[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 56 (Friday, March 22, 2002)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 13291-13293]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-6748]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 010710172-2039-02; 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: Final rule; response to comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: NMFS issues a final rule to change the Community Development 
Quota (CDQ) regulations for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI) crab to 
allow the State of Alaska (State) greater flexibility in establishing 
CDQ fishing seasons. This action is necessary to achieve the 
conservation and management goals for the BSAI 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 Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands King and Tanner 
Crabs (FMP).

DATES: Effective on April 22, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Environmental Assessment, Regulatory Impact 
Review, and Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (FRFA) prepared for 
this action are available from the Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 21668, 
Juneau, AK 99802-1668, Attn: Lori Gravel.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act, at section 
305(i)(1), required the North Pacific Fishery Management Council 
(Council) and NMFS to establish a CDQ program. See 16 U.S.C. 1855(i). 
In 1998, NMFS implemented the crab CDQ program with regulations at 50 
CFR 679.31 (63 FR 8356, February 19, 1998) and crab CDQ fisheries began 
that year. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 7.5 percent of the total 
allowable catch of each BSAI crab fishery for 2000 and beyond is 
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, 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 guideline harvest 
levels (GHLs) and fishery seasons. They are (1) Category 1: Federal 
Management Measures Fixed in the FMP, (2) Category 2: Framework 
Management Measures, and (3) Category 3: Management Measures Deferred 
to the State. The FMP also provides for the State management of CDQ 
crab harvesting activity, including times when CDQ fishermen may 
harvest the CDQ reserve.
    The State establishes crab fishing seasons according to a shellfish 
management cycle, based on stock assessment surveys conducted in the 
summer, and the GHLs for the upcoming fall and winter fishing seasons 
set 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 allow the harvest of a 
portion of a CDQ crab fishery before the regular commercial crab 
fishery begins under specific conditions.

[[Page 13292]]

    Although Federal regulations implementing the crab CDQ reserve, at 
50 CFR 679.31(d), 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 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 
(Chionoecetes opilio) because of the timing of the snow crab fishing 
season. The regular commercial fishery for snow crab starts on January 
15 and is open until 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.
    Existing Federal regulations do not prevent a CDQ fishery before 
the regular commercial fishery for the other crab species because these 
crab fisheries are prosecuted at times that would allow a CDQ fishery 
to occur before the regular fishery in the same calendar year.
    In October 1998, NMFS proposed to the Council, and the Council 
concurred, 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.
    This regulatory amendment changes the Federal regulation at 50 CFR 
679.31(d) by removing the phrase ``calendar year'' from the regulatory 
language. The CDQ reserve will still be apportioned annually based on 
the GHLs derived from the annual stock assessments. However, the CDQ 
reserve for snow crab will 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 for groundfish fisheries used by NMFS. 
This change is consistent with the intent of the FMP by providing the 
State with greater flexibility to establish CDQ fishing seasons.
    This action also removes the expired CDQ reserve phase-in language 
at 50 CFR 679.31(d).
    NMFS published a proposed rule in the Federal Register on July 25, 
2001 (66 FR 38626), which described the proposed regulatory amendment 
and invited comments from the public. Comments were invited until 
August 24, 2001. NMFS received no public comments on the proposed rule.

Changes From Proposed to Final Rule

    NMFS decided to include in this final rule a correction to the 
regulations at 50 CFR 679.1 concerning the FMP title. In 1998, the 
Council, when updating the FMP, changed the title of the FMP from the 
FMP for the Commercial King and Tanner Crab Fisheries in the Bering Sea 
and Aleutian Islands Area to the FMP for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands 
King and Tanner Crabs. NMFS approved the updated FMP in March 1999 (64 
FR 11390, March 9, 1999). However, the regulations at 50 CFR 679.1 were 
not changed to reflect the new FMP title.

Small Entity Compliance Guide

    This final rule does not directly effect the management or 
prosecution of the BSAI crab fisheries. As explained in the FRFA, this 
final rule adds management flexibility for the State of Alaska to set 
CDQ fishing seasons according to State regulations.

Classification

    The Administrator, Alaska Region, NMFS, determined that this 
regulatory amendment is necessary for the management of the CDQ crab 
fisheries and that it is consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Act and 
other applicable laws.
    NMFS prepared an Environmental Assessment/Regulatory Impact Review/
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Act 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. NMFS also prepared an FRFA based on the IRFA. The FRFA 
estimates the total number of small entities that will be affected by 
this action, and analyzes the economic impact on those small entities 
as required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). A summary of the 
FRFA follows.
    This regulatory change will 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 affected by this 
final rule to be small entities. The universe of small entities is 
composed of the 319 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 six CDQ groups, for a 
total of 390 small entities. For the purposes of the FRFA, NMFS assumes 
that all of the catcher vessels belong to small entities, while the 29 
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 
Regulatory Flexibility Act purposes.
    NMFS considered two alternatives, status quo and the regulation 
change. This regulatory change is a measure to reduce the impacts of 
the existing regulation on small entities, specifically the CDQ groups 
and communities that belong to the CDQ groups. The FRFA 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 319 regular commercial fishermen may 
experience adverse impacts from the proposed alternative due to the 
potential disadvantage of fishing for snow crab after some of the GHL 
has been harvested. Measures to reduce the impacts on these small 
entities will be taken by the State in determining whether to conduct a 
CDQ fishery before the regular commercial fishery. These measures 
include limiting the amount of CDQ quota that can be harvested pre-
season to 30 percent of the CDQ quota (which equals 2.25 percent of the 
GHL) and limiting preseason CDQ fisheries for crab stocks with GHLs 
above 50 million pounds.
    This final 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 rule does not 
duplicate, overlap, or conflict with other Federal regulations.
    This rule has been determined to be not significant for purposes of 
Executive Order 12866.
    The Assistant Administrator, NMFS, finds good cause to waive the 
requirement to provide prior notice and the opportunity for public 
comment, pursuant to authority set forth at 5 U.S.C. 553 (b)(B), on the 
portion of the final rule that changes the title of the FMP. NMFS has 
determined that such procedures would be unnecessary because changing 
the FMP title has no effect on the public.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679

    Alaska, Fisheries, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.


[[Page 13293]]


    Dated: March 15, 2002.
Rebecca Lent,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.

    For reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 679 is 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.


Sec. 679.1  [Amended]

    2. In Sec. 679.1(g), remove the words ``Fishery Management Plan for 
the Commercial King and Tanner Crab Fisheries in the Bering Sea and 
Aleutian Islands Area'' and add, in their place, the words ``Fishery 
Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner 
Crabs''.


Sec. 679.2  [Amended]

    3. In Sec. 679.2, in the definition for Crab species, remove the 
words ``Fishery Management Plan for the Commercial King and Tanner Crab 
Fisheries in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands'' and add, in their place, 
the words ``Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands 
King and Tanner Crabs''.

    4. In Sec. 679.31, paragraph (d) is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 679.31  CDQ reserves.

* * * * *
    (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.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 02-6748 Filed 3-21-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S