[Federal Register: February 5, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 23)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 5255-5257]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05fe07-18]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 680
[I.D. 012607D]
RIN 0648-AV19
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Crab
Rationalization Program
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Availability of an amendment to a fishery management plan;
request for comments.
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SUMMARY: On January 12, 2007, the President signed the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006, which
requires the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary), not later than 90 days
after the date of enactment of that Act, to amend the Fishery
Management Plan for the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner
Crabs (FMP) to authorize conversion of catcher vessel owner quota
shares and processor quota shares to newly created North Region
catcher/processor owner quota shares. Proposed Amendment 25 to the FMP
would satisfy this requirement. This action is intended to promote the
goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the FMP, and other applicable
laws.
DATES: Comments on the amendment must be submitted on or before April
6, 2007.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional
Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS,
Attn: Ellen Sebastian. Comments may be submitted by:
Mail: P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802;
Hand delivery to the Federal Building: 709 West 9th
Street, Room 420A, Juneau, AK;
Fax: 907-586-7557; or
E-mail: 0648-AV19-NOA-KTC25@noaa.gov. Include in the
subject line of the e-mail the following document identifier: KTC 25
NOA. E-mail comments, with or without attachments, are limited to 5
megabytes.
Webform at the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions at that site for
submitting comments.
Copies of Amendment 25 and the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
for the Crab Rationalization Program may be obtained from the NMFS
Alaska Region at the address above or from the Alaska Region website at
http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/crab/eis/default.htm.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gretchen Harrington, 907-586-7228 or
gretchen.harrington@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that NMFS
publish a notice in the Federal Register announcing that the FMP
amendment is available for public review and comment during the 60-day
period beginning on the date the notice is published.
[[Page 5256]]
On January 12, 2007, the President signed the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 (Public
Law 109-479), which added a new requirement in section 122(a) for the
Secretary, not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of that
Act, to amend the FMP to authorize conversion of catcher vessel owner
quota shares (CVO QS) and processor quota shares (PQS) to catcher/
processor owner quota shares (CPO QS). Proposed Amendment 25 to the
FMP, if approved, would satisfy this requirement. The Secretary must
approve this FMP amendment by April 12, 2007, to comply with Public Law
109-479.
Crab Rationalization Program (Program)
In implementing the Program in 2005, NMFS initially issued PQS, CVO
QS, and CPO QS to eligible applicants. In 2006, NMFS initially issued
PQS to the Blue Dutch, LLC, under the requirements of section 417(a) of
the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006 (Coast Guard
Act, Public Law 109-241). NMFS may initially issue additional quota
share pursuant to ongoing appeal adjudications.
CVO QS represents an exclusive but revocable privilege that
provides the holder with an annual allocation to harvest a specific
percentage of the total allowable catch (TAC) from a fishery. The
annual allocations of TACs, in pounds, are referred to as individual
fishing quotas (IFQs). Under the regional requirement, CVO QS is
designated by landing region and harvests are required to be delivered
either in the North or South region.
PQS represents an exclusive but revocable privilege to receive
deliveries of a specific portion of the annual TAC from a fishery. An
annual allocation of PQS is referred to as IPQ and expressed in pounds
of crab. PQS is regionally designated for processing in the North or
South region.
CPO QS represents an exclusive but revocable privilege to harvest a
percentage of the TAC and process that crab onboard. Under the Program,
CPO QSs do not have regional designations.
The regional designation of CVO QS and PQS preserves the historic
geographic distribution of landings in the fisheries. Two regional
designations were created for the snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) and
Bristol Bay red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) fisheries. The
North Region consists of all areas in the Bering Sea north of
56[deg]20' N latitude. The South Region is all other areas. Crab
harvested with regionally designated CVO QS is required to be delivered
to a processor in the designated region. Likewise, a processor with
regionally designated PQS is required to accept delivery of and process
crab in the designated region.
Amendment 25
Proposed Amendment 25 to the FMP would comply with Public Law 109-
479 by amending the FMP to include an additional provision to the
Program. Amendment 25 would authorize an eligible entity and its
commonly owned affiliates to combine North PQS and North CVO QS and
exchange these shares for newly created North Region CPO QS (North CPO
QS). Allowing entities to convert PQS and CVO QS to North CPO QS would
allow them to harvest and process crab onboard a catcher processor.
Amendment 25 would reduce each eligible entity's operating costs
associated with purchasing crab, processing crab on land or in a
stationary floater processor, and complying with the Program's
arbitration system.
Amendment 25 would authorize, on an annual basis, two types of
quota share conversions and defines the entities eligible to make those
conversions. First, an eligible entity holding PQS, along with its
commonly owned affiliates, could combine any North CVO QS with its
North PQS and exchange them for North CPO QS on an annual basis.
Entities could do this under the following two conditions: (1) if NMFS
initially issued the entity both CPO QS and PQS under the Program, and
that PQS, in combination with the PQS of its commonly owned affiliates,
is less than 7 percent of the total PQS pool for that year; and (2) if
NMFS initially issued the entity CPO QS under the Program and PQS under
the Coast Guard Act. An eligible entity would be limited to converting
only the PQS that it, along with its commonly owned affiliates, was
initially issued by NMFS.
Second, an eligible entity holding CVO QS, along with its commonly
owned affiliates, could combine any North PQS with its North CVO QS and
exchange them for North CPO QS on an annual basis. The only entity that
could do this would be an entity to which NMFS initially issued CPO QS
and PQS under the Program, and that PQS, in combination with the PQS of
its commonly owned affiliates, is more than 7 percent of the total PQS
pool for that year. This eligible entity would be limited to converting
only the CVO QS that it, along with its commonly owned affiliates, was
initially issued by NMFS.
Eligible entities would receive one unit of North CPO QS in
exchange for one unit of North CVO QS and 0.9 units of North PQS. The
amount of North CPO QS issued to each entity could not exceed 1 million
pounds during any calendar year.
According to the NMFS Official Record, three individual entities
are eligible for these new provisions. Yardarm Knot, LLC, and its
commonly owned affiliates, and Blue Dutch, LLC, and its commonly owned
affiliates, would be eligible for the first type of conversion. Trident
Seafoods, and its commonly owned affiliates, would be eligible for the
second type of conversion. NMFS can not predict the annual amount of
North CPO QS that would be annually issued because the participants
would annually elect to exercise this provision and need not request
conversion of all CVO QS and PQS held.
While the statutory language does not specifically define which
fisheries are subject to this provision, North CPO QS would only be
created for the snow crab and Bristol Bay red king crab fisheries,
because these were the only fisheries for which the eligible entities
were initially issued North PQS and North CVO QS.
Sections 122(b) and (c) of Public Law 109-479 include additional
requirements for fees and off-loading for the newly created North CPO
QS; however, the statute does not require these requirements to be part
of this FMP amendment. Public Law 109-479 requires the holder of North
CPO QS to pay a fee of 5 percent of the ex-vessel value of the crab
harvested with those shares to any local governmental entities in the
North Region, if the PQS used to produce the North CPO QS were
originally derived from the processing activities that occurred in a
community under the jurisdiction of those local governmental entities.
The State of Alaska may collect from the holder of the North CPO QS a
fee of 1 percent of the ex-vessel value of the crab harvested with
those shares. Additionally, crab harvested with North CPO QS shall be
off-loaded in those communities receiving the local governmental
entities fee revenue.
Section 122(d) also provides that, as part of its periodic review
of the Program, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council may review
the effects of allowing the conversion to North CPO QS on communities
in the North Region. Under this section, if the Council determines that
Amendment 25 adversely affects the communities, the Council may
recommend to the Secretary, and the Secretary may approve, changes to
the Program
[[Page 5257]]
necessary to mitigate those adverse effects.
Section 122(e) requires an additional FMP amendment and rule making
to modify the use caps for processing North Region snow crab. Under
this section, custom processing arrangements do not count against any
use cap for the processing of snow crab in the North Region by a shore-
based crab processor's. NMFS issued an enforcement policy on January
19, 2007, that provides guidance to the industry on NMFS' enforcement
and interpretation of this section, which is effective until superseded
by rule making.
An EIS was prepared for the Program that describes the management
background, the purpose and need for the Program, the management
alternatives, and the environmental, social, and economic impacts (see
ADDRESSES). The EIS contains as appendices the Regulatory Impact
Review/Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis and the Social Impact
Assessment prepared for the Program. With Amendment 25, NMFS is
continuing to implement the Program.
Public comments are being solicited on proposed Amendment 25
through the end of the comment period (see DATES). All comments on the
amendment received by that date will be considered in the approval/
disapproval decision. Comments received after that date will not be
considered. To be considered, comments must be received--not just
postmarked or otherwise transmitted--by the close of business on the
last day of the comment period. NMFS is developing a separate proposed
rule notice to implement Amendment 25. NMFS anticipates implementing
Amendment 25 and Public Law 109-479 for the 2007/2008 crab fisheries.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.; Pub. L. 109-479, 120 Stat.
3575.
Dated: January 30, 2007.
James P. Burgess,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E7-1804 Filed 2-2-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S