[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]
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