[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 208 (Friday, October 28, 2005)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 62087-62089]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-21561]


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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[I.D. 102105A]
RIN 0648-AT11


Fisheries Off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; 
Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery; Amendment 11

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

ACTION: Notice of availability of an amendment to a fishery management 
plan; request for comments.

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

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Pacific Fishery Management Council 
(Council) has submitted Amendment 11 to the Coastal Pelagic Species 
Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Secretarial review. Amendment 11 
would change the framework for the annual apportionment of the Pacific 
sardine harvest guideline along the U.S. Pacific coast. The purpose of 
Amendment 11 is to achieve optimal utilization of the Pacific sardine 
resource and equitable allocation of the harvest opportunity for 
Pacific sardine.

DATES: Comments on Amendment 11 must be received on or before December 
27, 2005.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on the NOA identified by I.D. 
102105A by any of the following methods:
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include I.D. 102105 in the 
subject line of the message.
     Federal e-Rulemaking portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Rodney R. McInnis, Regional Administrator, Southwest 
Region, NMFS, 501 West Ocean Boulevard, Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 
90802.
     Fax: (562)980-4047
    Copies of Amendment 11, which includes an Environmental Assessment/
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis/Regulatory Impact Review, are 
available from Donald O. McIssac, Executive Director, Pacific Fishery 
Management Council, 7700 NE Ambassador Place, Suite 200, Portland, 
Oregon 97220-1384.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joshua B. Lindsay, Sustainable 
Fisheries Division, NMFS, at 562-980-4034 or Mike Burner, Pacific 
Fishery Management Council, at 503-820-2280.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery

[[Page 62088]]

Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires each 
Regional Fishery Management Council to submit any amendment to an FMP 
to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or partial approval. The 
Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that NMFS, upon receiving an 
amendment to an FMP, immediately publish notification in the Federal 
Register that the amendment is available for public review and comment. 
NMFS will consider the public comments received during the comment 
period described above in determining whether to approve, disapprove, 
or partially approve Amendment 11.
    Amendment 11 establishes an allocation framework that would help to 
achieve optimal utilization and equitable allocation between the 
different sectors of the Pacific sardine fishery. The Council tasked 
the CPS Advisory Subpanel (Subpanel) to develop an initial range of 
allocation alternatives for a longer-term allocation framework. The 
Subpanel adopted a range of alternatives for the allocation of Pacific 
sardine at their meetings in August and September 2004. At the November 
2004 meeting the Council reviewed the range of alternatives, and with 
some modification and additions forwarded nine alternatives to the CPS 
Management Team (Team) for preliminary analysis. When adopting a range 
of alternatives for long-term allocation in April 2005, the Council 
expressed an interest in having the flexibility to revisit the proposed 
action in the near-term as the Pacific sardine resource and the 
fisheries and markets that rely on it are dynamic and difficult to 
predict.
    At the April 2005 Council meeting the Council adopted seven of the 
nine alternatives and sent those to the Team for further analysis. 
Below is a summary of the seven forwarded alternatives given to the 
Team for analysis including both a no action alternative and a status 
quo alternative. If the Council chose to take no action, the allocation 
framework would revert to original FMP (64 FR 69888, December 15, 1999) 
formula that was in place before the regulatory amendment (69 FR 8572, 
February 25, 2003) was implemented in 2003. Under status quo the 
Council would have chosen to take action to extend the interim 
allocation. The order of alternatives does not indicate rank or 
priority. All alternatives (except No Action) used Point Arena, 
California (39[deg] N. lat.) as the dividing line between the 
allocation subareas. In order to present the alternatives in a clear 
and comparable fashion the descriptions for the fishing season, the 
initial allocation, and reallocations made at different points during 
the fishing season are summarized in bullet form.

No Action: FMP Allocation Framework

    The allocation subareas are divided at Point Piedras Blancas, 
California (35[deg] 40' N. lat.).
    Season: January 1 - December 31
    Initial allocation: On January 1, 33 percent of the harvest 
guideline is allocated to the Subarea A (north, which includes 
Monterey) and 66 percent to the Subarea B (Southern California).
    Reallocation: On October 1, remaining unharvested portion of the 
harvest guideline is pooled and reallocated 50 percent to Subarea A 
(north) and 50 percent to Subarea B (south).

Status Quo: Interim Allocation Framework

    Season: January 1 - December 31
    Initial allocation: On January 1, 33 percent of the harvest 
guideline is allocated to the Subarea A (north) and 66 percent to 
Subarea B (south).
    Reallocation: On September 1, 20 percent of the remaining 
unharvested portion of the harvest guideline is reallocated to the 
Subarea A (north) and 80 percent to Subarea B (south).
    Second reallocation: On December 1, the remaining unharvested 
portion of the harvest guideline is reallocated coastwide.

Alternative 1: Coastwide Allocation In Two Periods

    Season: January 1 - December 31
    Initial allocation: On January 1, 50 percent of the harvest 
guideline is allocated coastwide.
    Reallocation: On July 1, the remaining harvest guideline (50 
percent plus any unharvested portion from the initial allocation) is 
allocated coastwide.

Alternative 2: Rejected by the Council

Alternative 3: Coastwide Allocation In Three Periods

    Season: January 1 - December 31
    Initial allocation: On January 1, 40 percent of the harvest 
guideline is allocated coastwide.
    Reallocation: On July 1, 40 percent of the harvest guideline (plus 
any unharvested portion from the initial allocation) is allocated 
coastwide.
    Second reallocation: On October 1, 20 percent of the harvest 
guideline (plus any unharvested portion from the first reallocation) is 
reallocated coastwide.

Alternative 4: Allocation Formula Depends on the Size of the Harvest 
Guideline

    Season: January 1 - December 31
    (a) The coastwide harvest guideline is greater than 100,000 mt:
    Initial allocation: On January 1, 40 percent of the coastwide 
harvest guideline is allocated to the Subarea A (north) and 60 percent 
to the Subarea B (south).
    Reallocation: On September 1, the remaining unharvested portion of 
the harvest guideline is pooled and allocated coastwide.
    (b) The coastwide harvest guideline is less than 100,000 mt:
    Initial allocation: On January 1, 33 percent of the coastwide 
harvest guideline is allocated to Subarea A (north) and 66 percent to 
the Subarea B (south).
    Reallocation: On September 1, the remaining unharvested portion of 
the coastwide harvest guideline is pooled and 20 percent is allocated 
to Subarea A (north) and 80 percent to the Subarea B (south).
    Second reallocation: On November 1, any remaining unharvested 
portion of the harvest guideline is again pooled and reallocated 
coastwide.

Alternative 5: Rejected by the Council

Alternative 6: Transfer of Unused Allocations Between Subareas

    Season: January 1 - December 31
    Initial allocation (for 2006 only): On January 1, 40 percent of the 
harvest guideline is allocated to the Subarea A (north) and 60 percent 
to the Subarea B (south).
    Reallocation: On September 1, the remaining harvest guideline is 
pooled and allocated coastwide.

Transfer Rules For Computing Subsequent-Year Allocations

    After the initial year (2006) these rules dictate the allocations 
to each subarea in each subsequent year:
    Rule 1: The transfer of a portion of the harvest guideline from one 
subarea to the other, for the purpose of recomputing allocation 
percentages for the next year, occurs if the portion of a subarea's 
allocation remaining uncaught at the end of the year is greater than 
the transfer limits described in Rule 2.
    Rule 2: If the harvest guideline is greater than 100,000 mt, the 
transfer amount will be equal to 10 percent of the coastwide harvest 
guideline for that year. When the coastwide harvest guideline is 
100,000 mt or less, the transfer amount will be 5,000 mt.
    Rule 3: The transfer amount is applied to the current-year 
allocation for each subarea. The resulting numerical values are then 
converted to percentages of the current-year coastwide harvest 
guideline and used to determine the initial allocation for the 
following year.

[[Page 62089]]

    Rule 4: No subarea may initially be allocated more than 75 percent 
of the coastwide harvest guideline.
    Rule 5: The September 1 coastwide reallocation always applies.

Alternative 7: Equal Reallocation

    Season: January 1 December 31
    Initial allocation: On January 1, 33 percent of the harvest 
guideline is allocated to the Subarea A (north) and 66 percent to the 
Subarea B (south).
    Reallocation: On September 1, remaining harvest guideline is pooled 
and 50 percent of the harvest guideline is allocated to the Subarea A 
(north) and 50 percent to the Subarea B (south).
    Second Reallocation: On November 1, any remaining unharvested 
portion of the harvest guideline is again pooled and reallocated 
coastwide.At the June 2005 Council meeting in Foster City, CA, the 
Council adopted a preferred option for the allocation of Pacific 
sardine that creates a seasonal, coastwide allocation scheme. This 
preferred alternative is a modified version of Alternative 3, which 
provides the following allocation formula for the non-tribal share of 
the harvest guideline: Coastwide Allocation In Three Periods
    Season: January 1 - December 31
    Initial allocation: On January 1, 35 percent of the harvest 
guideline is allocated coastwide.
    Reallocation: On July 1, 40 percent of the harvest guideline (plus 
any unharvested portion from the initial allocation) is allocated 
coastwide.
    Second reallocation: On September 15, 25 percent of the harvest 
guideline (plus any unharvested portion from the first reallocation) is 
reallocated coastwide.
    The Council also recommended a review of the allocation formula in 
2008.
    Public comments on Amendment 11 must be received by December 27, 
2005, to be considered by NMFS in the decision whether to approve, 
disapprove, or partially approve Amendment 11. A proposed rule to 
implement Amendment 11 has been submitted for Secretarial review and 
approval. NMFS expects to publish and request public comment on the 
proposed regulation to implement Amendment 11 in the near future.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: October 24, 2005.
Ann M. Lange,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 05-21561 Filed 10-27-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S