[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 57 (Thursday, March 23, 2000)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 15577-15578]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-7219]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 991228352-0012-02; I.D. 011100D]
RIN 0648-AM83


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Emergency 
Interim Rule To Implement Major Provisions of the American Fisheries 
Act; Correction

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

ACTION: Emergency interim rule; revisions to 2000 harvest 
specifications; sideboard directed fishing closures; correction.

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SUMMARY: This document corrects the emergency interim rule, which 
implements major provisions of the American Fisheries Act (AFA) and 
revises interim 2000 harvest specifications and sideboard directed 
fishing closures. This correction is being made to clarify that AFA 
crab processing sideboard limits do not apply to the processing of 
Community Development Quota (CDQ) crab.

DATES: Effective January 21, 2000 through July 20, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kent Lind, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 15578]]

Need for Correction

    The emergency interim rule that implemented major provisions of the 
American Fisheries Act (65 FR 4520, January 28, 2000) established AFA 
inshore processor and AFA mothership crab processing sideboard limits 
at Sec. 679.64. NMFS did not intend for these crab processing sideboard 
limits to be applicable to the processing of CDQ crab. The AFA contains 
language that would cap crab processing in the directed crab fisheries, 
under the authority of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, 
but does not contain language as to whether CDQ crab is part of the 
directed crab fisheries. To include the CDQ crab counts toward the cap 
would be highly disruptive to this entity because the CDQ crab fishery 
is not a directed fishery and comes after the open access crab 
fisheries. Therefore, NMFS has made a policy judgement to exclude CDQ 
crab from the processing caps and is correcting the AFA emergency rule 
by incorporating its interpretation of this policy in the emergency 
rule.

Correction

    In the emergency interim rule To Implement Major Provisions of the 
American Fisheries Act, published in the Federal Register on January 
28, 2000 (65 FR 4520), the following corrections are made in the 
regulatory text.
    1. On page 4544, in Sec. 679.64, paragraphs (a) and (b), the first 
sentence of paragraph (d), and paragraph (e) are corrected to read as 
follows:


Sec. 679.64  AFA inshore processor and AFA mothership crab processing 
sideboard limits.

    (a) Applicability. The crab processing limits in this section apply 
to non-CDQ crab processed by any AFA inshore or mothership entity that 
receives pollock harvested in the BSAI directed pollock fishery by a 
fishery cooperative established under Sec. 679.60 or Sec. 679.61.
    (b) Calculation of crab processing sideboard limits. Upon receipt 
of an application for a cooperative processing endorsement from the 
owners of an AFA mothership or AFA inshore processor, the Regional 
Administrator will calculate a crab processing cap percentage for the 
associated AFA inshore or mothership entity. The crab processing cap 
percentage for each BSAI king or Tanner crab species will be equal to 
the percentage of the non-CDQ total catch of each BSAI king or Tanner 
crab species that the AFA crab facilities associated with the AFA 
inshore or mothership entity processed in the aggregate, on average, in 
1995, 1996, and 1997.
* * * * *
    (d) Conversion of crab processing sideboard percentages and 
notification of crab processing sideboard poundage caps. Prior to the 
start of each BSAI king or Tanner crab fishery, NMFS will convert each 
AFA inshore or mothership entity's crab processing sideboard percentage 
to a poundage cap by multiplying the crab processing sideboard 
percentage by the non-CDQ (open access) pre-season guideline harvest 
level (GHL) established for that crab fishery by ADF&G. * * *
    (e) Overages. In the event that the actual harvest of a BSAI crab 
species during a non-CDQ crab fishery exceeds the non-CDQ pre-season 
GHL announced for that species, an AFA inshore or mothership entity may 
exceed its crab processing cap without penalty up to an amount equal to 
the AFA inshore or mothership entity's crab processing percentage 
multiplied by the final official harvest amount of that crab species as 
determined by the ADF&G and announced by NMFS on the NMFS-Alaska Region 
world wide web home page (http://www.fakr.noaa.gov).

    Dated: March 16, 2000.
Penelope D. Dalton,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 00-7219 Filed 3-22-00; 8:45 am]
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