Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 228 / Tuesday, November 29, 2005 / Proposed Rules 71449 

submittal of public comments by two 

weeks for the proposed rule regarding 

payments under Time-and-Materials 

(T&M) and Labor-Hour (LH) Contracts. 

The proposed rule was published in the 

Federal Register at 70 FR 56314, 

September 26, 2005. 

DATES: Interested parties should submit 

written comments on the proposed rule 

to the FAR Secretariat at the address 

shown in the proposed rule on or before 

December 9, 2005 to be considered in 

the formulation of a final rule. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments 

identified by FAR case 2004–015 by any 

of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Agency Web Site: http:// 

www.acqnet.gov/far/ProposedRules/ 

proposed.htm. Click on the FAR case 

number to submit comments. 

• E-mail: farcase.2004–015@gsa.gov. 

Include FAR case 2004–015 in the 

subject line of the message. 

• Fax: 202–501–4067. 

• Mail: General Services 

Administration, Regulatory Secretariat 

(VIR), 1800 F Street, NW, Room 4035, 

ATTN: Laurieann Duarte, Washington, 

DC 20405. 

Instructions: Please submit comments 

only and cite FAR case 2004–015 in all 

correspondence related to this case. All 

comments received will be posted 

without change to http:// 

www.acqnet.gov/far/ProposedRules/ 

proposed.htm, including any personal 

and/or business confidential 

information provided. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

clarification of content, contact Mr. 

Jeremy Olson, Procurement Analyst, at 

(202) 501–3221. Please cite FAR case 

2004–015. Contact the FAR Secretariat 

at (202) 501–4755 for information 

pertaining to status or publication 

schedules. 

List of Subjects in 48 CFR Parts 16, 32, 

and 52 

Government procurement. 

Dated: November 22, 2005. 

Gerald Zaffos, 

Director, Contract Policy Division. 

[FR Doc. 05–23395 Filed 11–28–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–EP–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 600 

[Docket No. 041029298–5292–05; I.D. 

091505E] 

RIN 0648–AS38 

Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; 

Fishing Capacity Reduction Program; 

Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; 

California, Washington, and Oregon 

Fisheries for Coastal Dungeness Crab 

and Pink Shrimp; Industry Fee 

Collection System for Fishing Capacity 

Reduction Loan 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: NMFS publishes this 

proposed rule to clarify that the fee 

regulations for the Pacific Coast 

groundfish fishing capacity reduction 

program do not apply to any shrimp 

landed under Washington State fishing 

licenses for Puget Sound shrimp. The 

fee regulations remain otherwise 

unchanged. The intent of this proposed 

rule is to clarify that the fee rules do not 

apply to the Puget Sound licenses. 

DATES: Written comments on this 

proposed rule must be received by 

December 14, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods: 

• E-mail: 0648–AS38@noaa.gov. 

Include in the subject line the following 

identifier: Pacific Coast Groundfish 

Buyback RIN 0648–AS38. E-mail 

comments, with or without attachments, 

are limited to 5 megabytes. 

• Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: 

http:www.regulations.gov. 

• Mail: Michael L. Grable, Chief, 

Financial Services Division, National 

Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 EastWest Highway, Silver Spring, MD 

20910–3282. 

• Fax: (301) 713–1306. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael L. Grable, Financial Services 

Division, NMFS headquarters, at 301–

713–2390. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Electronic Access 

This Federal Register document is 

also accessible via the Internet at the 

Office of the Federal Register’s website 

at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su-docs/ 

aces/aces140.html. 

Background 

Section 312(b)-(e) of the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1861a(b) 

through (e)) (Magnuson-Stevens Act) 

generally authorizes fishing capacity 

reduction programs. In particular, 

Magnuson-Stevens Act section 312(d) 

authorizes industry fee systems for 

repaying fishing capacity reduction 

loans which finance program costs. 

Section 212 of Division B, Title II, of 

Public Law 108–7 (section 212) 

specifically authorizes the Pacific Coast 

groundfish fishing capacity reduction 

program. Pursuant to section 212, NMFS 

implemented the groundfish program by 

a July 18, 2003, Federal Register notice 

(68 FR 42613). On July 13, 2005, NMFS 

published this program’s fee regulations 

as a final rule (70 FR 40225) which is 

codified under subpart M at § 600.1102. 

The fee regulations require the 

payment and collection of fees as 

percentages of the ex-vessel value of 

certain fish landed in both a ‘‘reduction 

fishery’’ and in certain ‘‘fee-share 

fisheries’’. One of the fee-share fisheries 

is the Washington State fishery for pink 

shrimp. 

Section 212 defines a ‘‘fee-share 

fishery’’ as ‘‘a fishery, other than the 

reduction fishery, whose members are 

eligible to vote in a referendum for an 

industry fee system . . . .’’ Section 212 

also provides that ‘‘persons who have 

been issued . . . Washington . . . Pink 

shrimp permits shall be eligible to vote 

in the referendum . . . .’’ Consequently, 

under section 212, the fee-share fishery 

involving Washington pink shrimp is 

the fishery for pink shrimp conducted 

by person whom Washington has issued 

a ‘‘pink shrimp permit.’’

At the time the proposed and final 

rules were published, NMFS was aware 

of only one ‘‘pink shrimp’’ fishery. 

NMFS became aware after publication 

of both the groundfish program notice 

and the program’s subsequent fee 

regulations of the existence of two 

additional Washington State licenses 

involving pink shrimp other then the 

‘‘pink shrimp’’ licenses themselves. 

These additional Washington State 

licenses are the ‘‘Puget Sound Shrimp 

Pots’’ licenses and ‘‘Puget Sound 

Shrimp Trawl’’ licenses. Although both 

these Puget Sound shrimp licenses 

involve some pink shrimp harvests in 

Puget Sound, both involve the harvest of 

other types of shrimp as well. The 

Washington ‘‘pink shrimp’’ permits 

issued for Puget Sound were not 

intended to be included in the 

Washington fee-share fishery involving 

pink shrimp. 

71450 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 228 / Tuesday, November 29, 2005 / Proposed Rules 

The fee regulations, consequently, did 

not specifically exclude from fee 

payment and collection pink shrimp 

caught under the two Puget Sound 

shrimp licenses. The holders of the 

Puget Sound shrimp licenses did not 

vote in the groundfish program’s fee 

referendum and NMFS did not include 

the ex-vessel value of pink shrimp 

landed under the Puget Sound licenses 

in the required section 212 formula both 

for referendum vote weighting and for 

establishing the reduction loan subamounts for whose repayment the 

reduction fishery and each of the feeshare fisheries were responsible. 

The Puget Sound shrimp fisheries are 

not a fee-share fishery and section 212 

does not authorize the payment and 

collection of fees on any shrimp, 

including pink shrimp, harvested under 

the Puget Sound shrimp licenses. 

Nevertheless, the fee regulations do not 

clearly exclude pink shrimp harvested 

under the Puget Sound shrimp licenses 

because NMFS was unaware of these 

licenses’ existence until after adopting a 

final fee rule. 

Fee collection and payment began on 

September 8, 2005, and this proposed 

rule is necessary to clarify that the feeshare fishery involving Washington 

pink shrimp includes only that portion 

of the Washington pink shrimp which is 

harvested by persons to whom 

Washington issued ocean pink shrimp 

licenses. 

Classification 

The Assistant Administrator for 

Fisheries, NOAA (AA), has determined 

that this proposed rule is consistent 

with the Magnuson-Stevens Act and 

other applicable laws. 

This proposed rule has been 

determined to be not significant for 

purposes of Executive Order 12866. 

NMFS has certified to the Small 

Business Administration, under Section 

605(b) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 

that this proposed rule would not have 

a significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities. 

There are currently six trawl fishing 

licenses in the Puget Sound within the 

Washington State shrimp fishery and 

115 trawl fishing licenses total within 

the Washington State Ocean pink 

shrimp fishery according to the 

Washington Department of Fish and 

Wildlife. This regulation would apply to 

all 121 trawl fishing licenses issued in 

the Washington State shrimp fishery, 

although it will only directly affect the 

6 Washington State Puget Sound shrimp 

license holders. 

This proposed rule seeks to revise the 

regulations to expressly exclude the 

holders of the Puget Sound shrimp 

licenses from the groundfish program’s 

fee collection system. The holders of the 

Puget Sound shrimp licenses did not 

vote in the groundfish program’s fee 

referendum and NMFS did not include 

the ex-vessel value of pink shrimp 

landed under the Puget Sound licenses 

both for referendum vote weighting and 

for establishing the reduction loan subamounts for whose repayment the 

reduction fishery and each of the feeshare fisheries were responsible. The 

Puget Sound shrimp fisheries are not a 

fee-share fishery and the statute that 

created the program does not authorize 

the payment and collection of fees on 

any shrimp, including pink shrimp, 

harvested under the Puget Sound 

shrimp licenses. 

The change to the regulations will 

have a de minimis impact on those 

remaining in the fishery because the 

total payments from the non-fee-share 

fisheries are minor. The total fee to be 

collected for any given year is 

calculated based on a formula using 

projected landings, the interest rate, and 

the amortization schedule, and it is 

calculated in advance for the entire 

year. In determining the annual fee, the 

contributions from holders of the Puget 

Sound shrimp licenses were not 

considered in the calculation. The 

collection of fees from holders of the 

Puget Sound shrimp licenses would 

result in the repayment of fees above 

what was expected for this year. As a 

result of the additional revenue, the 

buyback loan would be repaid slightly 

earlier than expected and would result 

in a slight decrease in the overall 

amount of interest accrued on the loan. 

Removal of the holders of the Puget 

Sound shrimp licenses would only 

slightly negatively impact the remaining 

pink shrimp licence holders because the 

contributions from the non-fee-share 

fisheries are small compared to the 

overall reduction loan amount. The 

contributions from the holders of Puget 

Sound shrimp licences represents only 

5 percent of the total reduction loan 

amount. Although the impact of this 

rule is small, this proposed rule is 

necessary to ensure that holders of the 

Puget Sound shrimp licenses are 

excluded from the requirement to pay 

fees on pink shrimp landings. These six 

license holders would be positively 

affected by this proposed rule through 

their exemption from a fee they were 

not intended to have to pay. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 600 

Fisheries, Fishing capacity reduction, 

Fishing permits, Fishing vessels. 

Dated: November 23, 2005. 

John Oliver, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Operations, National Marine Fisheries 

Service. 

For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, 50 CFR part 600 is proposed 

to be amended as follows: 

PART 600—MAGNUSON-STEVENS 

ACT PROVISIONS 

1. The authority citation for part 600 

continues to read as follows: 

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

Subpart M—Specific Fishery or 

Program Fishing Capacity Reduction 

Regulations 

2. In § 600.1102, the definition of 

‘‘Fee-share fishery’’ in paragraph (b) is 

revised, and paragraphs (d)(2)(vi) and 

(i)(1)(vi) are revised to read as follows: 

§ 600.1102 Pacific Coast groundfish fee. 

* * * * * 

(b) * * * 

Fee-share fishery means each of the 

fisheries for coastal Dungeness crab and 

pink shrimp in each of the states of 

California and Oregon and the fishery 

for coastal Dungeness crab and ocean 

pink shrimp in the State of Washington. 

* * * * * 

(d) * * * 

(2) * * * 

(vi) Washington ocean pink shrimp 

fee-share fishery, $259,400. 

* * * * * 

(i) * * * 

(1) * * * 

(vi) All fee collections from the 

Washington ocean pink shrimp feeshare fishery shall be accounted for in 

a Washington ocean shrimp fee-share 

fishery subaccount, and 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 05–23464 Filed 11–28–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 679 

[Docket No. 051116304–5304–01; I.D. 

110805A] 

RIN 0648–AT92 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone Off Alaska; Total Allowable Catch 

Amount for ‘‘Other Species’’ in the 

Groundfish Fisheries of the Gulf of 

Alaska 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and