[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DATES: This proposed rule is withdrawn on March 18, 1998.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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