[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 111 (Friday, June 8, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 30869-30875]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-14517]



[[Page 30869]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 010108006-1136-02; I.D. 050101D]
RIN 0648-AO97


Fisheries off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; 
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Amendment 14

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 proposes a rule to implement portions of Amendment 14 to 
the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Amendment 
14 would create a permit stacking program for limited entry permits 
with sablefish endorsements. This permit stacking program would 
lengthen the duration of the limited entry, fixed gear primary 
sablefish fishery. It is intended to increase safety in that fishery 
and provide flexibility to participants. Amendment 14 would allow a 
single vessel to carry up to three permits and fish the sablefish 
cumulative limits with those permits during the primary sablefish 
fishery.

DATES:  Comments must be submitted in writing by July 9, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments on Amendment 14 or supporting documents should be 
sent to Donna Darm, Acting Administrator, Northwest Region, NMFS, Sand 
Point Way NE., Seattle, WA 98115-0070; or to Rebecca Lent, 
Administrator, Southwest Region, NMFS, 501 West Ocean Boulevard, Suite 
4200, Long Beach, CA 90802-4213. Copies of Amendment 14 and the 
environmental assessment/regulatory impact review (EA/RIR) are 
available from Donald McIsaac, Executive Director, Pacific Fishery 
Management Council (Council), 2130 SW Fifth Ave., Suite 224, Portland, 
OR 97201.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Yvonne deReynier or Becky Renko 
(Northwest Region, NMFS), phone: 206-526-6140; fax: 206-526-6736 and; 
e-mail: [email protected], [email protected] or Svein 
Fougner (Southwest Region, NMFS) phone: 562-980-4000; fax: 562-980-4047 
and; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Access

    This Federal Register document is also accessible via the Internet 
at the website of the Office of the Federal Register: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su-docs/aces/aces140.html.
    NMFS is proposing this rule to implement Amendment 14 to the FMP, a 
permit stacking program for limited entry permits with sablefish 
endorsements. These regulations would lengthen the duration of the 
major limited entry, fixed gear season for sablefish and provide 
participation requirements for that season. This proposed rule is based 
on recommendations of the Council, under the authority of the Pacific 
Coast Groundfish FMP and the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). Implementing Amendment 14 would 
significantly increase safety in the fishery, allow individual fishery 
participants to more fully use their existing vessel capacity, and 
reduce overall capacity in the primary fixed gear sablefish fishery. 
The background and rationale for the Council's recommendations are 
summarized here. Further detail appears in the EA/RIR prepared by the 
Council for Amendment 14.

Background

    For many years, sablefish harvested by the limited entry, fixed 
gear fleet has been separated into a small, year-round daily trip limit 
fishery and a two-part ``primary'' fishery. Annually, about 85 percent 
of the limited entry fixed gear sablefish allocation is taken in the 
primary fishery. The two parts of the primary fishery have been the 
``regular'' season, which was a derby fishery until 1997, and the 
``mop-up'' season to take any primary season sablefish not taken in the 
regular season. Prior to 1997, the Council managed harvest in the 
regular season by setting the season length short enough to ensure that 
the fishery would not exceed its quota. During the regular season, 
there were no cumulative sablefish limits for participating vessels. 
The mop-up season was commonly 2 weeks in duration, with each 
participant allowed to fish against a small, vessel-specific cumulative 
limit. Over time, sablefish fleet capitalization increased and the 
Council needed to set ever shorter regular seasons to control catch 
levels. By 1996, the regular season was just 5 days long.
    Concern for the safety of participants in the sablefish derby led 
the Council to develop Amendment 9 to the FMP, a sablefish endorsement 
program for limited entry permit holders. Amendment 9, implemented in 
1997, limited the number of vessels allowed to participate in the 
primary (regular + mop-up) fixed gear sablefish fishery. Limited entry 
permit holders with at least 16,000 lb (7,257 kg) of sablefish landed 
in any one year from 1984 through 1994 received sablefish endorsements. 
This program was intended to restrict primary fishery participation to 
those permit holders with historical participation in and dependence 
upon the sablefish fishery. Today, 164 limited entry permit holders 
have sablefish endorsements.
    The Council saw the sablefish endorsement as a first step in 
improving management of the limited entry, fixed gear primary sablefish 
fishery. In 1998, NMFS implemented the Council's next step, which was 
to manage the season with a three-tiered cumulative limit regime (63 FR 
38101, July 15, 1998.) For the three-tier system, the Council divided 
sablefish endorsement holders into three tiers based on historical 
landings associated with their permits. During the limited entry fixed 
gear regular season, a participant has been allowed to land an amount 
of sablefish up to the cumulative limit associated with his/her 
permit's tier.
    To qualify for the highest tier, Tier 1, a permit had to be 
associated with at least 898,000 lb (407.33 mt) of sablefish landings 
made from 1984 through 1994. To qualify for the middle tier, Tier 2, a 
permit had to be associated with between 380,000 lb (172.36 mt) and 
897,999 lb (407.33 mt) of sablefish landings made from 1984 through 
1994. Permits with sablefish endorsements that were associated with 
less than 380,000 lb (172.36 mt) of sablefish landings from 1984 
through 1994 qualified for the lowest tier, Tier 3. The three-tier 
system also set a between-tier ratio to describe the relationship 
between the cumulative limits that would be available to each tier 
during the regular season. That ratio is 1 (Tier 3): 1.75 (Tier 2):3.85 
(Tier 1). For example, if Tier 3 had a cumulative limit of 10,000 lb 
(4,536 kg), Tier 2 would have a corresponding cumulative limit of 
17,500 lb (7,938 kg), and Tier 1 would have a corresponding cumulative 
limit of 38,500 lb (17,463 kg).
    The three-tier system has been in place since the 1998 season and 
has somewhat slowed the pace of the fishery and the rate of 
capitalization in the fishery. Vessels owners no longer have an 
incentive to increase their fishing speed because they are limited in 
how much sablefish they can catch by the tiered cumulative limits. Even 
under the three-tier system, however, the Council continued to 
constrain regular season

[[Page 30870]]

harvest by setting a short duration season, followed by the longer mop-
up season. Three-tier system regulations set the regular fishery at no 
more than 10 days in duration.
    A fishery where all participants have the opportunity to catch a 
cumulative limit and are all able to catch that limit is an Individual 
Fishing Quota (IFQ) fishery as defined by the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The 
Magnuson-Stevens Act includes a moratorium on the implementation of new 
IFQ programs. To avoid having its three-tier management program 
classified as an IFQ program, the Council set short season lengths 
intended to prevent all participants from catching their cumulative 
limits. Cumulative limits were also set high, to ensure that some 
participants would not attain those limits during the short season. To 
provide a resource conservation buffer against the possibility that 
more vessels than expected would meet their cumulative limits in the 
regular season, the Council set season lengths and cumulative limits to 
take 80-87 percent of the primary season quota. Any quota not taken in 
the regular season as a result of this buffer was available during the 
mop-up season as an equal cumulative limit for all participating 
vessels. This conservative management provision successfully kept the 
primary season within its quota for the 1998-2000 three-tier seasons.
    The moratorium on new IFQ programs has been extended to October 1, 
2002 (Pub. L. 106-553.) However, Congress exempted from the moratorium 
a Pacific Council IFQ program for the fixed gear sablefish fishery 
that: (1) allows the use of more than one limited entry groundfish 
permit per vessel; and/or (2) sets cumulative trip limit periods, up to 
12 months in any calendar year, that allow fishing vessels a reasonable 
opportunity to harvest the full amount of the associated trip limits. 
At its November 2000 meeting, the Council recommended a permit stacking 
program that met the moratorium exemption requirements.

Permit Stacking and Amendment 14

    Amendment 14 to the FMP, which the Council adopted at its November 
2000 meeting, would introduce a permit stacking program to the limited 
entry, fixed gear primary season. Under this permit stacking program, a 
vessel owner would be allowed to register more than one sablefish-
endorsed permit for use with his/her vessel to harvest the cumulative 
limits associated with each of the stacked permits. This is referred to 
as stacking permits. Current groundfish regulations associate 
cumulative limits with vessels, so that no vessel may take more than 
one cumulative limit of a particular species during a single cumulative 
limit period. Amendment 14 would associate the sablefish cumulative 
limits of the three-tier system with permits. A vessel carrying more 
than one permit could harvest more than one sablefish cumulative limit 
per cumulative limit period.
    By exempting the Pacific Coast fixed gear permit stacking program 
from the IFQ moratorium, Congress removed the need to set short seasons 
designed to prevent participants from catching their full cumulative 
limits. The initial season recommendation is for an April through 
October season, which would allow participants ample time to catch 
their full sablefish cumulative limits. In 2001, the season would run 
from August 15 through October 31, a significant improvement over the 
brief seasons of past years. Under Amendment 14, the primary season 
would no longer be separated into regular and mop-up sub-seasons 
because the Council would simply divide the overall quota available to 
the fishery among the participants with the expectation that each 
vessel would be able to take its cumulative limits. With this increased 
harvest control, the Council would not need to use the traditional 
buffer of a mop-up season to prevent over-harvest in a regular season. 
Amendment 14 would also eliminate the need for the pre- and post-season 
closure periods that the Council used to control regular season 
sablefish harvest rates. The 48-hour pre-season closure requires that 
all participating vessels keep their gear out of the water, to prevent 
vessels from fishing in advance of the start time. The 36-hour post-
season closure allows vessels to fish up until the last minute of the 
season end time, and then unload their catch during the closure period 
without penalty.
    Beyond the basic provisions of allowing vessels to harvest more 
than one sablefish cumulative limit during the season and lengthening 
the season, Amendment 14 includes numerous provisions for managing the 
permit stacking program. There is not enough time to implement all of 
these provisions for the 2001 season. The provisions not included in 
this proposed rule will be implemented for the 2002 season by another 
rule.

Gear Endorsements

    Each limited entry permit has a gear endorsement for trawl, 
longline, or pot. Most permits have only one gear endorsement, although 
there are a few with more than one gear endorsement. A permit's gear 
endorsement indicates the gear that a vessel registered to the permit 
may use to participate in the limited entry fishery. Of the 164 permits 
with sablefish endorsements, 131 permits have longline endorsements, 1 
has both a longline and trawl endorsement, 27 have pot endorsements, 1 
has both a pot and trawl endorsement, and 4 have both longline and pot 
endorsements. The relatively small number of pot permits limits the 
permit market for vessels that fish with pot gear. In developing 
Amendment 14, the Council decided that it wanted to provide flexibility 
for vessel owners wishing to stack permits, regardless of whether they 
use longline or pot gear.
    Amendment 14 would allow a vessel owner to stack permits with 
different gear endorsements together, allowing the vessel to fish for 
sablefish with any of the fixed gears endorsed on at least one of the 
stacked permit. For example, a pot vessel could own a pot permit with a 
sablefish endorsement and a longline permit with a sablefish 
endorsement, and then fish against the cumulative limits associated 
with each permit using pot gear. A vessel could not participate in the 
primary sablefish fishery using any gear other than the fixed gear 
indicated on at least one of the permits associated with that vessel. 
If one of the permits registered for use with a vessel includes a trawl 
endorsement in addition to the required fixed gear endorsement, and if 
that permit's length endorsement is equal to or greater than that of 
the base permit, the vessel may continue to use trawl gear, but not in 
the fixed gear fishery. In such a case, if the permit is registered for 
use with a vessel more than 5 ft (1.52 m) shorter than the length 
endorsement on the trawl endorsed permit, the trawl endorsed permit 
would not be subject to trawl permit size reduction requirements at 
Sec. 660.333 (h)(2). These provisions would be implemented for the 2001 
fishery via this action.

Separating and ``Unstacking'' Permits

    Under Amendment 14, a permit owner who has stacked multiple permits 
on a single vessel may separate, or ``unstack,'' those permits from 
each other and transfer those permits individually to another vessel. 
That is, once two or more permits have been stacked together, they are 
not required to remain permanently stacked. The Council supported this 
provision because it will allow permit holders flexibility for moving 
permits within the fleet. If Amendment 14 had required stacked permits 
to remain permanently

[[Page 30871]]

stacked, it would have been more effective at permanently removing 
effort from the sablefish fishery. However, Council members felt that a 
requirement for permanent stacking would have been a disincentive to 
stack permits, particularly because there is uncertainty whether 
permits will include other species endorsements or IFQs in the future. 
Thus, this provision of Amendment 14 is intended to provide an 
incentive for vessels to stack permits to decrease the number of 
vessels in the fishery, while allowing permit holders flexibility for 
the future.
    As discussed earlier, the permit stacking program would associate 
sablefish cumulative limits in the primary fishery with permits rather 
than with vessels. This means that if a vessel owner unstacks and 
transfers a permit associated with his/her vessel during the primary 
season, the next vessel using that permit would only have access to 
that portion of the sablefish cumulative limit not caught by the first 
vessel. Provisions to allow unstacking and to require association of 
cumulative limits with permits for purposes of transferring permits 
with sablefish endorsements would be implemented for the 2001 season 
via this action.

Ownership Controls

    One of the Council's concerns in developing Amendment 14 was that, 
without controls, a permit stacking program could allow a few permit 
owners to control most of the sablefish catch and landings in the 
primary fishery. In IFQ programs where percentage of ownership has not 
been restricted, like the Atlantic surf clam fishery, a few large 
corporations own most of the access privileges for the fishery. The 
Council wanted to maintain the traditional character of the primary 
sablefish fishery, which has historically consisted of small business 
owners operating vessels throughout the length of the West Coast.
    In 2000, approximately 139 vessels participated in the primary 
fishery. During the 2000 primary season, 136 people owned sablefish 
endorsed permits, which meant that some persons owned more than one of 
the 164 sablefish endorsed permits. As of November 1, 2000, 2 people 
owned 5 permits, 3 people owned 3 permits, and 14 people owned 2 
permits. The Council included several provisions in Amendment 14 
intended to prevent a small number of permit owners from controlling 
access to the primary sablefish fishery.
    First, Amendment 14 would allow permit holders to stack no more 
than three permits on any one vessel. As there are 164 permits with 
sablefish endorsements, the restriction to no more than three permits 
per vessel would make the minimum fleet size 55 vessels. Permit 
transfers must be made through the NMFS Northwest Region Fisheries 
Permits Office, so the agency will be able to track the number of 
permits registered for use with each vessel participating in the 
fishery. This provision would be implemented for the 2001 season 
through this proposed action.
    Second, no person would be allowed to have ownership interest in 
more than three permits with sablefish endorsements. Both persons 
owning a whole permit outright and persons owning a portion of a 
corporation or partnership where the corporation or partnership is the 
permit-owning entity would be subject to this provision. When the 
Council finalized Amendment 14, there were some permit owners who 
already owned more than three permits. People (including partnerships 
and corporations) who had an ownership interest in more than three 
permits with sablefish endorsements on November 1, 2000, would not be 
allowed to accumulate more permits, but neither would they be required 
to sell their excess permits. NMFS announced this restriction in an 
Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on April 3, 2001 (66 FR 17681). 
This ``grandfathering'' of the privilege to own more than three permits 
would last only for as long as a permit holder owns the particular 
permits that he/she owned as of November 1, 2000. This provision would 
be implemented for the 2001 season in that the Fisheries Permits Office 
will monitor ownership levels with information that it can obtain from 
public records. NMFS will collect ownership information on permit-
owning partnerships and corporations during the 2002 season.
    Third, only individual (human) persons would be allowed to own 
limited entry permits with sablefish endorsements. Corporations and 
partnerships that owned permits with sablefish endorsements as of 
November 1, 2000, could continue to own the permits as corporations and 
partnerships. Exemptions for a particular corporation or partnership 
that owned permits on November 1, 2000, would cease with a change in 
the identity of that corporation or partnership. Amendment 14 requires 
that permits be owned by individuals to increase the probability that 
harvest privileges would remain under the ownership of fishers within 
local fishing communities. Requiring that permits be owned by an 
individual would not restrict other aspects of the business operation 
from being organized as a partnership, corporation or other type of 
legal entity. This provision would be implemented for the 2001 season 
in that the Fisheries Permits Office would not transfer a permit to a 
partnership or corporation that did not own a permit as of November 1, 
2000. This provision will be fully implemented for the 2002 season by 
another rule.
    Fourth, Amendment 14 would require that permit owners be on board 
the vessel when the vessel is participating in the primary sablefish 
fishery. Persons, partnerships or corporations who were owners of 
permits with sablefish endorsements as of November 1, 2000, would again 
have the grandfathered privilege to be exempt from this requirement. 
During the primary fishery, grandfathered permit owners would not have 
to be on board the vessel during the primary fishery. However, permit 
owners acquiring permits after November 1, 2000, would be required to 
be on board the vessel while participating in the primary fishery. This 
provision is intended to ensure that permits are owned by persons 
within the fishing community who will fish their permits, rather than 
leasing them out to others. Like the requirement that permit owners be 
individual human persons, the owner-on-board requirement is designed to 
retain the character of the fishery as one populated by small 
businessmen who work their own vessels, rather than allow absentee 
owners to control the fishery. Amendment 14 allows NMFS to grant 
exemptions from the owner-on-board requirement for medical and personal 
emergencies beyond the control of the permit owner. NMFS does not have 
time to implement the owner-on-board requirement for the 2001 season. 
This requirement will be implemented for the 2002 season by another 
rule.

Cumulative Limits for Groundfish Fisheries Outside of the Primary 
Sablefish Fishery

    Under Amendment 14, only the tiered sablefish cumulative limits for 
the primary fishery would be associated with permits rather than with 
vessels. This means that a vessel with more than one permit will still 
be allowed only one cumulative limit per cumulative limit period of any 
species except sablefish taken in the primary fishery. Vessels 
participating in the daily trip limit fishery for sablefish will also 
be subject to a single daily trip limit and a single monthly or two-
month cumulative limit per vessel. These provisions are intended to 
allow the

[[Page 30872]]

permit stacking program to consolidate some of the effort in the 
groundfish fishery. A vessel owner who wishes to carry more than one 
permit on his/her vessel will have to buy or lease a permit from 
another vessel owner. The vessel owner who sells or leases his permit 
would be removing his/her vessel from the entire groundfish fishery 
while the recipient vessel owner will only be able to harvest multiple 
cumulative limits in the primary sablefish fishery. Thus, permit 
stacking will result in fewer limited entry vessels participating in 
groundfish fisheries for species other than sablefish. This provision 
would be implemented for the 2001 season.

Daily Trip Limit Fishery for Sablefish

    Under Amendment 9 to the FMP, the limited entry sablefish daily 
trip limit fishery may not occur during either the regular or mop-up 
seasons that make up the limited entry, fixed gear primary sablefish 
fishery. This provision was essentially an enforcement measure intended 
to prevent permit holders without sablefish endorsements from trying to 
access the larger sablefish cumulative limits associated with the 
regular and mop-up fisheries. However, the effect of that provision has 
mainly been to eliminate some of the confusion of having multiple 
unendorsed vessels on the water during the rapid pace derby. Most 
enforcement activities occur after the fact, when investigators check 
landings records and processor receipts to ensure that vessels are 
landing amounts appropriate to their permits. At-dock enforcement 
efforts would include checking permits for sablefish endorsements and 
any suspected forgery would be investigated after the landing.
    Restricting unendorsed vessels to participating in the daily trip 
limit fishery only outside of the regular and mop-up seasons is not 
overly burdensome when those fisheries together take up 3-4 weeks per 
year. Under Amendment 14, however, the primary season would be 3 months 
duration in 2001 and 6 months duration in 2002 and beyond. To ensure 
that the limited entry daily trip limit fishery could continue 
throughout the longer primary season, Amendment 14 removed the 
Amendment 9 prohibition. This change is not expected to significantly 
affect enforcement practices and will relieve a burden for permit 
holders wishing to participate in the daily trip limit fishery. This 
provision would be implemented for the 2001 season.

Processing Sablefish At Sea

    Amendment 14 would prohibit participants in the primary sablefish 
fishery from processing their sablefish at sea. A longer sablefish 
season would give vessels the opportunity to slow their fishing 
operations and have more time to dress their catch. Many sablefish 
fishers dress their catch at sea, removing the head and entrails from 
the sablefish before landing it at processing plants. Most West Coast 
sablefish is sold frozen in headed-and-gutted form to Japanese markets. 
Processing a sablefish involves either receiving a whole fish and 
heading and gutting it or receiving a headed-and-gutted fish, and then 
further cleaning and bleeding the headed-and-gutted fish. These headed-
and-gutted, cleaned fish are glazed with an ice-water wash and then 
frozen for market. Although processing sablefish that is already 
headed-and-gutted is not as demanding as processing species that 
require filleting, processors ensure that West Coast marketed sablefish 
meets the high standards of Japanese fish buyers.
    In prohibiting primary fishery participants from landing processed 
sablefish, the Council wished to ensure that allowing a longer 
sablefish primary season would not deprive processing plants of a 
traditional income opportunity. The Council also wanted to discourage 
the large longlining catcher-processors that operate off Alaska from 
entering into the West Coast sablefish fishery. In addition to changing 
the character of the fishery and eliminating an income opportunity for 
shore-based processors, allowing at-sea processing could complicate 
efforts to monitor sablefish landings. A vessel that processes its 
catch at sea could also sell that fish at sea, which could make 
enforcement of individual vessel quotas difficult. This prohibition 
would not preclude a primary fishery participant from processing his/
her sablefish catch once that catch has been landed on shore, and then 
marketing that catch without the aid of a processing plant.
    In past primary fisheries, very few vessels have landed fully 
processed sablefish. Because there are some permit owners that have 
done so, however, the Council wished to also provide grandfathering 
privileges to exempt those permit owners from the prohibition on at-sea 
sablefish processing. Amendment 14 would allow permit owners who can 
prove that they landed at least 2,000 lb (907 kg) of frozen sablefish 
in one year of 1998, 1999, or 2000 to continue to land processed or 
frozen sablefish in future primary fisheries. NMFS does not have enough 
time to determine a permit owner's qualification for the grandfathered 
privilege to land frozen sablefish for the 2001 season. Thus, for 2001, 
primary fishery vessels would not be prohibited from processing their 
sablefish catch at sea. This prohibition and the associated 
grandfathering allowance will be implemented for the 2002 season by 
another rule.

Fees

    NMFS is required under Section 304(d)(2) of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Act to collect fees from participants in an IFQ program to recover the 
actual costs directly related to the management and enforcement of the 
program. These fees shall not exceed 3 percent of the ex-vessel value 
of sablefish harvested under this IFQ program, to be collected as 
landings fees. NMFS has not yet analyzed the cost of managing and 
enforcing this program and will be better able to predict this cost 
with data from the 2001 primary season. This required fee system will 
be implemented for the 2002 season by another rule.

Classification

    At this time, NMFS has not determined whether Amendment 14, which 
this proposed rule would implement, 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 data, views, 
and comments received during the comment period.
    This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
    The Council prepared an initial regulatory flexibility analysis 
that describes the effect this proposed rule, if adopted, would have on 
small entities as follows:
    This proposed rule would primarily affect the owners of the 164 
limited entry permits with sablefish endorsements, with some minor 
positive effects on the 66 permit holders without sablefish 
endorsements. These permit holders use longline or pot gear to 
participate in the limited entry, primary sablefish fishery. Most 
sablefish endorsed longline vessels are under 50 ft(15.24 m) in length 
while most sablefish endorsed pot vessels are over 50 ft (15.24 m) in 
length. While there is a statistical relationship between size of 
vessel and amount of sablefish harvest, there are smaller sablefish 
vessels (under 40 ft) (12.192 m) that catch as much and more than 
larger vessels each year. All of the permit owners and vessels in the 
Pacific Coast, limited entry, fixed gear fleet are considered

[[Page 30873]]

small entities under Small Business Administration (SBA) standards.
    Amendment 14 would significantly improve the safety of the primary 
fishery for participating vessels. Under the current management system, 
the primary fishery is less than 10 days long- a brief and intense 
fishery. This proposed rule would lengthen the fishery to 3 months 
duration in 2001 and a rule to be implemented in 2002 would extend the 
season to 6 months duration for the future. Participants would have the 
opportunity to fish against their tiered cumulative limits at a more 
safe and rational pace than in past years. Changes to expenses 
associated with participating in the fishery could be both positive and 
negative. Vessel owners would likely hire fewer crew members if they do 
not have to fish in the same rapid-pace manner. Similarly, participants 
would have fewer gear costs, because they would not be trying to 
maximize catch over a brief period. However, if these vessel owners 
catch their cumulative limits over a longer period of time, they may 
take more trips to do so and thereby use more fuel to catch the same 
amount of fish. The major financial benefit to fishery participants 
would be that they would have more flexibility in deciding where and 
how to distribute operating expenses.
    Permit owners who decide to purchase additional permits to have 
access to more sablefish within the primary season will have to contend 
with the initial cost of those additional permits. Some of the permit 
owners who have not participated in the primary season in past years 
may decide to sell their permits and will receive compensation for 
leaving the fishery.
    In the past, limited entry permit holders without sablefish 
endorsements have been prohibited from participating in the daily trip 
limit fishery during the primary (regular + mop-up) season. Amendment 
14 would revise the FMP to allow the daily trip limit fishery to occur 
during the primary season. This change would relieve a burden for 
limited entry permit holders without sablefish endorsements and allow 
them to schedule their sablefish fishing at their convenience.
    On the whole, Amendment 14 is expected to bring greater operational 
safety and more business planning flexibility to the participants in 
both the primary sablefish fishery and the daily trip limit fishery for 
sablefish. A copy of the RFA analysis for this action is available from 
the Council (see ADDRESSES).

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660

    Administrative practice and procedure, American Samoa, Fisheries, 
Fishing, Guam, Hawaiian Natives, Indians, Northern Mariana Islands, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: June 4, 2001.
William T. Hogarth,
Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 660 is 
proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 660--FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES AND IN THE WESTERN 
PACIFIC

    l. The authority citation for part 660 continues to read as 
follows:

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

    2. In Sec. 660.302, a new definition for ``Ownership interest'' is 
added to read as follows:


Sec. 660.302  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Ownership interest, with respect to a sablefish endorsed permit, 
means participation in ownership of a corporation, partnership or other 
entity that owns a sablefish endorsed permit. Participation in 
ownership does not mean owning stock in a publicly owned corporation.
* * * * *

    3. In Sec. 660.306, paragraphs (s) and (t) are revised to read as 
follows:


Sec. 660.306  Prohibitions.

* * * * *
    (s) Take, retain, possess or land sablefish under the cumulative 
limits provided for the ``primary'' limited entry, fixed gear sablefish 
season, described in Sec. 660.323(a)(2), from a vessel that is not 
registered to a limited entry permit with a sablefish endorsement.
    (t) Take, retain, possess, or land more than a single cumulative 
limit of a particular species, per vessel, per applicable cumulative 
limit period, except for sablefish taken in the ``primary'' limited 
entry, fixed gear sablefish season from a vessel authorized under 
Sec. 660.323 (a)(2)(i) to participate in that season, as described at 
Sec. 660.323(a)(2)(ii)(C).
* * * * *

    4. In Sec. 660.323, paragraph (a)(2) is revised to read as follows:


Sec.  660.323  Catch restrictions.

    (a) * * *
    (2) Fixed gear sablefish. This paragraph (a)(2) applies to the 
primary season for the fixed gear limited entry sablefish fishery north 
of 36 deg. N. lat., except for paragraph (a)(2)(iii) of this section, 
which also applies to the open access fishery north of 36 deg. N. lat. 
Limited entry and open access fixed gear sablefish fishing south of 
36 deg. N. lat. is governed by routine management measures imposed 
under paragraph (b) of this section.
    (i) Sablefish endorsement. A vessel may not participate in the 
primary season for the fixed gear limited entry fishery, unless the 
vessel's owner holds (by ownership or otherwise) at least one limited 
entry permit for that vessel, affixed with both a gear endorsement for 
longline or trap (or pot) gear, and a sablefish endorsement. Permits 
with sablefish endorsements are assigned to one of three tiers, as 
described at Sec. 660.336.
    (ii) Primary season--limited entry, fixed gear sablefish fishery. 
(A) Season dates. North of 36 deg. N. lat., the primary sablefish 
season for limited entry, fixed gear vessels will begin on August 1 and 
end on October 31. Unless otherwise announced, the primary season will 
begin and end at 12 noon, l.t.
    (B) Gear type. During the primary season and when fishing against 
primary season cumulative limits, each vessel authorized to participate 
in that season under paragraph (a)(2)(i) of this section may fish for 
sablefish with any of the gear types, except trawl gear, endorsed on at 
least one of the permits registered for use with that vessel.
    (C) Cumulative limits. (1) A vessel participating in the primary 
season will be constrained by the sablefish cumulative limit associated 
with each of the permits registered for use with that vessel. The 
Regional Administrator will annually calculate the size of the 
cumulative trip limit for each of the three tiers associated with the 
sablefish endorsement such that the ratio of limits between the tiers 
is approximately 1:1.75:3.85 for Tier 3: Tier 2: and Tier 1, 
respectively. The size of the cumulative trip limits will vary 
depending on the amount of sablefish available for the primary fishery. 
The size of the cumulative trip limits for the three tiers in the 
primary fishery will be announced in the Federal Register each year 
before the fishery opens.
    (2) During the primary season, each vessel authorized to 
participate in that season under paragraph (a)(2)(i) of this section 
may take, retain, possess, and land sablefish, up to the cumulative 
limits for each of the permits registered for use with that vessel. If 
multiple limited entry permits with sablefish endorsements are 
registered for use with a single vessel, that vessel may land up

[[Page 30874]]

to the total of all cumulative limits announced in the Federal Register 
for the tiers for those permits, except as limited by paragraph 
(a)(2)(ii)(c)(3) of this section. Up to 3 permits may be registered for 
use with a single vessel during the primary season; thus, a single 
vessel may not take and retain, possess or land more than 3 primary 
season sablefish cumulative limits in any one year. A vessel registered 
for use with multiple limited entry permits is subject to per vessel 
limits for species other than sablefish, and to per vessel limits when 
participating in the daily trip limit fishery for sablefish under 
paragraph (a)(2)(iii) of this section.
    (3) If a permit is registered to more than one vessel during the 
primary season in a single year, the second vessel may only take the 
portion of the cumulative limit for that permit that has not been 
harvested by the first vessel to which the permit is registered. The 
combined primary season sablefish landings for all vessels registered 
to that permit may not exceed the cumulative limit for the tier 
associated with that permit.
    (4) A cumulative trip limit is the maximum amount of sablefish that 
may be taken and retained, possessed, or landed per vessel in a 
specified period of time, with no limit on the number of landings or 
trips.
    (iii) Limited entry daily trip limit fishery. (A) Before the start 
of the primary season, all sablefish landings made by a vessel 
authorized under paragraph (a)(2)(i) of this section to participate in 
the primary season will be subject to the restrictions and limits of 
the limited entry daily trip limit fishery for sablefish, which is 
governed by routine management measures imposed under paragraph (b) of 
this section.
    (B) Following the start of the primary season, all landings made by 
a vessel authorized under paragraph (a)(2)(i) of this section to 
participate in the primary season will count against the primary season 
cumulative limit(s) associated with the permit(s) registered for use 
with that vessel. Once a vessel has reached its total cumulative 
allowable sablefish landings for the primary season under paragraph 
(a)(2)(ii)(C) of this section, any subsequent sablefish landings by 
that vessel will be subject to the restrictions and limits of the 
limited entry daily trip limit fishery for sablefish for the remainder 
of the calendar year.
    (C) Vessels registered for use with a limited entry, fixed gear 
permit that does not have a sablefish endorsement may participate in 
the limited entry, daily trip limit fishery for as long as that fishery 
is open during the year, subject to routine management measures imposed 
under paragraph (b) of this section.
    (D) Open access vessels may participate in the limited entry, daily 
trip limit fishery for as long as that fishery is open during the year, 
subject to the routine management measures imposed under paragraph (b) 
of this section.
    (iv) Trip limits. Trip and/or frequency limits may be imposed in 
the limited entry fishery on vessels that are not participating in the 
primary season, under paragraph (b) of this section. Trip and/or size 
limits to protect juvenile sablefish in the limited entry or open-
access fisheries also may be imposed at any time under paragraph (b) of 
this section. Trip limits may be imposed in the open-access fishery at 
any time under paragraph (b) of this section.
* * * * *

    5. In Sec. 660.333, paragraphs (a), (f)(1), and (h)(1)(i) are 
revised, and new paragraphs (h)(3) and (j) are added to read as 
follows:


Sec. 660.333  Limited entry fishery--general.

    (a) General. Participation in the limited entry fishery requires 
that the owner of a vessel hold (by ownership or otherwise) a limited 
entry permit affixed with a gear endorsement registered for use with 
that vessel for the gear being fished. A sablefish endorsement is also 
required for a vessel to participate in the primary seasons for the 
nontrawl, limited entry sablefish fishery, north of 36 deg. N. lat. 
There are three types of gear endorsements: trawl, longline, and pot 
(or trap.) More than one type of gear endorsement may be affixed to a 
limited entry permit. While participating in the limited entry fishery, 
the vessel registered to the limited entry permit is authorized to fish 
the gear(s) endorsed on the permit. While participating in the limited 
entry, primary fixed gear fishery for sablefish described at 
Sec. 660.323(a)(2), a vessel registered to more than one limited entry 
permit is authorized to fish with any gear, except trawl gear, endorsed 
on at least one of the permits registered for use with that vessel. 
During the limited entry fishery, permit holders may also fish with 
open access gear; except that vessels fishing against primary sablefish 
season cumulative limits described at Sec. 660.323(a)(2)(ii)(C) may not 
fish for sablefish with open access gear.
* * * * *
    (f) Transfers. * * *
    (1) The permit owner may convey (by sale, assignment, lease, 
bequest, intestate succession, barter, trade, gift, or other form of 
conveyance) the limited entry permit to a different person. The new 
permit owner will not be authorized to use the permit until the change 
in permit ownership has been registered with and approved by the SFD. 
The SFD will not approve a change in permit ownership for limited entry 
permits with sablefish endorsements that does not meet the ownership 
requirements for those permits described at Sec. 660.336(e).
* * * * *
    (h) Vessel size endorsements--(1) General. (i) If the permit is 
registered for use with a trawl vessel that is more than 5 ft (1.52 m) 
shorter than the size for which the permit is endorsed, it will be 
endorsed for the size of the smaller vessel. This requirement does not 
apply to a permit with a sablefish endorsement that is endorsed for 
both trawl and either longline or pot gear and which is registered for 
use with a longline or pot gear vessel for purposes of participating in 
the limited entry primary fixed gear sablefish fishery described at 
Sec. 660.323(a)(2).
* * * * *
    (3) Size endorsement requirements for sablefish endorsed permits. 
Notwithstanding paragraphs (h)(1) and (2) of this section, when 
multiple permits are ``stacked'' on a vessel as described in paragraph 
(j) of this section, only one of the permits must meet the size 
requirements of those sections. Any additional permits that are stacked 
for use with a vessel participating in the limited entry primary fixed 
gear sablefish fishery may be registered for use with a vessel more 
than 5 ft (1.52 m) longer or shorter than the size endorsed on the 
permit.
* * * * *
    (j)``Stacking'' Limited Entry Permits. ``Stacking'' limited entry 
permits, refers to registering more than one permit for use with a 
single vessel. Only limited entry permits with sablefish endorsements 
may be ``stacked.'' Up to three limited entry permits with sablefish 
endorsements may be registered for use with a single vessel during the 
primary sablefish season described at Sec. 660.323(a)(2)(ii). 
Privileges, responsibilities, and restrictions associated with stacking 
permits to participate in the primary sablefish fishery are described 
at Sec. 660.323(a)(2) and at Sec. 660.336(e).

    6. In Sec. 660.336, paragraphs (a) and (e) are revised to read as 
follows:


Sec. 660.336  Limited entry permits--sablefish endorsement and tier 
assignment.

    (a) General. Participation in the limited entry fixed gear 
sablefish fishery during the primary season described in

[[Page 30875]]

Sec. 660.323 (a)(2) north of 36 deg. N. lat., requires that an owner of 
a vessel hold (by ownership or lease) a limited entry permit, 
registered for use with that vessel, with a longline or trap (or pot) 
endorsement and a sablefish endorsement. Up to three permits with 
sablefish endorsements may be registered for use with a single vessel. 
Limited entry permits with sablefish endorsements are assigned to one 
of three different cumulative trip limit tiers, based on the qualifying 
catch history of the permit.
* * * * *
    (e) Ownership requirements and limitations. (1) No partnership or 
corporation may own a limited entry permit with a sablefish endorsement 
unless that partnership or corporation owned a limited entry permit 
with a sablefish endorsement on November 1, 2000. Otherwise, only 
individual human persons may own limited entry permits with sablefish 
endorsements.
    (2) No person, partnership, or corporation may have ownership 
interest in more than three permits with sablefish endorsements, except 
for persons, partnerships, or corporations that had ownership interest 
in more than 3 permits with sablefish endorsements as of November 1, 
2000. The exemption from the maximum ownership level of 3 permits only 
applies to ownership of the same permits that were owned on November 1, 
2000. Persons, partnerships or corporations that had ownership interest 
in more than 3 permits with sablefish endorsements as of November 1, 
2000, may not acquire additional permits beyond those owned on November 
1, 2000, until they own fewer than 3 permits; at that time they may not 
exceed the ownership cap of 3 permits.
    (3) A partnership or corporation will lose the exemptions provided 
in paragraphs (e)(1) and (2) of this section on the effective date of 
any change in the corporation or partnership from that which existed on 
November 1, 2000. A ``change'' in the partnership or corporation means 
a change in the corporate or partnership membership, except a change 
caused by the death of a member providing the death did not result in 
any new members. A change in membership is not considered to have 
occurred if a member becomes legally incapacitated and a trustee is 
appointed to act on his behalf, nor if the ownership of shares among 
existing members changes, nor if a member leaves the corporation or 
partnership and is not replaced. Changes in the ownership of publicly 
held stock will not be deemed changes in ownership of the corporation.
[FR Doc. 01-14517 Filed 6-7-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S