[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 121 (Wednesday, June 24, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 34356-34357]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-16817]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 300

[Docket No. 980611156-8156-01; I.D. 060898A]


Pacific Halibut Fisheries; Control Date for the Halibut 
Charterboat Fishery

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS); National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); Commerce.

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; notice of control date 
for the halibut charterboat fishery.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that anyone entering the halibut charterboat 
fishery in convention waters off Alaska after June 24, 1998 will not be 
assured of future access to that fishery if a management regime that 
limits the number of participants is developed and implemented under 
the authority of the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 (Halibut 
Act). For purposes of this notice, a person in the halibut charterboat 
fishery means the owner or operator of a vessel that carries passengers 
for hire to engage in recreational fishing for Pacific halibut 
(Hippoglossus stenolepis) in convention waters off Alaska. This notice 
is intended to promote awareness of potential eligibility criteria for 
future access to the halibut charterboat fishery in convention waters 
off Alaska and to discourage new entrants into this fishery based on 
economic speculation while the North Pacific Fishery Management Council 
(Council) contemplates whether and how access to the halibut 
charterboat fishery in convention waters off Alaska should be 
controlled. The potential eligibility criteria may be based on 
historical participation. Therefore, current participants in the 
halibut charterboat fishery in convention waters off Alaska should 
locate and preserve records that substantiate and verify their 
participation in that fishery.

DATES: Comments must be received by July 24, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Susan J. Salveson, Assistant 
Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Sustainable Fisheries 
Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, 709 West 9th Street, Room 453, Juneau, 
AK 99801, or P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802, Attention: Lori J. 
Gravel.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Lepore, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Section 5 of the Halibut Act (16 U.S.C. 773c(c)) provides that the 
Regional Fishery Management Council having authority for the 
geographical area concerned may develop regulations governing Pacific 
halibut catch in U.S. Convention waters, including limited access 
regulations, that are in addition to, but not in conflict with, 
regulations of the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC). The 
IPHC is the body authorized by the Convention between the United States 
and Canada for the Preservation of the Halibut Fishery of the North 
Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea (Convention) to promulgate regulations 
for the conservation and management of the Pacific halibut fishery. 
Section 5 of the

[[Page 34357]]

Halibut Act also provides that the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) 
shall have the general responsibility for carrying out the Convention, 
and that the Secretary shall adopt such regulations as may be necessary 
to carry out the purposes and objectives of the Convention and the 
Halibut Act. The Secretary's authority has been delegated to the 
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA.
    The Council began consideration of management alternatives for the 
halibut charterboat fishery in September 1993 in response to a proposal 
from the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association (ALFA). The proposal 
requested the Council to consider some type of limited access 
management for the halibut charterboat fishery, citing the recent and 
dramatic growth in that fishery and the consequential increase in 
halibut catch by that sector. Based on the ALFA proposal, the Council 
established the Halibut Charter Working Group (Work Group) to further 
develop management options for the halibut charterboat fishery.
    The Work Group presented various management options to the Council 
for consideration. The Council, due to staffing priorities, deferred 
further action on the halibut charterboat issue until January 1995. In 
January 1995, the Council again reviewed the Work Group's findings, 
received public testimony, discussed further development of management 
options, and formulated a problem statement for analysis. Again, 
staffing priorities delayed formal analysis of the problem statement.
    In June 1996, the Council revisited the halibut charterboat issue. 
The Council decided to narrow the alternatives for study by focusing on 
specific management alternatives. The specific alternatives were: (1) 
Status quo; (2) implement reporting requirements; (3) annually allocate 
the total allowable catch between guided sport and commercial 
fisheries; (4) a moratorium on new entries into the charterboat 
fishery; and (5) combine Alternatives 2, 3, and 4. In September 1996, a 
contract to analyze the specific alternatives was awarded to University 
of Alaska's Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    In February 1997, a preliminary analysis was presented to the 
Council. The Council recommended several changes to the preliminary 
analysis. In April 1997, a revised analysis was presented to the 
Council for initial review. The Council recommended that the revised 
analysis be condensed prior to submission for public review. Also, the 
Council postponed final action on the halibut charterboat issue until 
September 1997.
    In September 1997, the Council recommended that participants in the 
halibut charterboat fishery be required to complete performance reports 
and that guideline harvest levels (GHLs) be established for IPHC Areas 
2C and 3A. Information collected by the performance reports was to 
include catch figures, location of catch, number of clients, residence 
information, ownership of vessel, and the identity of the operator. The 
GHLs would be based on the halibut charterboat fleet receiving 125 
percent of its 1995 catch for IPHC Areas 2C and 3A.
    In November 1997, NMFS informed the Council that the GHLs for the 
halibut charterboat fishery could not be published as a regulation 
until management measures, which would be employed if the GHLs were 
reached, were specified. In December 1997, the Council announced the 
formation of a Halibut GHL Committee (Committee). This Committee, made 
up of individuals representing the halibut charterboat fishery, the 
halibut non-guided sport fishery, the Council, and the Alaska Board of 
Fisheries, was tasked with developing management measures to employ if 
the halibut charterboat fishery exceeded the GHLs.
    In February 1998, the Committee met and developed recommendations 
for management measures for the halibut charterboat fishery. The 
Committee presented its recommendations to the Council in April 1998. 
The recommendations included dropping the GHLs and developing local 
area management plans to resolve resource conflicts, converting the 
GHLs to allocations and allowing the ``banking'' of any uncaught 
portion of those allocations, and adopting the GHLs and employing a 
range of management measures to prevent the halibut charterboat fleet 
from exceeding the GHLs.
    The Council approved the Committee's recommendations for analysis. 
Also, the Council requested that the analysis include a discussion on a 
rod permit program and further details on the proposed ``banking'' 
concept. Finally, the Council set a control date of April 27, 1998, or 
alternatively, the date of publication in the Federal Register. 
Previously, the Council had set control dates for the halibut 
charterboat fishery of September 23, 1993, and April 17, 1997. The 
Council requested that a discussion paper further describing the 
alternatives be presented to the Council in October 1998, and set 
initial review and final action for this issue for February 1999, and 
April 1999, respectively.
    The Council intends to address whether and how to limit entry into 
the halibut charterboat fishery. The publication of this control date 
is to discourage speculative entry into the halibut charterboat fishery 
while potential management regimes to control access into the fishery 
are discussed and possibly developed by the Council. The control date 
will help distinguish established participants from speculative 
entrants into the fishery. Although participants are notified that 
entering the halibut charterboat fishery after the control date will 
not assure them of future access to the fishery based on previous 
participation, additional or other qualifying criteria may be applied. 
The Council may choose different and variably weighted methods to 
qualify participants based on the type and length of participation in 
the fishery or other methods of determining dependence on the fishery.
    This notification hereby establishes June 24, 1998 for potential 
use in determining historical of traditional participation in the 
halibut charterboat fishery. This action does not commit the Council or 
the Secretary to develop or adopt any particular management regime or 
to use any specific criteria for determining entry into the fishery. 
The Council may choose a different control date or management program 
that does not make use of such a date. The Council may also choose to 
take no further action to control entry or access to the halibut 
charterboat fishery. Any action by the Council will be taken pursuant 
to the requirements of the Halibut Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773-773k and 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: June 15, 1998.
David L. Evans,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 98-16817 Filed 6-23-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F