[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 23 (Monday, February 5, 2007)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 5255-5257]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-1804]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 680

[I.D. 012607D]
RIN 0648-AV19


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Crab 
Rationalization Program

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

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

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SUMMARY: On January 12, 2007, the President signed the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006, which 
requires the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary), not later than 90 days 
after the date of enactment of that Act, to amend the Fishery 
Management Plan for the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner 
Crabs (FMP) to authorize conversion of catcher vessel owner quota 
shares and processor quota shares to newly created North Region 
catcher/processor owner quota shares. Proposed Amendment 25 to the FMP 
would satisfy this requirement. This action is intended to promote the 
goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the FMP, and other applicable 
laws.

DATES: Comments on the amendment must be submitted on or before April 
6, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional 
Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, 
Attn: Ellen Sebastian. Comments may be submitted by:
     Mail: P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802;
     Hand delivery to the Federal Building: 709 West 9th 
Street, Room 420A, Juneau, AK;
     Fax: 907-586-7557; or
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include in the 
subject line of the e-mail the following document identifier: KTC 25 
NOA. E-mail comments, with or without attachments, are limited to 5 
megabytes.
     Webform at the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions at that site for 
submitting comments.
    Copies of Amendment 25 and the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 
for the Crab Rationalization Program may be obtained from the NMFS 
Alaska Region at the address above or from the Alaska Region website at 
http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/crab/eis/default.htm.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that NMFS 
publish a notice in the Federal Register announcing that the FMP 
amendment is available for public review and comment during the 60-day 
period beginning on the date the notice is published.

[[Page 5256]]

    On January 12, 2007, the President signed the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 (Public 
Law 109-479), which added a new requirement in section 122(a) for the 
Secretary, not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of that 
Act, to amend the FMP to authorize conversion of catcher vessel owner 
quota shares (CVO QS) and processor quota shares (PQS) to catcher/
processor owner quota shares (CPO QS). Proposed Amendment 25 to the 
FMP, if approved, would satisfy this requirement. The Secretary must 
approve this FMP amendment by April 12, 2007, to comply with Public Law 
109-479.

Crab Rationalization Program (Program)

    In implementing the Program in 2005, NMFS initially issued PQS, CVO 
QS, and CPO QS to eligible applicants. In 2006, NMFS initially issued 
PQS to the Blue Dutch, LLC, under the requirements of section 417(a) of 
the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006 (Coast Guard 
Act, Public Law 109-241). NMFS may initially issue additional quota 
share pursuant to ongoing appeal adjudications.
    CVO QS represents an exclusive but revocable privilege that 
provides the holder with an annual allocation to harvest a specific 
percentage of the total allowable catch (TAC) from a fishery. The 
annual allocations of TACs, in pounds, are referred to as individual 
fishing quotas (IFQs). Under the regional requirement, CVO QS is 
designated by landing region and harvests are required to be delivered 
either in the North or South region.
    PQS represents an exclusive but revocable privilege to receive 
deliveries of a specific portion of the annual TAC from a fishery. An 
annual allocation of PQS is referred to as IPQ and expressed in pounds 
of crab. PQS is regionally designated for processing in the North or 
South region.
    CPO QS represents an exclusive but revocable privilege to harvest a 
percentage of the TAC and process that crab onboard. Under the Program, 
CPO QSs do not have regional designations.
    The regional designation of CVO QS and PQS preserves the historic 
geographic distribution of landings in the fisheries. Two regional 
designations were created for the snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) and 
Bristol Bay red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) fisheries. The 
North Region consists of all areas in the Bering Sea north of 
56[deg]20' N latitude. The South Region is all other areas. Crab 
harvested with regionally designated CVO QS is required to be delivered 
to a processor in the designated region. Likewise, a processor with 
regionally designated PQS is required to accept delivery of and process 
crab in the designated region.

Amendment 25

    Proposed Amendment 25 to the FMP would comply with Public Law 109-
479 by amending the FMP to include an additional provision to the 
Program. Amendment 25 would authorize an eligible entity and its 
commonly owned affiliates to combine North PQS and North CVO QS and 
exchange these shares for newly created North Region CPO QS (North CPO 
QS). Allowing entities to convert PQS and CVO QS to North CPO QS would 
allow them to harvest and process crab onboard a catcher processor. 
Amendment 25 would reduce each eligible entity's operating costs 
associated with purchasing crab, processing crab on land or in a 
stationary floater processor, and complying with the Program's 
arbitration system.
    Amendment 25 would authorize, on an annual basis, two types of 
quota share conversions and defines the entities eligible to make those 
conversions. First, an eligible entity holding PQS, along with its 
commonly owned affiliates, could combine any North CVO QS with its 
North PQS and exchange them for North CPO QS on an annual basis. 
Entities could do this under the following two conditions: (1) if NMFS 
initially issued the entity both CPO QS and PQS under the Program, and 
that PQS, in combination with the PQS of its commonly owned affiliates, 
is less than 7 percent of the total PQS pool for that year; and (2) if 
NMFS initially issued the entity CPO QS under the Program and PQS under 
the Coast Guard Act. An eligible entity would be limited to converting 
only the PQS that it, along with its commonly owned affiliates, was 
initially issued by NMFS.
    Second, an eligible entity holding CVO QS, along with its commonly 
owned affiliates, could combine any North PQS with its North CVO QS and 
exchange them for North CPO QS on an annual basis. The only entity that 
could do this would be an entity to which NMFS initially issued CPO QS 
and PQS under the Program, and that PQS, in combination with the PQS of 
its commonly owned affiliates, is more than 7 percent of the total PQS 
pool for that year. This eligible entity would be limited to converting 
only the CVO QS that it, along with its commonly owned affiliates, was 
initially issued by NMFS.
    Eligible entities would receive one unit of North CPO QS in 
exchange for one unit of North CVO QS and 0.9 units of North PQS. The 
amount of North CPO QS issued to each entity could not exceed 1 million 
pounds during any calendar year.
    According to the NMFS Official Record, three individual entities 
are eligible for these new provisions. Yardarm Knot, LLC, and its 
commonly owned affiliates, and Blue Dutch, LLC, and its commonly owned 
affiliates, would be eligible for the first type of conversion. Trident 
Seafoods, and its commonly owned affiliates, would be eligible for the 
second type of conversion. NMFS can not predict the annual amount of 
North CPO QS that would be annually issued because the participants 
would annually elect to exercise this provision and need not request 
conversion of all CVO QS and PQS held.
    While the statutory language does not specifically define which 
fisheries are subject to this provision, North CPO QS would only be 
created for the snow crab and Bristol Bay red king crab fisheries, 
because these were the only fisheries for which the eligible entities 
were initially issued North PQS and North CVO QS.
    Sections 122(b) and (c) of Public Law 109-479 include additional 
requirements for fees and off-loading for the newly created North CPO 
QS; however, the statute does not require these requirements to be part 
of this FMP amendment. Public Law 109-479 requires the holder of North 
CPO QS to pay a fee of 5 percent of the ex-vessel value of the crab 
harvested with those shares to any local governmental entities in the 
North Region, if the PQS used to produce the North CPO QS were 
originally derived from the processing activities that occurred in a 
community under the jurisdiction of those local governmental entities. 
The State of Alaska may collect from the holder of the North CPO QS a 
fee of 1 percent of the ex-vessel value of the crab harvested with 
those shares. Additionally, crab harvested with North CPO QS shall be 
off-loaded in those communities receiving the local governmental 
entities fee revenue.
    Section 122(d) also provides that, as part of its periodic review 
of the Program, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council may review 
the effects of allowing the conversion to North CPO QS on communities 
in the North Region. Under this section, if the Council determines that 
Amendment 25 adversely affects the communities, the Council may 
recommend to the Secretary, and the Secretary may approve, changes to 
the Program

[[Page 5257]]

necessary to mitigate those adverse effects.
    Section 122(e) requires an additional FMP amendment and rule making 
to modify the use caps for processing North Region snow crab. Under 
this section, custom processing arrangements do not count against any 
use cap for the processing of snow crab in the North Region by a shore-
based crab processor's. NMFS issued an enforcement policy on January 
19, 2007, that provides guidance to the industry on NMFS' enforcement 
and interpretation of this section, which is effective until superseded 
by rule making.
    An EIS was prepared for the Program that describes the management 
background, the purpose and need for the Program, the management 
alternatives, and the environmental, social, and economic impacts (see 
ADDRESSES). The EIS contains as appendices the Regulatory Impact 
Review/Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis and the Social Impact 
Assessment prepared for the Program. With Amendment 25, NMFS is 
continuing to implement the Program.
    Public comments are being solicited on proposed Amendment 25 
through the end of the comment period (see DATES). All comments on the 
amendment received by that date will be considered in the approval/
disapproval decision. Comments received after that date will not be 
considered. To be considered, comments must be received--not just 
postmarked or otherwise transmitted--by the close of business on the 
last day of the comment period. NMFS is developing a separate proposed 
rule notice to implement Amendment 25. NMFS anticipates implementing 
Amendment 25 and Public Law 109-479 for the 2007/2008 crab fisheries.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.; Pub. L. 109-479, 120 Stat. 
3575.

    Dated: January 30, 2007.
James P. Burgess,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E7-1804 Filed 2-2-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S