[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 80 (Friday, April 25, 2003)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 20360-20362]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-10282]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 030416087-3087-01; I.D. 032603C]
RIN 0648-AQ75


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Amendment of 
Eligibility Criteria for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management 
Area Pacific Cod Hook-and-line and Pot Gear Fisheries

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 issues a proposed rule to amend eligibility criteria for 
Pacific cod endorsements to groundfish licenses issued under the 
License Limitation Program (LLP). These endorsements are necessary to 
participate in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area 
(BSAI) Pacific cod hook-and-line or pot gear fisheries with vessels 
greater than or equal to 60 feet (18.3 m) length overall (LOA). This 
action is necessary to allow additional participation in the BSAI 
Pacific cod hook-and-line or pot gear fisheries, as intended by the 
North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council). The intended effect 
of this action is to prevent unnecessary restriction on participation 
in the BSAI Pacific cod hook-and-line or pot gear fisheries and to 
conserve and manage the Pacific cod resources in the BSAI in accordance 
with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
(Magnuson-Stevens Act).

DATES: Comments must be received by May 27, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional 
Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 
21668, Juneau, AK, 99802, Attn: Lori Durall, or delivered to room 401 
of the Federal Building, 709 West 9th Street, Juneau, AK. Comments will 
not be accepted if submitted via e-mail or Internet. Copies of the 
Regulatory Impact Review/Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (RIR/
IRFA) prepared for this proposed action are available at the above NMFS 
address; telephone 907-586-7247. Copies of the Environmental Assessment 
(EA)/RIR/IRFA prepared for Amendment 67 are available from the

[[Page 20361]]

North Pacific Fishery Management Council, 605 W. 4th Avenue, Suite 306, 
Anchorage, AK, 99501; telephone 907-271-2809.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the groundfish fisheries in the 
exclusive economic zone off Alaska under the Fishery Management Plan 
for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area 
(FMP). The Council prepared the FMP under the authority of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act. Regulations governing U.S. fisheries and 
implementing this FMP appear at 50 CFR parts 600 and 679.

Background of Amendment 67

    The Council recommended, and NMFS approved, the LLP to address 
concerns about excess fishing capacity in the groundfish and crab 
fisheries off Alaska. More information on the specifics of the LLP and 
the problems it was designed to resolve can be found in the final rule 
implementing the LLP (63 FR 52642, October 1, 1998). To address excess 
fishing capacity and to protect long-term participants with extensive 
catch histories in the BSAI Pacific cod hook-and-line or pot gear 
fisheries, the Council recommended Amendment 67 to the FMP. Amendment 
67 authorized regulatory criteria for a Pacific cod endorsement to the 
LLP groundfish license. The endorsement is required for any vessel 
owner or operator to participate in the directed fishery for Pacific 
cod using hook-and-line or pot gear on a vessel greater than or equal 
to 60 feet (18.3 m) LOA in the BSAI. The details of Amendment 67 are 
provided in the proposed rule (66 FR 49908, October 1, 2001) and in the 
EA/RIR/IRFA for Amendment 67 (see ADDRESSES). This proposed action 
concerns the criteria applicable to harvests used by participants to 
establish their eligibility for an LLP groundfish license with a 
Pacific cod endorsement.
    The final rule implementing Amendment 67 (67 FR 18129, April 15, 
2002) specified eligibility criteria for a BSAI Pacific cod endorsement 
on an LLP groundfish license. In the final rule, Sec.  
679.4(k)(9)(iii)(F) specifies that harvests used to determine a 
person's eligibility to participate in the BSAI Pacific cod hook-and-
line or pot gear fisheries must be made from the vessel that was used 
for the basis of eligibility for the person's LLP groundfish license.
    In October 2002, the Council clarified the intended effect of 
Amendment 67 and recommended amending the regulations that implement 
the eligibility criteria for a Pacific cod endorsement for the hook-
and-line or pot gear fisheries. Specifically, the Council recommended 
that a person be able to use BSAI Pacific cod harvests to meet these 
eligibility criteria under certain circumstances, even if the harvests 
were not made from the vessel used as the basis for the license 
holder's LLP groundfish licenses, as is currently required.
    Hence, this proposed action would amend the regulatory language at 
Sec.  679.4(k)(9)(iii)(F) to specify that a person who owns the 
qualifying harvests of Pacific cod from a different vessel, but who 
also owned an LLP-qualifying groundfish fishing history at the time the 
qualifying Pacific cod threshold harvests were made, is also eligible 
for the Pacific cod endorsement on the person's LLP groundfish license. 
To prevent an increase in the number of LLP groundfish licenses, the 
regulations would also be amended to restrict the LLP qualifying 
history and the Pacific cod qualifying history of any one vessel to no 
more than one LLP groundfish license endorsed for Pacific cod hook-and-
line or pot gear fisheries. This amendment would limit the number of 
vessels allowed to participate in the Pacific cod hook-and-line or pot 
gear fisheries as intended by the LLP.

Classification

    NOAA Fisheries prepared an IRFA to evaluate the impact of this 
action on small entities, in accordance with the provisions of the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as modified by the Small Business 
Regulatory Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 603(b)). The purposes of this 
action were described earlier in the preamble to this proposed rule. 
The entities regulated by this action are those that did not qualify 
for a Pacific cod endorsement under the final rule published in April 
2002 and that will qualify under the recommendations by the Council in 
October 2002. The six entities that may be affected by this proposed 
rule are: two hook-and-line catcher processors, one pot catcher-
processor, and three pot catcher vessels. Because of the small numbers 
of vessels, confidentiality rules make it impossible to provide 
detailed information on these entities. All BSAI pot vessels are 
believed to be small entities, and 31 of 45 hook-and-line catcher 
processors are believed to be small entities. For the purposes of this 
analysis, these six entities have been treated as small entities. This 
action is not expected to have adverse impacts on these entities; each 
will be allowed to claim additional annual harvests to qualify for the 
BSAI Pacific cod endorsement.
    This regulation does not impose new recordkeeping or reporting 
requirements on the regulated small entities.
    This analysis did not reveal any Federal rules that duplicate, 
overlap or conflict with the proposed action.
    The status quo was evaluated as an alternative to the proposed 
action. This alternative would have had adverse impacts on the 
regulated small entities, in contrast to the preferred alternative, 
because it would have prevented them from claiming the additional 
harvests required to qualify for the Pacific cod endorsement. Failure 
to qualify for the endorsement would preclude the operations from 
participating in the fishery as initial issuees.
    This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of E.O. 12866.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679

    Alaska, Fisheries, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: April 21, 2003.
Rebecca Lent,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
    For reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 679 is proposed to 
be amended to read 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.; 3631 et seq.; 
Title II of Division C, Pub. L. 105-277; Sec. 3027, Pub. L. 106-31; 
113 Stat. 57; 16 U.S.C. 1540(f); and Sec. 209, Pub. L. 106-554.
    2. In Sec.  679.4, paragraph (k)(9)(iii)(F) is revised to read as 
follows:


Sec.  679.4  Permits.

* * * * *
    (k) * * *
    (9) * * *
    (iii) * * *
    (F) Harvests within the BSAI will count toward eligibility amounts 
in the table at paragraph (k)(9)(ii) of this section if:
    (1) Those harvests were made from the vessel that was used as the 
basis of eligibility for the license holder's LLP groundfish license, 
or
    (2) Those harvests were made from a vessel that was not the vessel 
used as the basis of eligibility for the license holder's LLP 
groundfish license, provided that, at the time the endorsement-
qualifying Pacific cod

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harvests were made by that vessel, the person who owned such 
endorsement-qualifying fishing history also owned the fishing history 
of a vessel that satisfied the requirements for the LLP groundfish 
license.
    (3) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (k)(9)(iii)(F)(2) 
of this section, the LLP groundfish license qualifying history or the 
Pacific cod qualifying history of any one vessel may not be used to 
satisfy the requirements for issuance of more than one LLP groundfish 
license endorsed for the BSAI Pacific cod hook-and-line or pot gear 
fisheries.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 03-10282 Filed 4-24-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S