was contained in § 11.21, and 

thus does not represent a new burden. 

The requirement that the State EAS 

Plan include a certification (which will 

be incorporated into the ARS) by the 

SECC Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson 

that the SECC met (in person, via 

teleconference, or via other methods of 

conducting virtual meetings) at least 

once in the twelve months prior to 

submitting the annual updated plan to 

review and update its State EAS Plan 

should promote added diligence in 

SECC administration of State EAS Plans. 

The Commission estimates the burden 

to SECC members in complying with 

this requirement to be two hours per 

member. 

The rule amendment requiring the 

Bureau approve or reject State EAS 

Plans submitted for approval within 60 

days of receipt does not impose new 

burdens on any entity. The Bureau 

already is charged with reviewing State 

EAS Plans. The internal requirement 

that the Bureau list the approval dates 

of State EAS Plans submitted on ARS on 

the Commission’s website, and in the 

event a final decision is made to deny 

a plan, to directly notify the chief 

executive of the State to which the plan 

applies of that determination and the 

reasons for such denial within 30 days, 

does not impose new burdens on any 

entity. The Bureau already maintains a 

web page on the Commission’s website 

dedicated to SECC and State EAS Plan 

information. 

False EAS Alert Reporting (47 CFR 

11.45) 

The amendment enabling the FEMA 

Administrator and Tribal, State, local, 

and territorial governments to file 

reports of false EAS alerts provides 

another mechanism for the Commission 

to receive information concerning false 

EAS alerts and does not impose burdens 

on any entity. Should any permitted 

government entity voluntarily elect to 

file a false EAS alert report, the burden 

associated with this provision amounts 

to composing an email, which the 

Commission estimates will take an hour 

or less to prepare, and falls within the 

routine activities of government 

employees. False alert reports help the 

Commission to identify, investigate, 

correct and prevent false EAS 

activations, which enhances the EAS’s 

efficacy and the public trust in the EAS. 

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 11 

Radio, Television. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Marlene Dortch, 

Secretary. 

For the reasons discussed in the 

preamble, the Federal Communications 

Commission amends 47 CFR part 11 as 

follows: 

PART 11—EMERGENCY ALERT 

SYSTEM (EAS) 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 11 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 154 (i) and (o), 

303(r), 544(g), 606, 1201, 1206. 

§ 11.21 [Amended] 

■ 2. Amend § 11.21 by removing 

paragraph (g). 

§ 11.45 [Amended] 

■ 3. Amend § 11.45 by removing 

paragraph (d). 

[FR Doc. 2022–12076 Filed 6–3–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 679 

[Docket No. 220413–0094] 

RIN 0648–BL28 

Pacific Halibut Fisheries; Catch 

Sharing Plan 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary final rule. 

SUMMARY: NMFS issues regulations to 

remove limits on the maximum amount 

of halibut individual fishing quota (IFQ) 

that may be harvested by a vessel, 

commonly known as vessel use caps, in 

IFQ regulatory Areas 4A (Eastern 

Aleutian Islands), 4B (Central and 

Western Aleutian Islands), 4C (Central 

Bering Sea), and 4D (Eastern Bering 

Sea). This action is needed to provide 

additional flexibility to IFQ participants 

in 2022 to ensure allocations of halibut 

IFQ can be harvested by the limited 

number of vessels operating in these 

areas. This action is within the authority 

of the Secretary of Commerce to 

establish additional regulations 

governing the taking of halibut that are 

in addition to, and not in conflict with, 

those adopted by the International 

Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC). 

This action is intended to promote the 

goals and objectives of the IFQ Program, 

the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 

(Halibut Act), and other applicable laws. 

DATES: Effective June 6, 2022, through 

December 31, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: Electronic copies of the 

Categorical Exclusion and the 

Regulatory Impact Review (herein 

referred to as the ‘‘Analysis’’) prepared 

for this action are available from 

www.regulations.gov or from the NMFS 

Alaska Region website at https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/region/alaska. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Abby Jahn, 907–586–7228. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

This final rule implements regulations 

for the 2022 IFQ fishing year to 

temporarily remove vessel use caps in 

Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D and exclude 

harvest of IFQ halibut in 2022 from the 

calculation of vessel use caps in IFQ 

regulatory Areas 2C, 3A, or 3B. The 

existing vessel use caps were 

recommended by the North Pacific 

Fishery Management Council (Council) 

and implemented by NMFS as part of 

the IFQ Program (58 FR 59375; 

November 9, 1993) as regulations that 

were in addition to, and not in conflict 

with, those adopted by the IPHC, 

consistent with the Halibut Act (16 

U.S.C. 773c(c)). The following sections 

describe the IFQ Program; halibut IFQ 

vessel use caps; the rationale for and 

effects from temporarily removing 

vessel use caps in Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, and 

4D; and the regulations implemented 

under this final rule. 

IFQ Program 

Commercial halibut and sablefish 

fisheries in Alaska are subject to 

regulation under the IFQ Program and 

the CDQ Program (50 CFR part 679). A 

key objective of the IFQ Program is to 

support the social and economic 

character of the fisheries and the coastal 

fishing communities where many of 

these fisheries are based. For more 

information about the IFQ Program, 

please refer to Section 2.4 of the 


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Analysis. Because this rule is specific to 

the halibut IFQ fishery, reference to the 

IFQ Program in this preamble is specific 

to halibut unless otherwise noted. 

Under the IFQ Program, access to the 

commercial halibut fisheries is limited 

to those persons holding quota share 

(QS). Halibut QS is designated for a 

specific geographic area of harvest, a 

specific vessel operation type (catcher 

vessel (CV) or catcher/processor), and 

for a specific range of vessel sizes that 

may be used to harvest the halibut 

(vessel category). Out of the four vessel 

categories of halibut QS, category A 

shares are designated for catcher/ 

processors that process their catch at sea 

(e.g., freezer longline vessels) and do not 

have a vessel length designation, 

whereas category B, category C, and 

category D shares are designated to be 

fished on CVs that meet specific length 

designations (§ 679.40(a)(5)). 

NMFS annually issues IFQ permits to 

each QS holder. IFQ permits authorize 

permit holders to harvest a specified 

amount of a particular IFQ species in an 

area from a specific operation type and 

vessel category, consistent with the QS 

they hold. IFQ is expressed in pounds 

(lb) and is based on the amount of QS 

held by the permit holder in relation to 

the total QS pool for each area with an 

assigned catch. 

The IFQ Program also established: (1) 

limits on the maximum amount of QS 

that a person could use (i.e., be used to 

receive annual IFQ) (§ 679.42(f)); (2) 

limits on the number of small amounts 

of indivisible QS units, known as QS 

blocks, that a person can hold 

(§ 679.42(g)); (3) limits on the ability of 

IFQ assigned to one CV vessel category 

(vessel categories B, C, or D IFQ) to be 

fished on a different (larger) vessel 

category with some limited exceptions 

(§ 679.42(a)(2)); and (4) limits on the 

maximum amount of halibut IFQ that 

may be harvested by a vessel during an 

IFQ fishing year (§ 679.42(h)). Only 

qualified individuals and initial 

recipients of QS are eligible to hold CV 

QS, and they must be on board the 

vessel when the IFQ is being fished, 

with a few limited exceptions 

(§ 679.41(h)(2)). All of these limitations 

were established to retain the owneroperator nature of the CV halibut IFQ 

fisheries, limit consolidation of QS, and 

ensure the annual IFQ is not harvested 

on a small number of larger vessels. 

Halibut IFQ Vessel Use Caps 

The Council established vessel use 

caps under the IFQ Program to limit the 

maximum amount of halibut that could 

be harvested on any one vessel. The 

limits are intended to help ensure that 

a minimum number of vessels are 

engaged in the halibut IFQ fishery and 

to address concerns about the socioeconomic impacts of consolidation 

under the IFQ Program. For additional 

detail on vessel use caps, see the 

preamble to the proposed rule for the 

IFQ Program (57 FR 57130; December 3, 

1992). 

This final rule refers to halibut catch 

limits, commercial halibut allocations, 

and vessel use caps in net pounds or net 

metric tons. Net pounds and net metric 

tons are defined as the weight of halibut 

from which the gills, entrails, head, ice, 

and slime have been removed. This 

terminology used in this final rule is 

consistent with the IPHC, which 

establishes catch limits and calculates 

mortality in net pounds. 

For IFQ regulatory Areas 2C, 3A, 3B, 

4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, and 4E, vessels cannot 

be used to harvest more halibut IFQ 

than one-half percent of the combined 

total catch limits of halibut 

(§ 679.42(h)(1)). Applying this 

regulation to 2022 yields a vessel use 

cap of 101,490 lb (46.0 mt). This vessel 

use cap applies to vessels harvesting 

IFQ halibut in the regulatory areas 

subject to this final rule: Areas 4A, 4B, 

4C, and 4D. 

A Community Quota Entity (CQE) is 

authorized to hold halibut QS in Area 

4B on behalf of the community of Adak, 

Alaska (79 FR 8870; February 14, 2014). 

A CQE is a NMFS-approved non-profit 

organization that represents small, 

remote, coastal communities that meet 

specific criteria to purchase and hold 

CV halibut QS on behalf of an eligible 

community. The CQE holds QS and 

leases the IFQ derived from the 

underlying QS to community residents. 

Any vessel harvesting halibut IFQ that 

is derived from the QS and held by the 

CQE representing the community of 

Adak is subject to the vessel use cap 

regulations at § 679.42(h)(1)(ii), which 

limit a vessel to harvest no more than 

50,000 lb (22.7 mt), in addition to those 

set forth at § 679.42(h)(1) introductory 

text and 679.42(h)(i). 

Rationale and Effects of Temporarily 

Removing Vessel Use Caps in Areas 4A, 

4B, 4C, and 4D 

On February 10, 2022, at its regularlyscheduled meeting, the Council 

addressed requests from IFQ fishery 

stakeholders to remove vessel use caps 

applicable to the halibut IFQ fisheries in 

Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D (Sections 1 

and 2.3 of the Analysis). The Council 

requested this rule because of the 

ongoing socio-economic impacts of the 

COVID–19 pandemic as identified by 

the public, including coastal 

communities and fishery participants in 

Area 4. NMFS proposes this rule to 

provide additional flexibility to vessels 

operating in Area 4 during the 2022 

fishing season. This action is expected 

to facilitate the harvest of halibut 

allocated under the IFQ program in Area 

4 and provide additional harvest 

flexibility to vessels operating in Area 4. 

This action is needed because of the 

relatively large proportion of vessels 

participating in Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, and 

4D halibut IFQ fisheries that are 

operating near the current vessel use 

cap, thereby limiting the amount of 

additional IFQ that could be harvested 

on vessels operating in those areas 

(Section 2.3 of the Analysis). 

Additionally, this action is expected to 

provide flexibility to the CQE 

representing the community of Adak, 

Alaska, because the minimum number 

of vessels needed under current use 

caps exceeds the number of vessels 

owned by residents of the community 

(Section 2.5.2 of the Analysis). 

The reader is referred to the Analysis, 

particularly Sections 2.3, 2.6, and 2.7, 

for additional detail on the efficacy of 

2020 and 2021 rulemakings that 

temporarily removed vessel use caps in 

Area 4, a broader discussion of the range 

of factors considered for this final rule, 

and the anticipated effects of removing 

the vessel use caps in Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, 

and 4D for both CQE and non-CQEassociated vessels. 

The Council recommended 

‘‘expedited action’’ to remove vessel use 

caps for the halibut IFQ fishery in Areas 

4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D to be made effective 

as soon as possible during the 2022 

fishing year, which ends on December 7, 

2022. NMFS accordingly established an 

expedited 15-day comment period for 

the proposed rule. 

The Council did not recommend, and 

this final rule does not include, 

measures to remove the vessel use caps 

for the sablefish IFQ fishery, or for other 

halibut IFQ areas, due to the larger 

number of vessels that are currently 

active in the sablefish IFQ fishery and 

these other halibut areas. Area 4E was 

not included because it is entirely 

allocated to harvest under the CDQ 

Program; therefore, vessel use caps do 

not apply to Area 4E. Additionally, 

halibut harvests in Areas 2C, 3A, and 3B 

are unlikely to be constrained under the 

current vessel use caps (Section 2.5.2.1 

of the Analysis). 

NMFS also considered the potential 

impacts on halibut conservation and 

management if vessel use caps vessels 

in Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D are relieved 

for the 2022 IFQ fishing year. The 

regulatory amendments in this rule 

temporarily add a regulation to remove 

vessel use caps in Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, and 

4D. This final rule provides additional 


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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 108 / Monday, June 6, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 34217 

flexibility to facilitate harvest of the 

halibut resource and is responsive to the 

Council request to implement expedited 

rulemaking for the 2022 IFQ fishing year 

due to the ongoing economic, social, 

and public health impacts of the 

COVID–19 pandemic. This final rule 

does not modify the vessel use cap 

provisions in future years, consistent 

with the Council’s goals in 

implementing vessel use caps in this 

fishery (Section 2.3 in the Analysis). 

This final rule does not modify other 

elements of the IFQ Program. This final 

rule does not increase or otherwise 

modify the 2022 halibut catch limits 

adopted by the IPHC and implemented 

by NMFS (87 FR 12604, March 7, 2022). 

This final rule does not modify any 

other conservation measures 

recommended by the IPHC and adopted 

by NMFS, nor any other conservation 

measures implemented by NMFS 

independent of the IPHC. This final rule 

does not modify other limitations on the 

use of QS and IFQ described in the 

previous sections of this preamble. 

Final Regulations 

After considering the best available 

information, the Convention, the status 

of the halibut resource, and the 

potential social and economic costs of 

maintaining the vessel use cap limits 

described in the preamble, this final 

rule adds a new, temporary provision at 

50 CFR 679.42(h)(1)(iii) to remove 

vessel use caps for vessels harvesting 

IFQ halibut in Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D 

during the 2022 IFQ fishing year. 

Because vessel use caps are applied 

under existing regulations at the fishery 

level, including harvest in all areas, this 

final rule clarifies that harvest of IFQ 

halibut in regulatory Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, 

and 4D is excluded from the calculation 

of vessel use caps in IFQ regulatory 

Areas 2C, 3A, or 3B during the 2022 IFQ 

fishing year. 

Changes From Proposed to Final Rule 

NMFS did not make changes to the 

regulatory text in this final rule from the 

regulatory text in the proposed rule. 

Comments and Responses 

NMFS received three comment letters 

during the public comment period for 

the proposed rule (87 FR 23155, April 

19, 2022). Below, NMFS summarizes 

and responds to three unique 

comments. Of the three comment letters 

received, one letter was from a nonprofit corporation, one letter was from 

an individual, and one letter was from 

a fishery participant. 

Comment 1: One commenter generally 

supported the action because it is 

beneficial to fishermen and it is aligned 

with the original purpose of the IFQ 

program, which promotes management 

objectives of the Halibut Act. 

Additionally, the commenter opined 

that this action would have a positive 

impact on fishery participant’s ability to 

fully harvest their allocations. 

Response: NMFS acknowledges the 

commenter’s support for this action. 

Comment 2: One commenter 

supported the action because it provides 

flexibility and benefits communities in 

Area 4, which continue to face 

economic, operational, and public 

health challenges due to the fisherylevel impacts of the COVID–19 

pandemic. 

Response: NMFS acknowledges the 

commenter’s support for this action. 

Comment 3: One commenter opposed 

the action because of concerns with 

consolidation, who benefits from 

actions like this one, and barriers to 

entry into the IFQ Program. The 

commenter adds that, in their view, this 

action does not align with the original 

intent of the IFQ program to protect 

fishery participants from consolidation. 

They opine that NMFS should not allow 

a small number of QS holders to 

continue to benefit from the IFQ 

program. The commenter believes that if 

QS holders do not want to fish, then 

they should sell their quota shares. In 

their view, by removing vessel use caps, 

this action promotes consolidation, 

which increases the price of the QS and 

barriers to entry into the IFQ Program. 

Response: The Council recommended 

implementing this action for the 2022 

fishing year because of the ongoing 

socio-economic impacts of the COVID– 

19 pandemic identified by the public, 

including coastal communities and 

fishery participants in Area 4. NMFS 

carefully assessed the potential social 

and economic effects of this action. This 

final rule is temporary and therefore 

does not modify the vessel use cap 

provisions in future years. The Council 

and NMFS continue to strongly support 

the vessel use caps provision of the IFQ 

Program. These vessel use cap 

requirements are an essential 

component of the IFQ Program because 

they ensure harvesting opportunity is 

not consolidated into too few vessels 

(Section 2.3 of the Analysis). 

When the Council developed the IFQ 

Program, one primary objective was to 

protect entry-level and part-time 

participants that may have otherwise 

been eliminated because of predicted 

consolidation trends. However, since 

implementation, the value of QS has 

increased and the number of vessels 

harvesting IFQ has decreased, resulting 

in some consolidation. Notably, 

however, this action is limited to 

modifying vessel use caps in 2022 only, 

as detailed in the preamble to this final 

rule, and does not modify any other 

provisions of the IFQ Program that are 

designed to prevent excessive 

consolidation and to facilitate entry. 

Those unmodified provisions include 

the QS use caps (§ 679.42 (f)) and the 

fish down provision (Amendment 42 to 

the BSAI GOA FMP). 

Classification 

Regulations governing the U.S. 

fisheries for Pacific halibut are 

developed by the IPHC, the Council, 

and the Secretary of Commerce. Section 

5 of the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 

1982 (Halibut Act, 16 U.S.C. 773c) 

allows the Regional Council authority 

over a particular geographical area to 

develop regulations governing the 

allocation and catch of halibut in U.S. 

Convention waters as long as those 

regulations do not conflict with IPHC 

regulations. This final action is 

consistent with the Council’s authority 

to allocate halibut catch among fishery 

participants in Convention waters in 

and off Alaska. 

There is good cause under 5 U.S.C. 

553(d)(3) to waive the 30-day delay in 

effective date. It is important that this 

final rule is implemented in a timely 

manner before fishing vessels reach 

their use caps. The IFQ halibut fishing 

season is already underway and began 

on March 6, 2022. A consequence of 

delayed effectiveness of this final rule 

would be that a vessel’s fishing activity 

may be limited unnecessarily if a vessel 

reaches their use cap prior to the 

effective date of this rule. Additionally, 

an expedited implementation provides 

much needed flexibility. Any delay in 

the effective date of this final rule 

would be contrary to public interest. 

Therefore, there is good cause to 

advance this thoroughly considered 

action without delay. 

This final rule has been determined to 

be not significant for purposes of 

Executive Order 12866. 

A Regulatory Impact Review was 

prepared to assess costs and benefits of 

available regulatory alternatives. A copy 

of this analysis is available from NMFS 

(see ADDRESSES). Specific aspects of the 

economic analysis are discussed below 

in the Final Regulatory Flexibility 

Analysis (FRFA) section. 

Small Entity Compliance Guide 

Section 212 of the Small Business 

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 

1996 states that, for each rule or group 

of related rules for which an agency is 

required to prepare a final regulatory 

flexibility analysis, the agency shall 

publish one or more guides to assist 


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34218 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 108 / Monday, June 6, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 

small entities in complying with the 

rule and shall designate such 

publications as ‘‘small entity 

compliance guides.’’ Copies of the 

proposed rule, this final rule, and the 

small entity compliance guide are 

available on the Alaska Region’s website 

at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/ 

alaska/sustainable-fisheries/pacifichalibut-and-sablefish-individualfishing-quota-ifq-program. 

Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

This FRFA incorporates the Initial 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) 

and the analyses completed to support 

this action. Section 604 of the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) 

requires that when an agency 

promulgates a final rule under section 

553 of Title 5 of the U.S. Code, after 

being required by that section or any 

other law to publish a general notice of 

proposed rulemaking, the agency shall 

prepare a FRFA. Section 604 describes 

the required contents of a FRFA: (1) A 

statement of the need for and objectives 

of the rule; (2) a statement of the 

significant issues raised by the public 

comments in response to the IRFA, a 

statement of the assessment of the 

agency of such issues, and a statement 

of any changes made to the proposed 

rule as a result of such comments; (3) 

the response of the agency to any 

comments filed by the Chief Counsel for 

Advocacy of the Small Business 

Administration (SBA) in response to the 

proposed rule, and a detailed statement 

of any change made to the proposed rule 

in the final rule as a result of the 

comments; (4) a description of and an 

estimate of the number of small entities 

to which the rule will apply or an 

explanation of why no such estimate is 

available; (5) a description of the 

projected reporting, recordkeeping, and 

other compliance requirements of the 

rule, including an estimate of the classes 

of small entities that will be subject to 

the requirement and the type of 

professional skills necessary for 

preparation of the report or record; and 

(6) a description of the steps the agency 

has taken to minimize the significant 

economic impact on small entities 

consistent with the stated objectives of 

applicable statutes including a 

statement of the factual, policy, and 

legal reasons for selecting the alternative 

adopted in this final rule and why each 

one of the other significant alternatives 

to the rule considered by the agency 

which affect the impact on small 

entities was rejected. 

A description of this final rule and the 

need for and objectives of this rule are 

contained in the preamble to this final 

rule and the preamble to the proposed 

rule (87 FR 23155, April 19, 2022). That 

description is not repeated here. 

Public and Chief Counsel for Advocacy 

Comments on the IRFA 

NMFS published the proposed rule on 

April 19, 2022 (87 FR 23155). An IRFA 

was prepared and included in the 

Classification section of the preamble to 

the proposed rule. The comment period 

for the proposed rule closed on May 4, 

2022. The Chief Counsel for Advocacy 

of the SBA did not file any comments 

on the proposed rule. NMFS received no 

comments specifically on the IRFA; 

therefore, no changes were made to this 

rule as a result of comments on the 

IRFA. However, one comment was 

received on the entities affected by this 

rule. For a summary of this comment 

and the agency’s response, refer to the 

section above titled ‘‘Comments and 

Responses’’. 

Number and Description of Small 

Entities Regulated by This Final Rule 

This final rule directly regulates the 

owners and operators of vessels that are 

used to harvest halibut IFQ in IFQ Areas 

4A, 4B, 4C, or 4D. As of 2020 (the most 

recent year of gross revenue data), there 

were 99 unique vessels that harvested 

halibut IFQ in IFQ Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, or 

4D. Based on average annual gross 

revenue data, including affiliations, all 

but one of these vessels that landed 

halibut in 2020 are considered small 

entities based on the applicable $11 

million threshold. Additional details are 

included in Sections 2.9 in the Analysis 

prepared for this rule (see ADDRESSES). 

Recordkeeping, Reporting, and Other 

Compliance Requirements 

This action does not contain 

additional recordkeeping, reporting, or 

other compliance requirements. 

Description of Significant Alternatives 

That Minimize Adverse Impacts on 

Small Entities 

The RFA requires identification of 

any significant alternatives to the final 

rule that accomplish the stated 

objectives of the final action, consistent 

with applicable statutes, and that would 

minimize any significant economic 

impact of the final rule on small 

entities. The Council requested one 

action alternative. No other alternatives 

were considered. Additionally, NMFS 

did not identify other action alternatives 

that would provide the same level of 

flexibility that was requested by the 

Council within the requested expedited 

timeframe. Further, this action is the 

same as the action implemented in 2021 

and similar to the action implemented 

in 2020. In consideration of the 

Council’s request, NMFS analyzed the 

impacts of the action alternative 

compared to the status quo. 

The status quo alternative would 

retain the existing vessel use cap 

restrictions as defined under 50 CFR 

679.42(h). It is possible that existing 

vessel use caps regulations under the 

status quo may increase the likelihood 

that some of the annual halibut 

allocation is left unharvested in Area 4. 

This final rule implements the action 

alternative to remove limits on the 

maximum amount of halibut IFQ that 

may be harvested by a vessel in IFQ 

regulatory Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D. 

This action provides additional 

flexibility to IFQ participants in 2022 to 

ensure allocations of halibut IFQ can be 

harvested by the limited number of 

vessels operating in these Areas. 

However, this may result in a reduction 

in crew jobs and opportunities for new 

entrants in Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D. 

Additionally, if there are fewer 

participants in the fishery, it is possible 

that landings could consolidate to fewer 

processors and communities depending 

on landing location and historic 

harvester-processor relationships. 

Collection-of-Information Requirements 

This rule contains no information 

collection requirements under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679 

Alaska, Fisheries, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

Dated: June 1, 2022. 

Samuel D. Rauch, III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, 50 CFR part 679 is amended 

as follows: 

PART 679—FISHERIES OF THE 

EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF 

ALASKA 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 679 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq.; 1801 et 

seq.; 3631 et seq.; Pub. L. 108–447; Pub. L. 

111–281. 

■ 2. In § 679.42, add paragraph (h)(1)(iii) 

to read as follows: 

§ 679.42 Limitations on use of QS and IFQ. 

* * * * * 

(h) * * * 

(1) * * * 

(iii) Notwithstanding the vessel use 

caps specified in paragraphs (h)(1) 

introductory text and (h)(1)(ii) of this 

section, vessel use caps do not apply to 

vessels harvesting IFQ halibut in IFQ 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 108 / Monday, June 6, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 34219 

regulatory Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D 

during the 2022 IFQ fishing year. 

Harvest of IFQ halibut in regulatory 

Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D is excluded 

from the calculation of vessel use caps 

for IFQ regulatory Areas 2C, 3A, or 3B 

during the 2022 IFQ fishing year. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2022–12079 Filed 6–3–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with RULES1