[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 52 (Wednesday, March 18, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 13161]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-7041]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
50 CFR Part 679
[Docket No. 971015247-8061-02; I.D. 091597D]
RIN 0648-AK19
Fisheries in the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Withdrawal
of a Proposed Rule to Modify Individual Fishing Quota Survivorship
Transfer Provisions
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Proposed Rule; withdrawal.
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SUMMARY: NMFS withdraws a proposed regulatory amendment to the
Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program for fixed gear Pacific halibut
and sablefish fisheries in and off of Alaska that was published in the
Federal Register on November 6, 1997 (62 FR 60060). The proposed
regulatory change would have modified the IFQ Program's survivorship
transfer provisions in a manner that would be inconsistent with the
Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea
and Aleutian Islands Area and the Fishery Management Plan for
Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (FMPs). This action is necessary to
withdraw the proposed rule, and is intended to preclude implementation
of regulations that NMFS has determined to be inconsistent with
provisions of the FMPs.
DATES: This proposed rule is withdrawn on March 18, 1998.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Hale, 907-586-7228.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The fixed gear halibut and sablefish fisheries are managed by the
IFQ Program, a limited access system for fixed gear Pacific halibut
(Hippoglossus stenolepis) and sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) fisheries
in and off of Alaska. Under authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act and the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of
1982, NMFS implemented the IFQ Program in 1995, on the recommendation
of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council), to reduce
excessive fishing capacity in the fixed gear Pacific halibut and
sablefish fisheries, while maintaining the social and economic
character of these fisheries and the Alaskan coastal communities where
many of these fishermen are based.
Various limitations and restrictions govern the use and transfer of
QS and IFQ. To harvest an IFQ allocation of halibut or sablefish
species, the holder of QS from which the IFQ derives must qualify as an
initial recipient of QS or as a crew member with at least 150 days
experience in commercial harvest operations. Moreover, all leasing of
IFQ in QS categories B, C, or D is prohibited. However, the FMPs
provide for emergency transfer of IFQ. Under the authority of these
emergency transfer provisions, a final rule published in the Federal
Register on August 9, 1996 (61 FR 41523), granted surviving spouses of
deceased QS holders emergency privileges allowing them to lease the
total IFQ resulting from the deceased QS holder's QS for a period of 3
years following the QS holder's death. A surviving spouse might not
otherwise be eligible to use or lease the deceased QS holder's IFQ (1)
because of the 150-day crew members requirement and (2) unless or until
a court determines the spouse to be the rightful beneficiary of QS. The
emergency upon which such transfer privileges are predicated and,
hence, authorized by the FMPs, is the temporary indisposition of QS
while the deceased QS holder's estate remains in probate. NMFS
implemented the surviving spouse transfer provisions expressly to allow
a spouse to gain some pecuniary benefit from a deceased QS holder's
fishing business pending the final disposition of the QS. Such
privileges are temporary; once a deceased QS holder's estate is
probated and an heir to the QS determined, that heir is free to
transfer the QS to an individual eligible to fish an IFQ allocation of
halibut or sablefish.
In June 1997, the Council recommended extending the surviving
spouse transfer privileges to heirs. For the benefit of such an action
to take effect, a legal determination of who would be the heir would
first have to be made. Implementation of this proposed action would not
extend the benefit of the existing surviving spouse transfer privileges
to other surviving family members in addition to or in the absence of a
spouse. Rather, it would nullify the benefit of the existing rule,
which is to allow a surviving spouse to lease the deceased QS holder's
IFQ for up to 3 years between the date of the QS holder's death and the
time when the legal beneficiary of the QS may transfer the QS to an
eligible individual.
Moreover, this proposed action is inconsistent with the FMPs. The
proposed action would have effect only after the conclusion of the
emergency for which the surviving spouse transfer privilege provides
the often time-consuming legal process necessary to determine an heir.
Because no emergency exists that would authorize the extension of
temporary transfer privileges to heirs, this action is inconsistent
with the FMPs and is hereby withdrawn. NMFS also withdraws the proposed
rule amending survivorship transfer provisions for halibut QS and IFQ.
Although the halibut IFQ fishery is not regulated pursuant to the FMPs,
NMFS withdraws the amendment to transfer provisions for this fishery,
as well, in order to allow the Council to reconsider this action and to
maintain consistency in transfer provisions in these closely related
IFQ fisheries.
Classification
This action has been determined to be not significant for purposes
of E.O. 12866.
Dated: March 12, 1998.
David L. Evans,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 98-7041 Filed 3-17-98; 8:45 am]
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