[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 19 (Thursday, January 29, 2004)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 4285-4290]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-1938]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 040115020-4020-01; I.D. 010204B]
RIN 0648-AR07


Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program for Pacific Halibut and 
Sablefish; Groundfish fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) 
off the coast of Alaska; Recordkeeping and Reporting

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

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: NMFS proposes to revise port codes (Tables 14a and 14b) used 
in data collection for the Federal groundfish fisheries in the EEZ off 
the coast of Alaska and the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program. 
This revision would remove unnecessary or potentially conflicting 
regulations, facilitate enforcement efforts, and standardize collection 
of port-of-landing information. The action is necessary to standardize 
collection and analysis of port information. This action is intended to 
meet the conservation and management requirements of the Northern 
Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 (Halibut Act) with respect to halibut and 
of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 
(Magnuson-Stevens Act) with respect to groundfish and to further the 
goals and objectives of the Alaska groundfish fishery management plans.

DATES: Comments must be received by March 1, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional 
Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, 
P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802 1668, Attn: Lori Durall. Hand delivery 
or courier delivery of comments may be sent to NMFS, 709 West 9th 
Street, Room 420, Juneau, AK 99801. Comments may also be sent via 
facsimile to 907 586 7557. As an agency pilot test for accepting 
comments electronically, the Alaska Region, NMFS, will accept e-mail 
comments on this proposed rule. The mailbox address for providing e-
mail comments on this proposed rule is [email protected].
    Copies of the Regulatory Impact Review (RIR) prepared for this 
proposed regulatory action are available from NMFS at Sue Salveson, 
Assistant Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, 
Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802 1668, Attn: Lori 
Durall, or by

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calling the Alaska Region, NMFS, at (907) 586 7228. Written comments 
regarding the burden-hour estimates or other aspects of the collection-
of-information requirements contained in this proposed rule may be 
submitted to NMFS, Alaska Region, and by e-mail to [email protected], or fax to (202) 395-7285.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patsy A. Bearden, 907-586-7008.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the groundfish fisheries of the 
Gulf of Alaska (GOA) and the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Management 
Area (BSAI) in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) according to the 
Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska and the 
Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea 
and Aleutian Islands Area (FMPs) prepared by the North Pacific Fishery 
Management Council (Council) and approved by the Secretary of Commerce 
(Secretary) under authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The FMPs are 
implemented by regulations at 50 CFR part 679. NMFS manages the IFQ 
Halibut Program under the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 (Halibut 
Act); implementing regulations are at 50 CFR part 300.60 through 
300.65. General provisions governing fishing by U.S. vessels in 
accordance with the FMPs appear at subpart H of 50 CFR part 600.
    Tables 14a and 14b to Part 679 provide lists of ports in Alaska, 
California, Oregon, Washington, and Canada at which IFQ landings and 
Federal groundfish landings may be made. Two distinct coding systems 
are presented. These two systems identify the same ports using 
different codes. The codes were developed separately, one at NMFS and 
the other at the State of Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G).
    The numerical codes identify ports where IFQ landings are made and 
are entered by participants when filing an IFQ prior notice of landing 
(PNOL) and when electronically reporting an IFQ landing (see 50 CFR 
part 679.5(l)). The alphabetical codes identify ports where groundfish 
landings are made. Alphabetical codes are entered by participants 
completing an ADF&G fish ticket and also by shoreside processor 
participants entering data into the NMFS' groundfish shoreside 
processor electronic logbook report (SPELR) (see 50 CFR part 679.5(c)).
    Tables 14a and 14b would be revised as follows: (1) numerical codes 
that are no longer used for IFQ landings and that do not have a 
corresponding alphabetical code would be removed and (2) numerical 
codes for ports that are geographically close enough to be reported as 
one port would be combined.
    By removing codes for ports that are not used by the fishing 
industry for IFQ landings, NMFS would create a more accurate list of 
viable port codes. This action also would reconcile port codes for both 
NMFS and ADF&G fishery documentation.
    The proposed revisions to Tables 14a and 14b are shown in the 
following table:

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                    Existing Port Information                                Proposed Port Information
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                                            OLD                                                 NEW        NEW
               Port Name                 Numerical    OLD  Alpha           Action            Numerical    Alpha
                                            Code         Code                                   Code       Code
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Anchor Point                                    104         none  Remove 104..............         none     none
Auke Bay                                        108         none  Remove 108; combine into          136      JNU
                                                                   Juneau.
Baranof Warm Springs                            109         none  Remove 109..............         none     none
Beaver Inlet                                    110         none  Remove 110; combine               119      DUT
                                                                   Beaver Inlet into Dutch
                                                                   Harbor/ Unalaska.
Bellevue (Washington)                           701         none  Remove 701..............         none     none
Blaine (Washington)                            none          BLA  Add 717.................          717      BLA
Captains Bay                                    112         none  Remove 112; combine               119      DUT
                                                                   Captains Bay into Dutch
                                                                   Harbor/ Unalaska.
Chinitna Bay                                    114         none  Remove 114..............         none     none
Douglas                                         118         none  remove 118; combine into          136      JNU
                                                                   Juneau.
Edmonds (Washington)                            703         none  Remove 703..............         none     none
Edna Bay                                        121         none  Remove 121..............         none     none
Fort Bragg(California)                          501         none  Remove 501..............         none     none
Fox Island (Washington)                         706         none  Remove 706..............         none     none
Hollis                                          131         none  Remove 131..............         none     none
Hooper Bay                                      188         none  Remove 188..............         none     none
Ikatan Bay                                      135         none  Remove 135..............         none     none
Ilwaco (Washington)                             707         none  Remove 707..............         none     none
Kenai River                                     140         none  Remove 140; combine               139      KEN
                                                                   Kenai River into Kenai.
Lincoln City (Oregon)                           602         none  Remove 602..............         none     none
Mercer Island (Washington)                      709         none  Remove 709..............         none     none
Nagai Island (Washington)                       710         none  Remove 710..............         none     none
Point Baker                                     157         none  Remove 157..............         none     none
Port Angeles (Washington)                       711         none  Remove 711..............         none     none
Port Edward (CANADA)                            800         none  Remove 800; combine Port          802      PRU
                                                                   Edward into Prince
                                                                   Rupert.
Port Hardy (CANADA)                             801         none  Remove 801..............         none     none
Port Orchard (Washington)                       712         none  Remove 712..............         none     none
Port Townsend (Washington)                      713         none  Remove 713..............         none     none
Portage Bay                                     162         none  Remove 162..............         none     none
Rainier (Washington)                            714         none  Remove 714..............         none     none
Resurrection Bay                                163         none  Remove 163..............         none     none
St. Lawrence                                    171         none  Remove 171..............         none     none
Tee Harbor                                      173         none  Remove 173; combinr into          136      JNU
                                                                   Juneau.
Thorne Bay                                      175         none  Remove 175..............         none     none
Ugadaga Bay                                     179         none  Remove 179..............         none     none

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Vancouver (CANADA)                              803         none  Remove 803..............         none     none
West Anchor Cove                                182         none  Remove 182..............         none     none
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    The need, justification, and economic impacts for the actions in 
this proposed rule, as well as impacts of the alternatives considered, 
were analyzed in the RIR prepared for this action (see ADDRESSES). A 
summary appears below.
    Prior notice of landing. The objective of the PNOL is to provide 
the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) monitoring 
personnel and NOAA Fisheries Office for Law Enforcement (OLE) personnel 
advance notice of vessel IFQ landings. Prior to making an IFQ landing, 
the operator of any vessel intending to make a landing of IFQ halibut, 
CDQ halibut, or IFQ sablefish must submit a PNOL to OLE. The PNOL 
allows OLE time to scan the IFQ database to verify the vessel and quota 
share (QS) information and to schedule monitoring personnel to observe 
the offload. The PNOL is submitted to OLE, Juneau, AK by toll-free 
telephone or the marine operator, unless an administrative waiver is 
granted by a clearing officer. Regulations at 50 CFR part 679 authorize 
exemptions from submittal of the PNOL for fishermen landing less than 
500 lb of halibut incidentally with legal landings of lingcod harvested 
with dinglebar gear or legal landings of salmon. A landing completed 
without a PNOL would be investigated by OLE. An estimated 1,042 catcher 
vessels annually submit a PNOL resulting in an estimated annual total 
personnel cost of $52,100. The proposed action does not increase or 
decrease these costs because only the codes are changing, not the 
procedure.
    The IFQ cardholder must initiate a landing report of IFQ sablefish 
or IFQ halibut and a CDQ halibut cardholder must submit a landing 
report of CDQ halibut landed upon arrival at the dock. An estimated 
1,042 catcher vessels annually submit an IFQ landing report resulting 
in an estimated annual total personnel cost of $117,225 and estimated 
annual total miscellaneous cost of $93,780. The proposed action does 
not increase or decrease these costs because only the codes are 
changing, not the procedure.

Classification

    At this time, NMFS has not determined whether the amendment that 
this proposed rule would implement is consistent with the national 
standards of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other applicable laws. NMFS, 
in making that determination, will take into account the data, views, 
and comments received during the comment period.
    This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
    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. 
This proposed rule would have no effect on any small entities because 
there is no effect on fishing activity. It does not impose any 
financial obligations on small entities. As a result, an initial 
regulatory flexibility analysis was not prepared. Vessel operators 
would be required to use the new, consolidated list of port codes when 
they file PNOL reports. However, the impact of this requirement would 
be to shorten the list of port codes in Tables 14a and 14b used in 
landings data collection for the Federal groundfish fisheries in the 
EEZ off the coast of Alaska and in the IFQ Program and would make it 
easier to use these tables. This action would not change reporting 
requirements and would remove unnecessary or potentially conflicting 
regulations.
    This proposed rule contains collection-of-information requirements 
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) and which have been 
approved by OMB. Under control number 0648-0272, public reporting 
burden for the PNOL is estimated to average 12 minutes per response; 
for the IFQ landing report, estimated 18 minutes per response. Under 
control number 0648-0401, public reporting burden for the Shoreside 
Processor Electronic Logbook Report (SPELR) is estimated 30 minutes per 
response.
    These estimates include the time for reviewing instructions, 
searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data 
needed, completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send 
comments regarding this burden estimate, or any other aspect of this 
data collection, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to NMFS 
(see ADDRESSEES) and by e-mail to [email protected], or fax to 
(202) 395-7285.
    Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, no person is 
required to respond to, nor shall any person be subject to a penalty 
for failure to comply with, a collection of information subject to the 
requirements of the PRA, unless that collection of information displays 
a currently valid OMB Control Number.
    This proposed rule does not duplicate, overlap, or conflict with 
other Federal regulations.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679

    Alaska, Fisheries, Recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

    Dated: January 23, 2004.
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 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.

Table 14 to Part 679 [Amended]

    2. Tables 14a and 14b to Part 679 are revised as follows:
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[FR Doc. 04-1938 Filed 1-27-04; 8:45 am]
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