[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 183 (Wednesday, September 20, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 56860-56862]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-24184]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 000905252-0252-01; I.D.080700D]
RIN 0648-AN98


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Prohibited 
Species Donation Program

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS is proposing to permanently extend the temporary 
regulations that establish and govern the voluntary Pacific halibut 
donation program. Under this program, Pacific halibut that is taken 
incidentally in groundfish trawl fisheries off Alaska may be donated 
for consumption by economically disadvantaged individuals rather than 
discarded, as normally required. This action is necessary to promote 
the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for the 
Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area and the 
Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (FMPs). 
The intended effect of this action is to reduce the amount of 
regulatory discards in the groundfish fisheries.

DATES: Comments must be received by October 5, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Susan Salveson, Assistant Administrator for 
Sustainable Fisheries, NMFS, Alaska Region, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 
99802, Attn: Lori Gravel, or delivered to Federal Building, Fourth 
Floor, 709 West 9th Street, Juneau, AK, and marked Attn: Lori Gravel. 
Comments will not be accepted if submitted via e-mail or the Internet. 
Copies of the draft Environmental Assessment/Regulatory Impact Review 
prepared for this action may be obtained from the same address or by 
calling the Alaska Region, NMFS, at 907-586-7228. Send comments on 
collection-of-information requirements to NMFS, Alaska Region at the 
address given here and to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs (OIRA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Washington, DC 
20503 (Attn: NOAA Desk Officer). Send comment on any ambiguity or 
unnecessary complexity arising from the language used in this proposed 
rule to the Regional Administrator, Alaska Region, P.O. Box 21668, 
Juneau, AK 99802.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan Salveson, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the domestic groundfish 
fisheries in the exclusive economic zone off Alaska pursuant to the 
Alaska groundfish FMPs. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council 
(Council) prepared the FMPs, and NMFS approved them, in accordance with 
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-
Stevens Act). Regulations governing the Alaska groundfish fisheries 
appear at 50 CFR parts 600 and 679. Fishing for Pacific halibut in 
waters in and off Alaska is governed by the Convention between the 
United States and Canada for the Preservation of the Halibut Fishery of 
the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea and by regulations adopted by 
the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) and approved by the 
Secretary of State of the United States pursuant to section 4 of the 
Northern Pacific Halibut Act (16 U.S.C. 773-773k). Regulations of the 
IPHC are published as annual management measures in the Federal 
Register each year pursuant to regulations at 50 CFR 300.62.
    The Prohibited Species Donation (PSD) program regulations at 
Sec. 679.26 include provisions for the voluntary donation of halibut 
taken as bycatch in the groundfish trawl fisheries that are delivered 
dead by trawl catcher vessels to shoreside processors for distribution 
by tax-exempt organizations for consumption by economically 
disadvantaged individuals.
    The groundfish trawl vessels are not allocated any directed fishery 
quota for halibut and must discard all halibut. Many trawl vessels 
discard halibut at sea; some portion of which is alive. However, many 
trawl vessels, for practical reasons, cannot sort their catch at sea 
and catch remains unsorted until it is offloaded at a shoreside 
processor. Because of this process of shoreside sorting, halibut are 
`landed' dead. This action would not affect the halibut resource 
because the groundfish fisheries are restricted by halibut bycatch 
mortality limits that require closure of specified fisheries when a 
limit has been reached. In 1998 and 1999, 21,196 lb (9,635 kg) and 
6,190 lb (2,814 kg) of eviscerated halibut were donated through the PSD 
program, respectively. NMFS estimates that the halibut donation program 
provided 65,000 meals to economically

[[Page 56861]]

disadvantaged individuals in the western Washington Puget Sound area in 
1998. No violations of the halibut donation regulations have been 
reported or observed.
    The halibut PSD program will expire on December 31, 2000. The 
Council and the IPHC supported the sunset provision to allow management 
agencies to assess the effectiveness of the halibut donation program, 
relative to the program's objectives, before the Council took action to 
extend the program beyond the year 2000.
    At its June 2000 meeting, the Council requested NMFS to initiate 
rulemaking to permanently extend the halibut donation program. The 
Council also endorsed a recommendation by IPHC staff to review the 
program every 3 years and assess whether regulatory changes should be 
pursued to respond to any management or enforcement concerns that may 
arise in the future. This proposed rule would extend permanently the 
existing halibut provisions of the PSD program. This action would make 
no other changes to the existing PSD program. NMFS, the Council, and 
the IPHC would conduct periodic reviews of the program and the 
regulations could be revised in the future, if necessary, to respond to 
new concerns.

Classification

    At this time, NMFS has not determined that this proposed regulatory 
amendment is consistent with the national standards of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act and other applicable laws. NMFS, in making that 
determination, will take into account the views and comments received 
during the comment period.
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration that this proposed regulatory amendment, if adopted, 
would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 
small entities as follows:
    This proposed regulatory amendment would make permanent the 
halibut provisions of the Prohibited Species Donation (PSD) program 
and is identical to the existing program, which is scheduled to end 
on December 31, 2000, and is in accordance with the Fishery 
Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea/
Aleutian Islands Area and the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish 
of the Gulf of Alaska. The proposed regulatory amendment would allow 
NMFS to continue to authorize distribution of halibut incidentally 
caught in the Alaska groundfish trawl fisheries and delivered dead 
to shoreside processors. Halibut voluntarily donated under the PSD 
program would be distributed to economically disadvantaged 
individuals through a network of non-profit organizations. Because 
the overall U.S. groundfish quotas and fishing patterns would remain 
the same, no change is anticipated in overall revenues that would 
accrue to small businesses in the groundfish fishery. Furthermore, 
because halibut bycatch is unavoidable in the trawl fisheries, is 
fully accounted for in quota setting in the directed halibut 
fishery, and is otherwise discarded, the PSD program imposes no 
adverse impacts on halibut fishing or on the resource.
    The authorized distributor, Northwest Food Strategies, is now 
believed to provide the single most important source of protein for 
hunger relief in the United States, delivering nearly 14 million 
seafood meals to hungry Americans since 1933. This non-profit 
organization is dominant in its field of seafood distribution to 
hunger-relief agencies (1.8 million pounds in 1999), and as such, is 
not considered a small entity. Other non-profit agencies that would 
be expected to apply in the future are likely to be small entities. 
However, a limited number of these applications is anticipated 
because donated distributors attempt to equate the number of 
distributors to available vessel participants and donated product.
    The participating processors, Unisea, Inc., and Alyeska 
Seafoods, Inc., are not considered small entities because they are 
owned by corporations that employ greater than 500 people, in all of 
their holdings, combined. Other processors that are likely to be 
authorized to process trawl-caught halibut for this program 
(predominantly in Dutch Harbor, Alaska) also are not considered 
small entities. This program would be totally voluntary. NMFS 
anticipates that no processor that qualifies as a small entity would 
elect to participate in the voluntary program if the costs of doing 
so imposed a significant adverse economic burden.
    The ability to donate trawl-caught halibut may indeed reduce 
costs to small entities (catcher vessels) because this program would 
eliminate the need for the catcher vessel to return halibut bycatch 
that is sorted shoreside to Federal waters for disposal.
    This proposed regulatory amendment has been determined to be not 
significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866.
    Pursuant to section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), NMFS has 
completed a consultation on the effects of the groundfish fishery on 
listed species. Reasonable and prudent alternatives have been 
implemented to mitigate the adverse impacts of the pollock fisheries on 
the western population of Steller sea lions and its critical habitat 
(65 FR 3892, January 25, 2000, and extended at 65 FR 36795, June 12, 
2000). NMFS also completed consultations on the effects of the 2000 
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) groundfish fisheries on listed 
species, and on critical habitat. These consultations were completed 
December 23, 1999, and concluded that the proposed fisheries were not 
likely to cause jeopardy or adverse modification to designated critical 
habitat. However, in an order dated January 25, 2000, the District 
Court for the Western District of Washington concluded that NMFS must 
consult pursuant to section 7 of the ESA on the fishery management 
plans for the groundfish fisheries of the BSAI and GOA. Greenpeace v. 
NMFS, Civ. No. 98-49ZZ (W.D. Wash.). Prior to the issuance of the 
Court's order, NMFS had begun consultation to evaluate the cumulative 
effects of the BSAI and Gulf of Alaska (GOA) groundfish fisheries over 
a multi-year period on candidate and listed species and critical 
habitat. NMFS is currently reviewing this ongoing consultation for 
compliance with the Court's order and will continue consultation. NMFS 
has determined that this proposed rule, if implemented, would not 
result in an irreversible or irretrievable commitment of resources that 
would have the effect of foreclosing the formulation or implementation 
of any reasonable or prudent alternative measures that may be 
necessary.
    The area in which this proposed action is planned has been 
identified as essential fish habitat (EFH) for species managed by the 
Council. No adverse impacts to EFH are anticipated from this action 
and, therefore, no consultation is required.
    Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, no person is 
required to respond to, nor shall any person be subject to penalty for 
failure to comply with a collection of information, subject to the 
requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), unless that 
collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control 
number.
    This proposed rule contains collection-of-information requirements 
subject to the PRA. The collection of this information has been 
approved by the Office of Management and Budget under OMB control 
number 0648-0316. Public reporting burden (per individual) for these 
collections of information, including both salmon and halibut 
donations, is estimated to average as follows: 40 hours every 3 years 
per application and 40 hours per year for completing a list of vessels 
and processors for a NMFS authorized distributor; 9 hours per year (0.1 
hrs for 90 processing days) for vessel and processor labeling and 
product tracking documentation; and 15 minutes per year for vessels/
processor documentation. The estimated response times listed include 
the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, 
gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing 
the collection of information.

[[Page 56862]]

    Send comments regarding this burden estimate, or any other aspect 
of this data collection, including suggestions for reducing the burden, 
to NMFS and OMB (see ADDRESSES).
    The President has directed Federal agencies to use plain language 
when communicating with the public, through regulation or otherwise. 
Therefore, NMFS seeks public comment on any ambiguity or unnecessary 
complexity arising from the language used in this proposed rule (see 
ADDRESSES).

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679

    Alaska, Fisheries, Recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

    Dated: September 14, 2000.
Penelope D. Dalton,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 50 CFR part 679 is 
proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 679--FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA

    1. The authority citation for 50 CFR part 679 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq., 1801 et seq., and 3631 et seq.

    2. In Sec.  679.26, the section heading, paragraphs (a)(2) and 
(b)(3)(iv) are revised to read as follows:


Sec. 679.26  Prohibited Species Donation Program (PSD).

    (a) * * *
    (1) * * *
    (2) Halibut delivered by catcher vessels using trawl gear to 
shoreside processors.
    (b) * * *
    (3) * * *
     (iv) Effective period. A PSD permit issued for salmon or halibut 
remains in effect for a 3-year period after the selection notice is 
published in the Federal Register unless suspended or revoked. A PSD 
permit issued to an authorized distributor may be renewed following the 
application procedures in this section.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 00-24184 Filed 9-19-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S