[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 164 (Monday, August 25, 2003)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 51147-51148]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-21452]



  Federal Register / Vol. 68, No. 164 / Monday, August 25, 2003 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 51147]]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 030808196-3196-01; I. D. 062403C]
RIN 0648-AR13


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Provisions 
of the American Fisheries Act (AFA)

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 to remove the expiration date of regulations 
published as a final rule in the Federal Register on December 30, 2002, 
implementing the AFA. The AFA final rule specified a period of 
effectiveness that will expire December 31, 2007, and this rule 
proposes to make the amendments to the AFA rule permanent. This action 
is necessary to implement properly the AFA, and is intended to do so in 
a manner consistent with the objectives of the AFA, the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, and other applicable 
laws.

DATES: Comments must be received by September 24, 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 also 
may be sent via facsimile (FAX) to 907-586-7557. Comments will not be 
accepted if submitted via e-mail or Internet. The Final Environmental 
Impact Statement/Regulatory Impact Review/Final Regulatory Flexibility 
Analysis (FEIS/RIR/FRFA) prepared for Amendments 61/61/13/8 is 
available in the NEPA section of the NMFS Alaska Region home page at 
http://www.fakr.noaa.gov. Paper copies of the FEIS/RIR/FRFA prepared 
for Amendments 61/61/13/8 may be requested from Lori Durall, NMFS, 
Alaska Region, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802, phone: 907 586 7247, 
email: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patsy A. Bearden, NMFS, 907-586-7228 
or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The final rule implementing the AFA was 
published on December 30, 2002 (67 FR 79692), and became effective 
January 29, 2003. Excepted from this period of effectiveness were 
several paragraphs under review by the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) under the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). The 
DATES section of the preamble text described the period of 
effectiveness for the final rule as January 29, 2003, through December 
31, 2007. The December 31, 2007, date was meant to apply only to 50 CFR 
679.50, which describes the Groundfish Observer Program, applicable 
through that date. Therefore, except for those paragraphs in 50 CFR 
679.50, and the paragraphs subject to review under PRA, this proposed 
rule would state the date of effectiveness for the AFA rule and would 
clarify that the affected paragraphs are permanent revisions without 
expiration. The paragraphs subject to review under PRA were 
subsequently approved by OMB on July 14, 2003. A document announcing 
their effective requirements is published elsewhere in this issue of 
the Federal Register.

Classification

    This action is necessary to make the regulations governing the 
pollock fishery in the BSAI consistent with statute. In October 1998, 
the AFA mandated sweeping changes to the conservation and management 
program for the pollock fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 
(BSAI) and to a lesser extent, affected the management programs for 
other groundfish fisheries of the BSAI, the groundfish fisheries of the 
Gulf of Alaska (GOA), the king and Tanner crab fisheries of the BSAI, 
and the scallop fishery off Alaska. With respect to the fisheries off 
Alaska, the AFA requires a suite of new management measures that fall 
into four general categories:
    (1) regulations that limit access into the fishing and processing 
sectors of the BSAI pollock fishery and that allocate pollock to such 
sectors,
    (2) regulations governing the formation and operation of fishery 
cooperatives in the BSAI pollock fishery,
    (3) regulations to protect other fisheries from spillover effects 
from the AFA, and
    (4) regulations governing catch measurement and monitoring in the 
BSAI pollock fishery.
    Section 213 of the AFA as originally passed by Congress contained a 
December 31, 2004, sunset date and authorized the Council to review and 
extend the AFA management program in 2004. As submitted by the Council, 
Amendments 61/61/13/8 contained this December 31, 2004, sunset date. 
However, after the amendments were submitted for Secretarial review, 
the ``Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Act, 2002,'' was 
enacted which contained a provision that removed the December 31, 2004, 
sunset date from the AFA. As a result, NMFS found it necessary to 
reconcile the sunset dates contained in the FMP amendments and proposed 
rule with the newly-amended AFA which contained no such sunset date. On 
February 27, 2002, NMFS partially approved Amendments 61/61/13/8, 
implementing the AFA. NMFS disapproved the December 31, 2004, sunset 
dates contained in the amendments because the sunset dates were 
inconsistent with new legislation making the AFA permanent. The 
remaining text in Amendments 61/61/13/8 was approved.
    The final rule implementing these amendments was published on 
December 30, 2002 (67 FR 79692) and became effective January 29, 2003. 
The pollock fisheries in the BSAI are subject to observer requirements 
under regulations at Sec.  679.50. These observer requirements have an 
independent sunset date of December 31, 2007. The final rule made 
changes to these observer regulations. The DATE section of the preamble 
to the final rule contained a reference to the sunset date for these 
observer requirements, but as the preamble was written, this observer 
sunset date applied to the entire final rule. Thus, the DATES section 
of the preamble text described the period of effectiveness for the 
final rule as January 29, 2003 through December 31, 2007. This proposed 
rule would state that the phrase ``effective through December 31, 
2007'' applies only to those paragraphs dealing with the observer 
program, and that the other provisions would be effective indefinitely.
    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 rule, if adopted, would not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
    The impacts of this action have already been analyzed pursuant to 
the Regulatory Flexibility Act by way of the FRFA completed for 
Amendments 61/61/13/8, and may be found in Section 4.6 of the Final 
Environmental Impact Statement for American Fisheries Act Amendments 
61/61/13/8 (NMFS, 2002). The FRFA is further summarized in the final 
rule (December 30, 2002, 67 FR 79692). The FRFA identified a total of 
41 small pollock fishing industry entities to which the rule applied 
(Table 4.6.2). A description of the fleet, fishery

[[Page 51148]]

and industry directly and reasonably indirectly impacted by Amendments 
61/61/13/8 was provided in Section 4.6.7 of the FRFA (pages 4-176 to 4-
182). Since this action corrects the dates for which this rule is 
effective, and does not modify eligibility criteria or any other facet 
of Amendments 61/61/13/8, there would be no change in the numbers of 
impacted entities as a result of this proposed action.
    Similarly, the FRFA in Section 4.6.8 described the negative impacts 
of Amendments 61/61/13/8 on small entities, summarized in the final 
rule (December 30, 2002, 67 FR 79692). This proposed rule corrects the 
described period of effectiveness in the DATES section of the preamble 
to a final rule. The proposed rule results in no impacts on small 
entities.
    Two criteria were considered in determining the significance of 
regulatory impacts, namely, disproportionality and profitability. These 
criteria consider the effect of regulations on small businesses and 
other small entities. The correction of the effective dates section in 
this proposed rule will not place a substantial number of small 
entities at a significant competitive disadvantage to large entities. 
Similarly, this proposed rule will not significantly reduce profit for 
a substantial number of small entities. This proposed rule will not 
impact industry.
    The final rule for Amendments 61/61/13/8 (December 30, 2002, 67 FR 
79692), addressed whether the rule would impose impacts on a 
substantial number of small entities. As discussed above, this proposed 
action will not impact the numbers of affected entities.
    The findings of fact underlying a certification should ``describe 
the data sources and analytical methods used in the analyses, 
variability, and uncertainty in the cost and revenue estimates, explain 
the assumptions used, and indicate the extent to which the results were 
affected by those assumptions.'' The findings of fact underlying this 
certification are based on a review of the FRFA for the original 
action, and did not utilize new data sets, analytical methods, or cost 
and revenue estimates beyond those incorporated in the earlier 
analysis.
    On this basis, the Chief Counsel for Regulation has certified that 
this action will not have ``a significant impact on a substantial 
number of small entities.'' As a result, a regulatory flexibility 
analysis was not prepared.
    This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.

    Dated: August 14, 2003.
John Oliver,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Operations, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-21452 Filed 8-22-03; 8:45 am]
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