[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 193 (Tuesday, October 6, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 53636-53637]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-26769]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 980918242-8242-01; I.D. 090898B]
RIN 0648-AL87


Fisheries off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; 
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

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

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) is 
considering whether there is a need to impose additional management 
measures to further limit harvest capacity or to allocate between or 
within the limited entry commercial and the recreational groundfish 
fisheries in the U.S. exclusive economic zone off the States of 
Washington, Oregon, and California. If the Council determines that 
additional management measures are needed, the Council will recommend a 
rulemaking to implement those measures. Possible measures include 
allocating harvest of particular groundfish species (rockfish and 
lingcod) between limited entry gear groups and between commercial and 
recreational fisheries and further limiting access to certain species 
within the Pacific Coast groundfish complex. The Council may proceed 
with some or all of these measures. In order to discourage fishers from 
intensifying their fishing efforts for the purpose of amassing catch 
history for any allocation or additional limited access program 
developed by the Council, the Council announced on April 9, 1998, that 
any program proposed would not include consideration of catch landed 
after that date. At present, the Council is planning to consider catch 
history

[[Page 53637]]

through the 1997 fishing season. Persons interested in the Pacific 
Coast groundfish fishery should contact the Council to stay up to date 
on the management of the fishery.

DATES: Comments must be submitted in writing by November 5, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to Jerry Mallet, Chairman, Pacific 
Fishery Management Council, 2130 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 224, Portland, 
OR 97201.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Katherine King or Yvonne deReynier at 
206-526-6140; or Svein Fougner at 562-980-4000; or the Pacific Fishery 
Management Council at 503-326-6352.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery 
Management Plan (FMP) was approved on January 4, 1982 (47 FR 43964, 
October 5, 1982), and implementing regulations appear at 50 CFR 660.302 
through 660.341. On November 16, 1992, NMFS published final regulations 
implementing Amendment 6 to the FMP. Amendment 6 and its implementing 
regulations established a license limitation program for the commercial 
groundfish fishery based on the issuance of gear-specific Federal 
limited entry permits. Limited entry permits are endorsed for one or 
more of three gear types (trawl, longline, and trap(or pot)). A vessel 
meeting specific minimum landing requirements with a particular gear 
during the qualifying ``window period'' (July 11, 1984 through August 
1, 1988) received a transferable permit with an ``A'' endorsement for 
that gear.
    Amendment 6 also divided the Pacific Coast commercial groundfish 
fishery into two segments. The first segment is the limited entry 
fishery, consisting of vessels with limited entry permits endorsed for 
longline and/or trap (or pot) gear and all vessels using groundfish 
trawl gear. The second segment is the open access fishery, consisting 
of all vessels using all other gear, as well as vessels that do not 
have limited entry permits endorsed for use of longline or trap (or 
pot) gear, but that make small landings with longline or trap (or pot) 
gear. Implementation of Amendment 6 included setting harvest 
allocations between limited entry and open access fishers at 
percentages equal to the percentages of groundfish species taken by 
those same fishers during the window period.
    On June 27, 1997, NMFS published final regulations implementing 
Amendment 9 to the FMP (62 FR 34670). Amendment 9 and its implementing 
regulations established a sablefish endorsement requirement for limited 
entry permits endorsed for fixed gear (longline or trap). The sablefish 
endorsement limits participation in the limited entry, regular, and 
mop-up fisheries for sablefish taken with fixed gear to permits with a 
minimum sablefish landing requirement during any one year within a 
window period of January 1, 1984, through December 31, 1994.
    The Council in meetings from September 1997 through June 1998 
discussed a trawl permit buyback program under the authority of Section 
312(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. 
During these discussions, the Council determined that a buyback program 
would only be acceptable to trawl endorsed limited entry permit holders 
if the trawl fleet could retain a specific share of the total limited 
entry catch. At the same time, declining stock levels of some of the 
more valuable species in the groundfish complex had led to lower 
harvest levels and to greater concerns about catch allocation between 
the commercial and recreational sectors of the groundfish fisheries. 
These combined events led the Council to begin discussions on a 
rockfish and lingcod endorsement program to limit catch of those 
species to permit holders with greater dependence upon those species. 
At its April 1998 meeting, the Council realized that it might be 
addressing several different allocation issues over the coming year and 
that announcing the end of the time frame for considering catch history 
for groundfish allocation or further access limitation might prevent 
speculative fishing during Council resolution of these issues. The 
Council also established an Allocation Committee to review these issues 
and report back to the Council. The Allocation Committee has held two 
public meetings and reported to the Council at its September 1998 
meeting in Sacramento, CA. The Council discussed these issues at that 
meeting and will hold further discussions at future meetings.
    Implementation of any management measures for the fishery will 
require amendment of the regulations implementing the FMP and possibly 
of the FMP itself. Any action will require Council development of a 
regulatory proposal with public input and a supporting analysis, NMFS 
approval, and publication of implementing regulations in the Federal 
Register.
    As the Council considers management options, some permit holders 
may decide to intensify their fishing effort for the sole purpose of 
establishing a record of making higher levels of commercial groundfish 
landings. When management authorities begin to consider limited access 
management regimes, this kind of speculative fishing is often 
responsible for a rapid increase in fishing effort in fisheries that 
are already fully developed or overdeveloped. The original fishery 
problems, such as overcapitalization or overfishing, may be exacerbated 
by the entry of new participants or effort expansion by current 
participants.
    The Council began its formal discussion of management measures to 
allocate species or to limit participation or effort in the fishery on 
April 9, 1998. Groundfish harvest after that date may not be used as a 
basis for allocation or participation if a management program is 
developed using catch history as all or part of the basis for 
allocation or participation. Fishermen are not guaranteed future 
participation in the groundfish fishery, regardless of their date of 
entry or intensity of participation in the fishery before or after 
Council discussions on these issues.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: September 30, 1998.
Andy Rosenberg,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries.
[FR Doc. 98-26769 Filed 10-5-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F