[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 143 (Wednesday, July 25, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 38626-38627]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-18575]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 010710172-1172-01; I.D. 061301A]
RIN 0648-AL92


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Western 
Alaska Community Development Quota 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 proposes a change in the Community Development Quota 
(CDQ) regulations for crab to allow the State of Alaska greater 
flexibility in establishing fishing seasons. This action is proposed to 
achieve the conservation and management goals for the crab CDQ program 
and is intended to further the objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and the 
Fishery Management Plan for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands King 
and Tanner Crabs (FMP).

DATES: Comments on the proposed rule must be submitted on or before 
August 24, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments on this proposed rule should be submitted to Sue 
Salveson, Assistant Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries 
Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802-1668, 
Attn: Lori Gravel. Comments may also be sent via facsimile (fax) to 
907-586-7465. Comments will not be accepted if submitted via e-mail or 
Internet. Courier or hand delivery of comments may be made to NMFS in 
the Federal Building, Room 453, Juneau, AK. Copies of the Draft 
Environmental Assessment/Regulatory Impact Review/Initial Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis (Draft EA/RIR/IRFA) prepared for this action are 
available from NMFS (see ADDRESSES).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gretchen Harrington, 907-586-7228, or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act required the North 
Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) and NMFS to establish a 
CDQ program under which a percentage of the guideline harvest level 
(GHL) of Bering Sea and Aleutian Island (BSAI) crab fisheries is 
allocated to the program. In 1998, NMFS issued regulations implementing 
the crab CDQ program (50 CFR 679.31; 63 FR 8356, February 19, 1998) and 
crab CDQ fisheries began that year. Section 305(i)(1)(C)(iii) of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act required that 7.5 percent of the total allowable 
catch of each crab fishery for 2000 and beyond shall be allocated to 
the crab CDQ program.
    Under the FMP, the Council and NMFS defer management of the BSAI 
king and Tanner crab fisheries, including the CDQ fisheries, to the 
State of Alaska (State), with Federal oversight. The State/Federal 
cooperative management regime established in the FMP specifies three 
categories of management measures that provide the framework for the 
State management of the crab fisheries, including the determination of 
the GHLs and fishery seasons. The FMP also provides the State with the 
authority to manage CDQ crab harvesting activity, including when CDQ 
fishermen may harvest the CDQ reserve.
    The State sets crab fishing seasons according to a shellfish 
management cycle based on stock assessment surveys conducted in the 
summer and establishes GHLs for the upcoming fall and winter fishing 
seasons according to those surveys. The CDQ reserve is a portion of the 
GHL. Currently, CDQ crab fisheries are conducted after the regular 
commercial fishery; however, State regulations provide the regulatory 
flexibility to conduct a CDQ fishery before the regular commercial 
fishery for snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio).
    Although Federal regulations implementing the crab CDQ reserve 
specify that the crab CDQ reserves be allocated by calendar year, the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act does not dictate when the reserve is available for 
harvest, only that the reserve be a portion of the annual harvest 
amount. By allocating to the crab CDQ reserve on a calendar year basis, 
the State is prevented from conducting a CDQ crab season before the 
regular commercial fishery for snow crab because of the timing of the 
snow crab fishing season. The regular commercial fishery for snow crab 
starts on January 15 and ends when the GHL is harvested. Additionally, 
State stand-down provisions prohibit vessels that intend to participate 
in the snow crab fishery from being on the fishing grounds 14 days 
prior to the opening of the fishery. Thus, a CDQ season before the 
regular snow crab fishery could only start in December of the previous 
calendar year.

[[Page 38627]]

    Existing Federal regulations do not prevent a CDQ fishery before 
the regular commercial fishery for crab species other than snow crab 
because these crab fisheries are prosecuted at times of the year such 
that a CDQ fishery could occur before the regular fishery in the same 
calendar year.
    In October 1998, NMFS proposed to the North Pacific Fishery 
Management Council (Council) that the Federal regulatory language that 
specified crab CDQ reserves by ``calendar year'' be changed to allow 
the State more flexibility in managing the crab CDQ harvests. The 
Council agreed that NMFS should change the Federal regulations.
    This proposed regulatory amendment would change the Federal 
regulation at 50 CFR 679.31 (d) by removing the phrase ``calendar 
year''. The CDQ reserve would still be apportioned annually based on 
the GHLs derived from the annual stock assessments. However, the CDQ 
reserve would be available for harvest before January 1 to follow the 
annual cycle for crab fisheries used by the State rather than the 
calendar year cycle used by NMFS for groundfish fisheries. This 
proposed change is consistent with the intent of the FMP by providing 
the State with greater flexibility to establish CDQ fishing seasons. 
This proposed action also would remove the expired CDQ reserve phase-in 
language.

Classification

    NMFS prepared a draft EA/RIR/IRFA for this regulatory amendment 
that describes the management background, the purpose and need for 
action, the management alternatives, and the socio-economic impacts of 
the alternatives (see ADDRESSES). It estimates the total number of 
small entities that would be affected by this action, and analyzes the 
economic impact on those small entities as required by the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act (RFA). The IRFA describes the potential economic 
impacts this proposed rule, if adopted, would have on small entities. A 
summary of the IRFA follows:
    The regulatory change proposed by this action would have no direct 
effects, in and of itself, although it is intended to provide added 
management flexibility. With this Federal regulatory change, the State 
may choose to conduct a CDQ fishing season before a regular commercial 
fishery for snow crab.
    NMFS considers most of the fishing operations that would be 
affected by this proposed rule to be small entities. The universe of 
small entities is composed of the 339 regular commercial fishermen who 
hold licenses to operate catcher vessels with snow crab endorsements, 
the 65 villages that participate in the CDQ program, and the 6 CDQ 
groups, for a total of 410 small entities. For the purposes of the 
IRFA, NMFS assumes that all of the catcher vessels belong to small 
entities, while the 34 operators of licensed catcher processors with 
snow crab endorsements are not small entities. At present, however, 
information on ownership, affiliation, and contractual relationships 
between and among the catcher vessels is insufficient to allow 
definitive enumerations of which of these operations are, or are not 
``small entities'' for RFA purposes.
    The IRFA shows that the status quo alternative adversely impacts 
the 65 villages and 6 CDQ groups by preventing them from realizing the 
full value of their snow crab CDQ allocation. On the other hand, the 
339 regular commercial fishermen may experience adverse impacts from 
the proposed alternative due to the disadvantage of fishing for snow 
crab after approximately 2.25 percent of the GHL has been harvested.
    This proposed rule does not contain a collection-of-information 
requirement subject to review and approval by the Office of Management 
and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). This proposed rule 
does not duplicate, overlap, or conflict with other Federal 
regulations.
    This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679

    Alaska, Fisheries, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: July 20, 2001.
John Oliver
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.

    For reasons set out 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 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. 679.31, paragraph (d) is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 679.31  CDQ reserves.

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    (d) Crab CDQ reserves. For those king and Tanner crab species in 
the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area that have a guideline harvest 
level specified by the State of Alaska, 7.5 percent of the annual 
guideline harvest level for each fishery is apportioned to a crab CDQ 
reserve.
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[FR Doc. 01-18575 Filed 7-24-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S