[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 75 (Tuesday, April 21, 2009)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 18156-18159]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-9107]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 080310410-9585-02]
RIN 0648-AW54


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Revisions to 
the Pollock Trip Limit Regulations in the Gulf of Alaska

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

ACTION:  Final rule.

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SUMMARY:  NMFS issues a final rule to prohibit a catcher vessel from 
landing more than 300,000 lb (136 mt) of unprocessed pollock during a 
calendar day, and from landing a cumulative amount of unprocessed 
pollock from any Gulf of Alaska reporting area that exceeds 300,000 lb 
multiplied by the number of calendar days the pollock fishery is open 
to directed fishing in a season. This rule will prevent catcher vessels 
from circumventing the intent of current trip limit regulations when 
making deliveries of pollock. Amending the current trip limit 
regulation to limit a vessel to 300,000 lb of pollock caught in a day 
will continue to disperse catches of pollock in a manner that is 
consistent with the intent of Steller sea lion protection measures in 
the Gulf of Alaska. This action is intended to promote the goals and 
objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
Act and other applicable laws.

DATES:  Effective May 21, 2009.

[[Page 18157]]


ADDRESSES:  Copies of the Regulatory Impact Review/Final Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis (RIR/FRFA) prepared for this action are available 
from the Alaska Region NMFS at the address above or from the Alaska 
Region NMFS website at http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/regs/summary.htm.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Jeffrey L. Hartman, 907 586 7442.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the U.S. groundfish fisheries 
of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off Alaska under the Fishery 
Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (FMP). The North 
Pacific Fishery Management Council prepared the FMP pursuant to the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 16 U.S.C. 
1801 et seq. (Magnuson-Stevens Act). Regulations implementing the FMP 
appear at 50 CFR part 679. General regulations that pertain to U.S. 
fisheries appear at subpart H of 50 CFR part 600. The FMP also 
authorizes the use of fishery management measures to protect marine 
mammals, particularly for species that have been listed as endangered 
or threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Background and Need for Action

    The background and need for this action were described in detail in 
the preamble to the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on 
October 20, 2008, (73 FR 62241). In summary, trip limits regulate the 
amount of a species that may be landed by a vessel during a fishing 
trip and often are specific to a management, regulatory, or reporting 
area; to fishing gear type or programs (such as Steller sea lion 
protection or the Community Development Quota Program); and to specific 
intervals of time during a year or season.
    Regulations at Sec.  679.7(b)(2) establish trip limits for pollock 
in the Western and Central Gulf of Alaska (GOA). Pollock trip limits 
were intended to protect Steller sea lions in part by temporally 
dispersing the pollock fishery in the GOA, thus reducing competition 
for prey species between the fishery and Steller sea lions. Trip limits 
were to accomplish this by decreasing daily pollock catches in areas 
that were in close proximity to foraging Steller sea lions.
    These GOA pollock trip limits have not been completely effective at 
restricting catches of pollock to 300,000 lb per day. Some trawl 
catcher vessels were circumventing the intent of the trip limit by 
making more than one trip per calendar day, delivering more than 
300,000 lb to a tender in a day, and towing codends to a tender that 
exceeded 300,000 lb at the point of landing. Catch data prepared by 
NMFS for the RIR/FRFA for this rule confirmed that the trip limit 
regulation has not been fully effective because vessels in the GOA 
pollock fishery exceeded landings of 300,000 lb in a day, 241 times 
from 1999 to 2006.

Summary of Regulatory Changes

    This final rule adds two major provisions to the current GOA trip 
limit regulation. The first provision adds a daily landing limit at 
Sec.  679.7(b)(2)(ii) for pollock by prohibiting a trawl catcher vessel 
from landing more than 300,000 lb of unprocessed pollock during a 
calendar day. The daily landing limit will partially close the loophole 
in regulations that has allowed vessel operators to exceed the trip 
limit. The second provision adds a seasonal landing limit at Sec.  
679.7(b)(2)(iii) that prohibits a trawl catcher vessel from landing a 
cumulative amount of pollock that exceeds 300,000 lb multiplied by the 
number of calendar days that the directed fishery is open in a 
reporting area.
    Minor regulatory amendments are also included in this rule. A 
definition for ``calendar day'' is added at Sec.  679.2 to specify the 
interval of time in a day from 0001 hours Alaska local time to 2400 
hours Alaska local time that a catcher vessel is prohibited from 
exceeding a daily or seasonal pollock landing limit Regulations 
governing the prohibitions on pollock trip limits at Sec.  679.7(b)(2) 
are moved to Sec.  679.7(b)(2)(i) to reorganize Sec.  679.7(b)(2). 
Figure 3 to part 679 is revised, to increase the accuracy of the 
geographic boundaries shown on the map and by changing the figure title 
from ``Gulf of Alaska Statistical and Reporting'' to read ``Gulf of 
Alaska Reporting Areas.''
    This action is consistent with the original intent of pollock trip 
limits to temporally and spatially disperse catches of pollock in the 
GOA. The daily landing limit portion of this action will temporally 
disperse catches of pollock in the GOA by prohibiting operators of 
catcher vessels from exceeding 300,000 lb of pollock landed in a 
calendar day. The seasonal landing limit will temporally disperse 
pollock catches by constraining pollock vessels from exceeding an 
average daily catch of 300,000 lb of pollock over the period of a 
season, in a specific GOA regulatory area.

Response to Comments

    The proposed rule for this action was published in the Federal 
Register on October 20, 2008 (73 FR 62241). NMFS received one letter of 
comment from industry on the proposed rule.
    Comment: The commenter indicated support for the proposed action, 
without revision.
    Response: NMFS acknowledges this comment of support.

Changes From the Proposed Rule

    In the proposed rule, NMFS did not specify that prohibitions for 
GOA trip limits, daily landing limits and seasonal landing limits would 
apply to only the vessels that are issued a Federal Fishing Permit 
(FFP). The final rule corrects that error at Sec.  679.7(b)(2)(i), 
(ii), and (iii), by prohibiting catcher vessels issued an FFP from (1) 
retaining more than 300,000 lb of unprocessed pollock on board at 
anytime during a fishing trip, and (2) landing to a processor or tender 
more than 300,000 lb of unprocessed pollock harvested from any GOA 
reporting area on a catcher vessel issued a FFP multiplied by the 
number of calendar days the directed fishery is open in that reporting 
area. This correction is necessary to clarify that these regulations 
apply to vessels fishing with an FFP.

Classification

    The Administrator, Alaska Region, NMFS, determined that this 
regulatory amendment to revise pollock trip limits is necessary for the 
conservation and management of the groundfish fisheries and that it is 
consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other applicable laws.
    This final rule has been determined to be not significant for the 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
    A final regulatory flexibility analysis (FRFA) was prepared. The 
FRFA incorporates the IRFA, a summary of the significant issues raised 
by the public comments in response to the IRFA, and NMFS responses to 
those comments, and a summary of the analyses completed to support the 
action. A copy of this analysis is available from NMFS (see ADDRESSES). 
The public comment period ended on April 21, 2008. One comment was 
received in support of the rule. No comments were received on the IRFA 
or on the economic impacts of the rule.
    The objective of this action is to prevent catcher vessels from 
circumventing the intent of current trip limit regulations when making 
deliveries of pollock and continue to disperse catches of pollock in a 
manner

[[Page 18158]]

that is consistent with the intent of Steller sea lion protection 
measures in the GOA. NMFS has identified more than 140 small entities 
that could be impacted by this action. The effect of this action on 
regulated entities is likely to be distributional, with some of the 
small entities increasing catches of pollock and others decreasing 
catches. If these regulations are approved, some of the small entities 
that have been circumventing the intent of current pollock trip limits 
may experience an increase in costs to catch the same number of 
pollock.
    NMFS has not identified a significant alternative to the proposed 
action that would meet the objectives of the action and would have a 
smaller adverse impact on directly regulated small entities. The no 
action alternative was rejected because it is not consistent with the 
intent of the original 1999 Steller sea lion protection measures. 
Another alternative to the preferred alternative, considered and 
rejected, was to limit the applicability of the action to the Federal 
EEZ. Trawl pollock fisheries in the GOA are managed in the Federal EEZ 
by NMFS under the FMP, and within State waters by the State of Alaska. 
The alternative to apply daily and seasonal trip limits to only the 
Federal EEZ would not encompass activities within State waters by 
federally permitted vessels. As discussed in the RIR/FRFA for this 
action, the pollock resource and the fishery within the GOA occur both 
within Federal and State waters. Applying trip limits, daily landing 
limits, and seasonal landing limits to fishing in Federal waters only 
would limit the effectiveness of this action, since participants in the 
pollock trawl fishery would be free to move to the area where trip 
limits do not apply.
    This regulation does not impose new recordkeeping and reporting 
requirements on the regulated small entities.

Small Entity Compliance Guide

    Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness 
Act of 1996 states that, for each rule or group of related rules for 
which an agency is required to prepare a FRFA, the agency shall publish 
one or more guides to assist small entities in complying with the rule, 
and shall designate such publications as ``small entity compliance 
guides.'' The agency shall explain the actions a small entity is 
required to take to comply with a rule or group of rules. The preamble 
to the proposed rule and this final rule fully explain the regulatory 
amendments that will be implemented to revise trip limits for pollock 
in the GOA. The proposed rule, final rule, and regulations governing 
the groundfish fisheries off Alaska are the best source of information 
about how to comply with the regulatory amendment and, therefore, 
collectively they represent the small entity compliance guide for this 
final rule. These documents are available from NMFS (see ADDRESSES) and 
from the NMFS Alaska Region's Web site at http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679

    Alaska, Fisheries.

    Dated: April 16, 2009.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
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.; 3631 et seq.; 
Pub. L. 108-447.


0
2. In Sec.  679.2 add a definition for ``Calendar day'' in alphabetical 
order to read as follows:


Sec.  679.2  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Calendar day means a 24-hour period that starts at 0001 hours 
Alaska local time and ends at 2400 hours Alaska local time.
* * * * *

0
3. In Sec.  679.7, revise paragraph (b)(2) to read as follows:


Sec.  679.7  Prohibitions.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (2) Catcher vessel harvest limit for pollock. (i) Retain more than 
300,000 lb (136 mt) of unprocessed pollock on board a catcher vessel 
issued a FFP at any time during a fishing trip as defined at Sec.  
679.2;
    (ii) Land more than 300,000 lb (136 mt) of unprocessed pollock 
harvested in any GOA reporting area from a catcher vessel issued a FFP 
to any processor or tender vessel during a calendar day as defined at 
Sec.  679.2; and
    (iii) Land a cumulative amount of unprocessed pollock harvested 
from any GOA reporting area from a catcher vessel issued a FFP during a 
directed fishery that exceeds the amount in paragraph (b)(2)(ii) of 
this section multiplied by the number of calendar days that occur 
during the time period the directed fishery is open in that reporting 
area.
* * * * *

0
4. In Figure 3 to part 679, the figure heading and map are revised to 
read as follows:

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[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR21AP09.000

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[FR Doc. E9-9107 Filed 4-20-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S