41292 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 132 / Tuesday, July 12, 2022 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XC134] 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone off Alaska; Bering Sea and 

Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization 

Cost Recovery Program 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notification of fee percentage. 

SUMMARY: NMFS publishes notification 

of a 2.23 percent fee for cost recovery 

under the Bering Sea and Aleutian 

Islands Crab Rationalization Program. 

This action is intended to provide 

holders of crab allocations with the 

2022/2023 crab fishing year fee 

percentage so they can calculate the 

required cost recovery fee payment, 

which must be submitted by July 31, 

2023. 

DATES: The Crab Rationalization 

Program Registered Crab Receiver 

permit holder is responsible for 

submitting the fee liability payment to 

NMFS by July 31, 2023. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mason Smith, (907) 586–7228. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

NMFS Alaska Region administers the 

Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab 

Rationalization Program (Program) in 

the North Pacific. Fishing under the 

Program began on August 15, 2005. 

Regulations implementing the Program 

can be found at 50 CFR part 680. 

The Program is a limited access 

privilege program authorized by section 

313(j) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act). The Program 

includes a cost recovery provision to 

collect fees to recover the actual costs 

directly related to the management, data 

collection, and enforcement of the 

Program. The Program is consistent with 

the cost recovery provisions included 

under section 304(d)(2)(A) of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act. NMFS 

developed the cost recovery regulations 

to conform to statutory requirements 

and to reimburse the agency for the 

actual costs directly related to the 

management, data collection, and 

enforcement of the Program. The cost 

recovery provision allows collection of 

133 percent of the actual management, 

data collection, and enforcement costs 

up to 3 percent of the ex-vessel value of 

crab harvested under the Program. The 

Program provides that a proportional 

share of fees charged be forwarded to 

the State of Alaska for reimbursement of 

its share of management and data 

collection costs for the Program. 

A crab allocation holder generally 

incurs a cost recovery fee liability for 

every pound of crab landed. Catcher 

vessel and processor quota shareholders 

split the cost recovery fees equally with 

each paying half, while catcher/ 

processor quota shareholders pay the 

full fee percentage for crab processed at 

sea. The crab allocations subject to cost 

recovery include Individual Fishing 

Quota, Crew Individual Fishing Quota, 

Individual Processing Quota, 

Community Development Quota, and 

the Adak community allocation. The 

Registered Crab Receiver (RCR) permit 

holder must collect the fee liability from 

the crab allocation holder who is 

landing crab. Additionally, the RCR 

permit holder must collect their own fee 

liability for all crab delivered to the 

RCR. The RCR permit holder is 

responsible for submitting this payment 

to NMFS on or before July 31, in the 

year following the crab fishing year in 

which landings of crab were made. 

The dollar amount of the fee due is 

determined by multiplying the fee 

percentage (not to exceed 3 percent) by 

the ex-vessel value of crab debited from 

the allocation. Program details may be 

found in the implementing regulations 

at 50 CFR 680.44. 

Fee Percentage 

Each year, NMFS calculates and 

publishes in the Federal Register the fee 

percentage according to the factors and 

methodology described at § 680.44(c)(2). 

The formula for determining the fee 

percentage is the ‘‘direct program costs’’ 

divided by ‘‘value of the fishery,’’ where 

‘‘direct program costs’’ are the direct 

program costs for the Program for the 

previous fiscal year, and ‘‘value of the 

fishery’’ is the ex-vessel value of the 

catch subject to the crab cost recovery 

fee liability for the current year. Fee 

collections for any given year may be 

less than or greater than the actual costs 

and fishery value for that year, as 

regulations establish the fee percentage 

in the first quarter of the crab fishing 

year based on the fishery value and 

costs in the prior year. 

According to the fee percentage 

formula described above, the estimated 

percentage of costs to value for the 

2021/2022 fishery was 2.23 percent. 

Therefore, the fee percentage will be 

2.23 percent for the 2022/2023 crab 

fishing year. This is an increase by 

approximately 1.14 percentage points 

from the 2021/2022 crab fishing year fee 

percentage of 1.09 percent (86 FR 35756, 

July 7, 2021). Direct program costs for 

managing the fishery increased by 

approximately 9 percent from 2021/ 

2022 to 2022/2023, while fishery value 

decreased by approximately 47 percent, 

resulting in the increased fee 

percentage. Similar to previous years, 

the largest direct program costs were 

incurred by the NOAA Office of Law 

Enforcement and the Alaska Department 

of Fish and Game, respectively. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1862; Pub. L. 

109–241; Pub. L. 109–479. 

Dated: July 6, 2022. 

Jennifer M. Wallace, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–14729 Filed 7–11–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XC169] 

Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management 

Council; Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of a meeting that is open 

to the public. 

SUMMARY: The Gulf of Mexico Fishery 

Management Council will hold a 

meeting of its Individual Fishing Quota 

(IFQ) Focus Group. There will be a 

virtual option for the public to listen to 

the plenary sessions and provide public 

comments. 

DATES: The meeting will convene on 

Tuesday, August 2, 2022, from 9 a.m. to 

5 p.m., EDT and Wednesday, August 3, 

2022, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., EDT. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will take place 

at the Gulf Council office. Please visit 

the Gulf Council website at 

www.gulfcouncil.org for meeting 

materials. 

Council address: Gulf of Mexico 

Fishery Management Council, 4107 W 

Spruce Street, Suite 200, Tampa, FL 

33607; telephone: (813) 348–1630. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Ava Lasseter, Anthropologist, Gulf of 

Mexico Fishery Management Council; 

ava.lasseter@gulfcouncil.org, telephone: 

(813) 348–1630. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

meeting will begin with introductions 

and discussion of the meeting format, 

followed by a review of the agenda and 

meeting objectives. The focus group will 


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