[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 195 (Wednesday, October 8, 2003)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 58038-58041]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-25514]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 020412085-3189-02; I.D. 022102B]
RIN 0648-AP66


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Electronic 
Reporting Requirements

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Final rule.

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[[Page 58039]]

SUMMARY: NMFS issues a final rule to amend regulations governing the 
North Pacific Groundfish Observer Program (observer program). This 
action is necessary to refine requirements for the facilitation of 
observer data transmission and improve support for observers. The final 
rule is necessary to improve the timely transmission of high quality 
observer data for a sector of catcher vessels in these fisheries. It is 
intended to support the management objectives of the Fishery Management 
Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 
Area and the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of 
Alaska (groundfish FMPs).

DATES: Effective January 1, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Regulatory Impact Review/Final Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis (RIR/FRFA) prepared for this regulatory action may 
be obtained from the Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 
99802, Attn: Lori Durall. Send comments on information collection 
requests to NMFS and to OMB, Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503 (Attn: 
NOAA Desk Officer).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jason Anderson, 907-586-7228 or e-mail 
at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    NMFS manages the U.S. groundfish fisheries of the Gulf of Alaska 
and the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management areas in the 
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) under the groundfish FMPs. The North 
Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) prepared the groundfish 
FMPs under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). Regulations at 50 CFR part 
679 implement the FMPs. General regulations that also pertain to U.S. 
fisheries appear at subpart H of 50 CFR part 600. Regulations 
implementing the interim observer program were published November 1, 
1996 (61 FR 56425), amended December 30, 1997 (62 FR 67755) and 
December 15, 1998 (63 FR 69024), extended through 2002 under a final 
rule published December 21, 2000 (65 FR 80381), and extended again 
through 2007 under a final rule published December 6, 2002 (67 FR 
72595). The observer program provides for the collection of observer 
data necessary to manage the Alaska groundfish fisheries by providing 
information on total catch estimation, discards, prohibited species 
catch (PSC) and biological samples that are used for stock assessment 
purposes. Observers also provide information related to compliance with 
regulatory requirements.
    The regulations implementing the observer program at Sec.  679.50 
require observer coverage aboard fishing vessels, shoreside processors, 
and stationary floating processors that participate in the Alaska 
groundfish fisheries. Timely communication between the fishing industry 
and NMFS through catch reports submitted to NMFS by both industry and 
observers is crucial to the effective in-season monitoring of the 
groundfish quotas and PSC allowances. This final rule enhances timely 
communication by updating the hardware requirements for the observer 
communication system (OCS), requiring vessels to maintain OCS equipment 
functionality, clarifying shoreside processor requirements, and 
extending the OCS requirements to all catcher vessels required to have 
at least one NMFS certified observer on board at all times.
    By extending the OCS program to catcher vessels who carry observers 
100 percent of the time, several deficiencies with the current program 
are addressed. First, necessary timely monitoring for in-season 
management of PSC and discard data is not possible under the observer 
data reporting system currently used by catcher vessels delivering to 
inshore processors. Shoreside catcher vessel observers 
opportunistically transmit data via fax to NMFS from a shoreside 
processor, which can be between 5 and 14 days after a given haul was 
made. This delay is caused in part by the fact that an observer usually 
must return to sea immediately upon completion of the delivery to 
shoreside processors, leaving no time for the observer to compile data 
into a format appropriate for fax transmission to NMFS, most often 
several hours worth of work. Once received by NMFS, the faxed data 
subsequently must be hand entered into an electronic database, further 
delaying the availability to in-season managers.
    Second, if a catcher vessel observer had time available to compile 
and transmit data from the shoreside processor, logistical problems 
remain. Shoreside processors do support OCS communication systems for 
transmission of observer data. However, OCS software on these systems 
is designed specifically for shoreside processor applications and does 
not support observer data collected at sea. While the shoreside system 
could be adapted to support data collected by vessel observers, other 
logistical problems prevent reliable use of these systems by catcher 
vessel observers. These difficulties include vessel observers having to 
return to sea prior to data input and transmission via the OCS 
communications system, as well as the lack of access to shoreside 
computers and communications equipment that support the OCS system. 
Offices that house this equipment at the shoreside processors generally 
are not open 24 hours a day, while deliveries may be completed at any 
time during the day.
    Installation of OCS software, in combination with point to point 
modem communication capability aboard shoreside catcher vessels, would 
allow daily electronic transmission of catch data. This would provide 
NMFS with observer data from catcher vessels within 24 hours of 
receiving their delivery reports from the shoreside processor. At-sea 
discards and PSC could then be accounted for together with the landings 
data in real-time for each OCS-equipped vessel. Such real-time in-
season management would be expected to result in fishery closures that 
better approximate actual quotas.
    Additionally, observer data quality problems can have a significant 
impact on PSC estimates and fishery closure projections. Resulting 
management errors can include early closure of a fishery, which results 
in direct lost revenue to the fleet, or over harvest of a PSC fishery 
allowance, which can impact other fisheries as the total annual PSC 
limit is reached.
    The OCS program provides several advantages and improvements to 
NMFS' current management systems which result in higher quality data. 
These include:
    Improved data recording efficiency. Observers using OCS initially 
record data on deck forms. These data are then entered into the 
vessel's computer and sent electronically to NMFS. Data received by 
NMFS are automatically screened for errors and may be accessed by users 
in a database in a timely manner. Without OCS, data are transcribed 
from deck forms to paper and faxed to NMFS for subsequent electronic 
entry. Less paperwork provides observers with more time to dedicate to 
sampling.
    Consistent, secure communications with observer program staff and a 
reduction in the overall frequency of errors. OCS communications allow 
NMFS to assign to each deployed observer an in-season advisor who 
screens data for errors and advises the observer throughout their 
deployment, resulting in improved observer

[[Page 58040]]

performance and a reduction in errors. The quality of timely data 
available for in-season management decisions is thus greatly improved.
    Faster, more efficient, and higher quality debriefing. The OCS 
application automatically screens out many potential data errors at the 
point of entry. These data are further screened by the in-season 
advisor, and all data are again screened by computer programs and 
corrected at the point of debriefing. These processes eliminate hand 
checking of paper data forms, further reducing debriefing time and 
allowing for faster availability of the final data.Installation and 
maintenance of OCS aboard catcher vessels requiring 100 percent 
observer coverage would eliminate 1,100 faxed observer reports and the 
associated processing per year. Availability of timely data on PSC by 
this sector of the fleet, which is largely made up of American 
Fisheries Act-qualified catcher vessels that are members of inshore 
cooperatives, would improve the in-season management of the BSAI 
pollock and Pacific cod trawl fisheries. In the BSAI pollock trawl 
fishery, salmon and herring PSC are of concern, and in the BSAI Pacific 
cod trawl fishery, halibut bycatch is of concern. Although the few 
Pacific cod trawl fishery closures that have occurred since 1998 have 
been based primarily on TACs being reached, prior to 1998, BSAI Pacific 
cod trawl fishery closures were based on halibut bycatch allowances 
being caught before the TAC was reached. Improved timeliness of PSC 
data transmission would allow NMFS resources to be reallocated to 
processing faxed data received from observers aboard vessels that are 
subject to 30 percent coverage requirements. Overall this would result 
in the expedited availability to managers and improved quality of all 
in-season data from all catcher vessels in the BSAI and the GOA. This 
timely information also benefits industry through access via NMFS web 
sites. Fleets coordinate their activity to avoid areas of high 
incidental catch of prohibited species, thus delaying or eliminating 
costly PSC closures. This coordination can only work where information 
is available quickly.
    More timely harvest data from catcher vessels is also needed for 
management measures that temporally and spatially disperse some 
groundfish fisheries in near shore areas of the EEZ off Alaska (67 FR 
956, January 8, 2002). These measures were developed as Steller Sea 
Lion protection measures and involve some time-area restrictions for 
the pollock, Pacific cod and Atka mackerel fisheries, including harvest 
limits in Steller sea lion critical habitat. To ensure compliance with 
these measures, levels of groundfish harvest must be monitored on a 
real-time basis.
    Further background for the development of the regulatory amendments 
contained in this final rule and the detailed descriptions of the 
hardware upgrades, catcher vessel requirements and functionality of 
communication systems are in the proposed rule (67 FR 48604, July 25, 
2002).
    Comments on the proposed rule were invited for a 30-day period that 
ended August 26, 2002. No written comments on the proposed rule were 
received.

Changes From the Proposed Rule

    NMFS identified four necessary changes from the proposed rule to 
the final rule. Each is a technical, non-substantive correction to the 
proposed regulation language. The technical changes to the final rule 
are made as follows:
    1. The paragraph designations for the regulatory amendments in the 
proposed rule (67 FR 48604, July 25, 2002) are revised from (f) to (g) 
in this final rule to ensure consistency with recent revisions to Sec.  
679.50 (67 FR 72595, December 6, 2002).
    2. Regulatory text in Sec.  679.50(g)(2) and (3) is changed from 
the proposed rule to clarify that OCS provisions apply to stationary 
floating processors. Stationary floating processors provide the same 
function as shoreside processors and nearly all observer program 
regulations that apply to shoreside processors also apply to stationary 
floating processors. Therefore, the regulations in paragraphs (g)(2) 
and (g)(3) apply to both shoreside processors and stationary floating 
processors. The proposed rule identified only shoreside processors in 
the revised language for these paragraphs. However, the Regulatory 
Impact Review and Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (RIR/IRFA) 
thoroughly analyzed the effects of this action on stationary floating 
processors. The regulatory language for Sec.  679.50(g)(2) and (3) is 
changed in the final rule from the proposed rule to apply to both 
shoreside processors and stationary floating processors.
    3. The term ``processors'' in Sec.  679.50(g)(1)(iii)(B)(1) is 
changed to ``personal computers'' to clarify potential confusion 
between fish processing operations and computer hardware.
    4. The title to Sec.  679.50 is revised from the proposed rule to 
reflect the extension of the observer program through December 31, 
2007.

Classification

    This final rule has been determined to be significant for purposes 
of Executive Order 12866.
    NMFS has prepared a Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (FRFA) 
for this action, pursuant to the requirements of the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act at section 604(a). The objectives of and the legal 
basis for this action are described earlier in the preamble.
    The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on July 25, 
2002 (67 FR 48604). An Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) 
was prepared for the proposed rule, and described in the 
classifications section of the preamble to the rule. The public comment 
period ended on August 26, 2002. No comments were received on the 
proposed rule.
    The entities that would be regulated by the proposals are the BSAI 
and GOA entities operating catcher-processors, motherships, shoreside 
processors, required to maintain one or more observers, and catcher 
vessels required to have 100 percent observer coverage. Data available 
for 2000 indicate that there were 34 small (according to Small Business 
Administration criteria) catcher/processors active that year, and 31 
small catcher vessels. All three of the motherships were assumed to be 
large entities. Five directly regulated processors were identified as 
small. The six CDQ groups are non-profits and are therefore small by 
definition.
    This regulation does not impose new recordkeeping or reporting 
requirements on the regulated small entities. Although the proposed 
changes in the OCS communications requirements require some new 
expenditures by small entities, they contain no new or revised record 
keeping or reporting requirements for those entities. The OCS 
requirements will not affect private sector record keeping 
requirements; they will facilitate communication of reports that are 
already required from observers.
    Four alternatives to the proposed action were considered. The 
status quo was rejected because it would not meet the objectives of the 
action for more timely and more accurate data. An alternative that 
would have restricted the regulations to catcher-processors, 
motherships, and shoreside processors would have had a smaller impact 
on directly regulated small entities, because it would not have 
regulated catcher vessels that were required to have 100 percent 
observer coverage. This alternative was rejected because it would not 
have provided faster or more

[[Page 58041]]

accurate observer data on this important fleet sector. An alternative 
that would have extended the requirements to catcher vessels with 30 
percent required coverage, in addition to catcher-processors, 
motherships, shoreside processors, and catcher vessels with 100 percent 
observer coverage, was also rejected. This would have involved 
extending coverage to several hundred additional catcher vessels, all 
of which were estimated to be small entities. Concerns were also raised 
over the security of the OCS software on computers during periods of 
time when observers were not present on the vessels. A final 
alternative would have required OCS coverage on catcher-processors, 
motherships, and shoreside processors, but not catcher vessels. This 
alternative would have increased resources devoted to observer program 
data processing in order to reduce the time it took to get catcher 
vessel data to in-season managers for management purposes. This 
alternative would have reduced the impact on small catcher vessel 
entities, however, while it would have reduced the time to process data 
and provide it to in-season managers, it would not have affected the 
important time lag between at-sea observation by the observer and 
delivery to observer program data processors. In addition, it would not 
have addressed concerns over data quality.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679

    Alaska, Fisheries, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: October 2, 2003.
Rebecca Lent,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.

0
For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 679 is amended as 
follows:

PART 679--FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA

0
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.

0
2. In Sec.  679.50, paragraphs (g)(1)(iii)(A), (g)(1)(iii)(B), 
(g)(1)(iii)(C), (g)(2), (g)(2)(iii)(B), and (g)(2)(iii)(C) are revised 
and paragraph (g)(3) is added to read as follows:
0



Sec.  679.50  Groundfish Observer Program applicable through December 
31, 2007.

* * * * *
    (g) * * *
    (1) * * *
    (iii) * * *
    (A) Observer use of equipment. Allowing NMFS-certified observers to 
use the vessel's communications equipment and personnel, on request, 
for the confidential entry, transmission, and receipt of work-related 
messages, at no cost to the NMFS-certified observers or the nation.
    (B) Communication equipment requirements. In the case of an 
operator of a catcher/processor or mothership that is required to carry 
one or more observers, or a catcher vessel required to carry an 
observer as specified in paragraph (c)(1)(iv) of this section:
    (1) Hardware and software. Making available for use by the observer 
a personal computer in working condition that contains a full Pentium 
120 Mhz or greater capacity processing chip, at least 32 megabytes of 
RAM, at least 75 megabytes of free hard disk storage, a Windows 9x or 
NT compatible operating system, an operating mouse, and a 3.5-inch (8.9 
cm) floppy disk drive. The associated computer monitor must have a 
viewable screen size of at least 14.1 inches (35.8 cm) and minimum 
display settings of 600 x 800 pixels. The computer equipment specified 
in paragraph (g)(1)(iii)(B) of this section must be connected to a 
communication device that provides a point-to-point modem connection to 
the NMFS host computer and supports one or more of the following 
protocols: ITU V.22, ITU V.22bis, ITU V.32, ITU V.32bis, or ITU V.34. 
Personal computers utilizing a modem must have at least a 28.8kbs 
Hayes-compatible modem.
    (2) NMFS-Supplied software. Ensuring that the catcher/processor, 
mothership, or catcher vessel specified in paragraph (g)(1)(iii)(B) of 
this section obtains and has installed the data entry software provided 
by the Regional Administrator for use by the observer.
    (C) Functional and operational equipment. Ensuring that the 
communications equipment required at paragraph (g)(1)(iii)(B) of this 
section, and that is used by observers to enter and transmit data, is 
fully functional and operational, where ``functional'' means that data 
transmissions to NMFS can be initiated effectively aboard the vessel by 
such communications equipment.
* * * * *
    (2) Shoreside processor and stationary floating processor 
responsibilities. A manager of a shoreside processor or a stationary 
floating processor that is required to maintain observer coverage as 
specified under paragraph (d) of this section must:
* * * * *
    (iii) * * *
    (B) Communication equipment requirements--(1) Hardware and 
software. Making available for use by the observer a personal computer, 
in working condition, with a full Pentium 120 Mhz or greater capacity 
processing chip, at least 32 megabytes of RAM, at least 75 megabytes of 
free hard disk storage, a Windows 9x or NT compatible operating system, 
an operating mouse, and a 3.5-inch (8.9 cm) floppy disk drive. The 
associated computer monitor must have a viewable screen size of at 
least 14.1 inches (35.8 cm) and minimum display settings of 600 x 800 
pixels. The computer equipment specified in this paragraph must be 
connected to a communication device that provides a point-to-point 
modem connection to the NMFS host computer and supports one or more of 
the following protocols: ITU V.22, ITU V.22bis, ITU V.32, ITU V.32bis, 
or ITU V.34. Processors utilizing a modem must have at least a 28.8kbs 
Hayes-compatible modem.
    (2) NMFS-supplied software. Ensuring that the shoreside processor 
or stationary floating processor obtains and installs the data entry 
software provided by the Regional Administrator for use by the 
observer.
    (C) Functional and operational equipment. Ensuring that the 
communications equipment required at paragraph (g)(2)(iii)(B) of this 
section and that is used by observers to enter and transmit data, is 
fully functional and operational, where functional means that data 
transmissions to NMFS can be initiated effectively by that equipment.
* * * * *
    (3) The owner of a vessel, shoreside processor, stationary floating 
processor, or buying station is responsible for compliance and must 
ensure that the operator or manager of a vessel, shoreside processor, 
or stationary floating processor required to maintain observer coverage 
under paragraphs (c) or (d) of this section complies with the 
requirements given in paragraphs (g)(1) and (g)(2) of this section.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 03-25514 Filed 10-7-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S