[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 175 (Friday, September 10, 1999)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 49104]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-23487]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[I.D. 082599A]


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; License 
Limitation Program

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

ACTION: Notification of application period.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces an application period for persons applying for 
a groundfish or crab species license under the License Limitation 
Program (LLP) for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian 
Islands Management Area, the Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska, and the 
Commercial King and Tanner Crab Fisheries in the Bering Sea and 
Aleutian Islands. This announcement is necessary to begin the 
application process to determine eligible participants in the fisheries 
managed under the LLP and is intended to provide potential eligible 
applicants with notice of the opportunity to apply for a groundfish or 
crab species license.

DATES: Applications must be postmarked or delivered to NMFS (see 
ADDRESSES) during the application period beginning September 13, 1999, 
and ending at the close of business on December 17, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Applications can be requested from, and must be sent to, 
Restricted Access Management, NMFS, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802-
1668. Hand delivery or courier delivery of applications must be 
delivered to the Federal Building, 709 West 9th Street, Room 453, 
Juneau, AK 99801.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Restricted Access Management, 1-800-
304-4846.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In June 1995, the North Pacific Fishery 
Management Council (Council) recommended that NMFS implement the LLP to 
address concerns of excess capital and capacity in the groundfish and 
crab fisheries off Alaska. As the next stage of a multistaged process 
to reduce capacity and capital in the affected fisheries, the LLP will 
replace the Vessel Moratorium Program (VMP). NMFS implemented the VMP 
to impose a temporary moratorium on the entry of new capacity into the 
groundfish and crab fisheries off Alaska and to define the class of 
entities that would be eligible for licenses under the LLP. The VMP is 
scheduled to expire on December 31, 1999. The final rule implementing 
the LLP (63 FR 52642, October 1, 1998) specifies that fishing will 
begin under the LLP on January 1, 2000.
    A final rule establishing the application period and the procedures 
to apply for a license will become effective on September 7, 1999 (64 
FR 42826, August 6, 1999). This rule provides at Sec. 679.4(k)(6)(ii) 
that an application period of no less than 90 days will be specified by 
notification in the Federal Register. This rule also provides at 
Sec. 679.4(k)(6)(i) that a person may request an application for a 
groundfish license or a crab species license issued under the LLP.
    This notification is intended to comply with the application 
procedures established in Sec. 679.4(k)(6). An application will be sent 
to the last known address of a person that appears to be an eligible 
applicant based on information in the official LLP record. All other 
persons are hereby notified that they must request an application from 
Restricted Access Management, NMFS (see ADDRESSES). The application 
period for groundfish licenses and crab species licenses under the LLP 
begins on September 13, 1999, and ends at the close of business on 
December 17, 1999. Incomplete applications will be returned to the 
applicant with specific kinds of information identified that are 
necessary to make the application complete. Applications postmarked 
after December 17, 1999, or delivered after the close of business on 
December 17, 1999, will be denied.

Classification

    This action is taken under 50 CFR 679.4(k)(6) and is exempt from 
review under E.O. 12866.

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

    Dated: September 2, 1999.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 99-23487 Filed 9-9-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F