[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 47 (Monday, March 12, 2007)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 10935-10937]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-4429]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 061113298-7046-02; I.D. 110106A]
RIN 0648-AU91


Fisheries Off West Coast States; Highly Migratory Species 
Fisheries

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

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: NMFS publishes this final rule to revise the method for 
renewing and replacing permits issued under the Fishery Management Plan 
(FMP) for U.S. West Coast Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species (HMS). 
Permits are required for all commercial vessels and all recreational 
charter vessels participating in HMS fisheries managed under the FMP. 
The final rule modifies the renewal process by substituting the last 
day of the month corresponding to the last digit of the vessel's 
identification number with the last day of the vessel owner's birth 
month as the expiration date. The rule also requires that vessel owners 
requiring a duplicate permit to submit a completed application form to 
NMFS. These regulations are needed to improve the efficiency and 
timeliness of the permit system. The proposed rule is adopted without 
change.

DATES: Effective April 11, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Requests to renew an HMS permit or to apply for a 
replacement permit may be submitted by any of the following methods:
     Fax: 562-980-4047, Attn. Permits Coordinator.
     Telephone: 562-980-4030.
     Mail to: Permits Coordinator, Sustainable Fisheries 
Division (SFD) Southwest Region, NMFS, 501 West Ocean Boulevard, Suite 
4200, Long Beach, CA 90802.
     E-mail: [email protected]

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Helvey, NMFS, Southwest Region, 
SFD, (562) 980-4040.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: These regulations modify the process NMFS 
uses to renew and replace permits in the U. S. West Coast HMS fisheries 
managed under the HMS FMP. The FMP was prepared by the Pacific Fishery 
Management Council and was implemented through regulations at 50 CFR 
part 660 under authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

Background

    NMFS requires a permit for all commercial vessels and all 
recreational charter vessels that fish for HMS in the U.S. exclusive 
economic zone (EEZ) off the States of California, Oregon, and 
Washington, or land or transship HMS shoreward of the outer boundary of 
the U.S. EEZ off the States of California, Oregon, and Washington. The 
purpose of the HMS permit is to identify vessels in the HMS fisheries 
so that NMFS knows those participants who need to be contacted when 
management information is required and who to notify when potential 
management actions affecting the fisheries are being considered.
    The requirement for a permit was established by final rule 
implementing the approved portions of the FMP for HMS published on 
April 7, 2004 (69 FR 18444). These permits were initially issued in 
2005 after publishing a Federal Register notice on February 10, 2005 
(70 FR 7022), that announced approval by the Office of Management and 
Budget of the collection-of-information components of the permit 
system.

Permit Renewal

    Permits are issued to the managing owner of a specific vessel for a 
2-year term. The initial issuance of HMS permits began in 2005 and 
these permits expire in 2007. NMFS initially implemented a permit term 
renewal process intentionally staggered so that there will be less 
likelihood of an excessive number of renewals at any one time of the 
year. NMFS used the last day of the month designated by the last digit 
of the vessel identification number as determining the renewal date for 
expiring permits (e.g., if the vessel identification number ends in 3, 
the renewal date is March 31, 2 years later). Use of this criterion 
extends the renewal process over a 10-month term: January through 
October.
    Because of the administrative burden of processing the high number 
of permits in effect, this final rule modifies the criterion by using 
the last day of the managing vessel owner's birth month as the 
expiration date. The managing vessel owner's date of birth is required 
in the Pacific HMS Vessel Permit Application and is already contained 
in the Pacific HMS Vessel Permit database. NMFS believes that 
staggering the renewal process over 12 months rather than 10 months 
will improve the efficiency of the permit renewal process. The first 
renewal date under this new system will be the last day of the vessel 
owner's birthday month in the second calender year after the permit is 
issued. NMFS anticipates that the system implemented by this final rule 
should result in delivery of permits to vessel operators in a more 
efficient manner. This final rule does not require any new information 
to be provided by the applicant. A Southwest Region Pacific HMS Vessel 
Permit Application form may still be obtained from the SFD (see 
ADDRESSES) or downloaded from the Southwest Region home page (http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov/permits.htm) to apply for a permit under this 
section. A completed application is one that contains all the required 
information and signatures. NMFS intends to contact vessel owners with 
a renewal notice by mail 3 months in advance of their permit expiration 
date. This procedure should provide additional time for fishermen to 
renew their HMS permits before the start of the fishing season. NMFS 
will also allow HMS fishermen to renew their permits even earlier by 
contacting NMFS directly (see ADDRESSES).

Replacement Permits

    Replacement permits are issued by NMFS to vessel owners to replace 
lost or mutilated permits. Vessel owners with a lost or mutilated 
permit primarily notify NMFS by telephone when requesting a replacement 
permit. NMFS has never established a formal process to provide 
replacement permits, but the number of requests for replacements over 
the past year make it clear that such a process is required. Under this 
regulation, vessel owners requiring a replacement permit must submit a 
new completed application

[[Page 10936]]

form to NMFS by mail or fax (see ADDRESSES).

Comments and Responses

    A summary of the comments on the proposed rule and responses to 
those comments follow. After considering these comments, NMFS is 
adopting the proposed rule as final without change.

Use of Birth Month

    Comment 1: Several commenters objected to the use of birth month as 
the criterion used to establish the expiration date. They stated that 
the birth month of many vessel owners may coincide during months when 
they could be at sea.
    Response: This final rule only substitutes the month used to 
determine the expiration of a 2-year term HMS permit from the last 
digit of the vessel's identification number to the birth month of the 
vessel owner. When NMFS originally set up the process for permit 
renewals in a final rule published in 2004 and implemented in April 
2005, it announced that it would use the last digit of the vessel 
identification number of an owner's vessel to determine the month the 
permit would be renewed. Based on a 0 to 9 numbering system, this 
staggered the renewal process over a 10-month time period. This 
procedure was designed at a time when NMFS believed that approximately 
1300 HMS permits would be issued for HMS fisheries. Since the HMS 
permit program originated in April 2005, NMFS has issued approximately 
2,000 HMS permits. Use of the vessel owner's birth month allows NMFS to 
stagger the issuance of permits over a 12 month time period and thereby 
provide more time to complete the renewal process. However, NMFS is 
sensitive to the concerns raised by commenters pertaining to a permit 
expiring when they may be at sea. NMFS will notify each fisherman by 
mail 3 months in advance of the expiration of her/his HMS permit. NMFS 
will also allow fishermen to contact NMFS directly and request renewal 
of their permit prior to the expiration date (see ADDRESSES).

Standard Annual Renewal Date

    Comment 2: Some commenters suggested that NMFS standardize the 
procedure for renewing permits and do it at one time of the year such 
at the end or beginning of the calender year when many fishermen are 
not fishing and are in port.
    Response: NMFS had always intended that HMS permit renewals be 
staggered over an extended period to eliminate the likelihood of an 
extreme permit renewal accumulation at any one time of the year. NMFS 
decided in 2004 that a staggered process would be more efficient for 
the agency and more likely to result in the delivery of permits to each 
fisherman in a timely manner.
    Comment 3: Regarding the idea of processing all permit renewals 
within a shorter time frame, one commenter believed that if NMFS could 
place two people on permit renewals full time for two weeks, that NMFS 
could renew up to 1600 permits within that period.
    Response: In almost 2 years of processing HMS permit applications, 
NMFS has learned that approximately 30% percent of the applications are 
lacking some type of information (e.g., address, date of birth etc.). 
In order to complete the application, NMFS must contact the vessel 
owner either by phone or mail to obtain the omitted information. NMFS 
has learned that any followup effort on its part does extend the time 
required to process a permit application especially if the vessel owner 
is difficult to reach. NMFS had always intended that HMS permit 
renewals be staggered over an extended period to eliminate the 
likelihood of an extreme permit renewal accumulation at any one time of 
the year which might prevent delivery of permits to each fisherman in a 
timely manner.

Changing the Term of the Permit

    Comment 4: One commenter suggested staggering the permit renewals 
on a yearly basis by providing three different terms or periods of 
duration for future renewals. By this method, one-third of the permits 
would have a term of 1-year, one-third would have a 2-year term, and 
the last third would have a 3-year term. Then after the first year, the 
1-year group would be ready for renewal. In the second year, the 2-year 
group would be up for renewal and so on. By using this system, NMFS 
would only have to renew one third of all HMS permits each year and 
thereby could conduct the renewal process in a much shorter time frame.
    Response: NMFS appreciates recommendations from the fishing 
industry for simplifying processes that affect them. However, the 
intent of this final rule is only to change the criterion for 
determining what month a vessel owner's HMS permit comes up for 
renewal. There is no intent to change the term of the permit. When NMFS 
originally promulgated proposed regulations for the HMS permit process 
in 2003, it was considering setting the term of the permits at 5 years. 
However, after reviewing the experience of other fisheries and other 
areas of the country, it became clear to NMFS that a permit period of 2 
years or less is more effective for ensuring accurate information about 
patterns of fishery participation and the names and addresses of 
participants in the fisheries. NMFS believes now, as it did then, that 
a permit term of more than 2 years increases the probability that 
changes in vessel names and owners and interests of related businesses 
will not be accurately tracked compared to a 2-year or less term. A 
longer term would reduce NMFS' effectiveness in advising HMS 
participants of changes in management measures or in permit and 
reporting requirements.

Combining Permit Renewals

    Comment 5: In addition to processing all HMS permits renewals at 
one time of the year, one commenter also suggested combining all 
permits handled by NMFS (e.g., HMS, Federal groundfish permits, etc.) 
into a single process. The commenter mentioned that this would simplify 
the permit requirements and minimize complications to fishermen to 
ensure that they were in compliance with all permits.
    Response: NMFS makes note of this comment and recognizes it as a 
laudable objective but such a recommendation goes beyond the scope of 
this rulemaking.

Classification

    This final rule revises procedures for renewing and replacing 
permits issued under regulations implementing the HMS FMP published at 
69 FR 18444 on April 7, 2004. The Regional Administrator, NMFS 
Southwest Region, determined that this rule is consistent with the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, codified at 
16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
    This final rule has been determined to be not significant for the 
purposes of Executive Order (E.O.) 12866.
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration during the proposed rule stage (71 FR 70939) that this 
action would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities. The factual basis for the certification was 
published in the proposed rule and is not repeated here. No comments 
were received regarding this certification. As a result, a regulatory 
flexibility analysis was not required and none was prepared.
    This final rule contains a collection-of-information requirement 
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) and which has been 
approved by OMB under control number 0648-0204. Public reporting burden 
for preparing an

[[Page 10937]]

HMS Vessel Permit Application is estimated to average 0.42 hours per 
vessel, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching 
existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and 
completing and reviewing the collection-of-information. Send comments 
regarding these burden estimates or any other aspect of this data 
collection, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to NMFS (see 
ADDRESSES) and by e-mail to David [email protected], or fax to (202) 
395-7285.
    Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, no person is 
required to respond to, and no person shall 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.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660

    Administrative practice and procedure, Permits.

    Dated: March 6, 2007.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.

0
For the reasons set out in the preamble, NMFS amends 50 CFR part 660 as 
follows:

PART 660--FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES

0
1. The authority citation for part 660 continues to read as follows:

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

0
2. In Sec.  660.707, paragraphs (b)(4) and (b)(5) are revised to read 
as follows:


Sec.  660.707  Permits.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (4) Permits issued under this subpart will remain valid until the 
first date of renewal, and permits may be subsequently be renewed for 
2-year terms. The first date of renewal will be the last day of the 
vessel owner's birth month in the second calendar year after the permit 
is issued (e.g., if the birth month is March and the permit is issued 
on October 3, 2007, the permit will remain valid through March 31, 
2009).
    (5) Replacement permits may be issued without charge to replace 
lost or mutilated permits. Replacement permits may be obtained by 
submitting to the SFD c/o the Regional Administrator a complete, signed 
vessel permit application. An application for a replacement permit is 
not considered a new application.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. E7-4429 Filed 3-9-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S