[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 153 (Tuesday, August 10, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 48298-48301]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-19728]


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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 680

[Docket No. 0910051335-0171-01]
RIN 0648-AY28


Groundfish Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; 
Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Program; Recordkeeping 
and Reporting

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.

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

SUMMARY:  This proposed action removes the Crab Rationalization Program 
requirements for catcher/processors to weigh all offloaded crab on a 
state-approved scale that produces a printed record and to report this 
information at the time of offload to NMFS on a catcher/processor 
offload report. NMFS has determined that these requirements are no 
longer necessary. This proposed action is intended to promote the goals 
and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and other applicable laws.

DATES:  Comments must be received no later than August 25, 2010.

[[Page 48299]]


ADDRESSES:  You may submit comments, identified by RIN 0648-AY28, by 
any one of the following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov.
     Fax: 907-586-7557, Attn: Ellen Sebastian.
     Mail: P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802.
     Hand Delivery to the Federal Building: 709 West 9th 
Street, Room 420A, Juneau, AK.
    Instructions: No comments will be posted for public viewing until 
after the comment period has closed. All comments received are a part 
of the public record and will generally be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without change. All Personal Identifying 
Information (for example, name, address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by 
the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential 
Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
    NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required 
fields, if you wish to remain anonymous). You may submit attachments to 
electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF 
file formats only.
    Electronic copies of this rule, the Regulatory Impact Review (RIR), 
and the categorical exclusion memorandum may be obtained from the 
Alaska Region website at http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov.
    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, Sustainable Fisheries 
Division, e-mailed to [email protected], or faxed to 202-395-
7285.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Patsy A. Bearden, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the U.S. crab fisheries under 
the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and 
Tanner Crabs (FMP). The FMP was prepared by the North Pacific Fishery 
Management Council under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Regulations 
implementing the FMP appear at 50 CFR parts 679 and 680. General 
regulations that pertain to U.S. fisheries appear at subpart H of 50 
CFR part 600.

Background

    The Crab Rationalization (CR) Program is a limited-access system 
that allocates crab managed under the FMP among harvesters, processors, 
and coastal communities. Currently, NMFS requires that all crab 
individual fishing quota (IFQ) harvested and processed by catcher/
processors be weighed at sea prior to processing and that crab weights 
be reported to NMFS on an IFQ crab landings report (see Sec.  
679.5(e)(8)). The weights reported on the IFQ crab landings report are 
used to debit crab IFQ from a quota holder's account. In addition, 
catcher/processors are required to weigh the crab again when it is 
offloaded from the vessel and report this weight to NMFS on a catcher/
processor offload report (see Sec.  680.5(e)).
    The original purpose of the offload report was to provide 
information so that NMFS could audit the IFQ crab landing reports. 
Completing this report requires a crab catcher/processor to offload all 
crab-processed product shoreside at a designated port and weigh that 
product on a scale approved by the state in which the crab is removed 
from the vessel. The offload report must be completed when crab are 
offloaded from the vessel and a scale printout showing gross product 
offload weight must be attached to the offload report. The weight 
reported on the offload report includes not only the weight of crab but 
also the weight of packaging, pallets, and glaze. While deductions for 
these items can be made, the deductions create variance in the total 
weight of crab landed shoreside. For this reason, NMFS has found it 
difficult to use the weights from the offload report to audit the 
weight obtained from the at-sea hopper scales as originally intended.
    Advancements in at-sea reporting of crab catch (eLandings) and the 
improved reliability of the at-sea motion-compensated hopper scales 
have changed the need for CR catcher/processors to report offloads. 
Catcher/processors use eLandings to report total harvest of crab to 
NMFS weekly while at sea, which provides NMFS with up-to-date 
accounting of total crab harvested. Motion-compensated hopper scales 
provide reliable, independent estimates of the total catch by quota 
sector for all crab harvested.
    Removal of the regulatory requirements for CR catcher/processors to 
weigh offloaded crab product and submit offload reports does not 
diminish NMFS' ability to verify reported CR crab catch weight. NMFS 
still requires that all crab be weighed at sea and scale weights of 
crab be submitted to NMFS on eLandings weekly reports. Alaska 
Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) observers are onboard crab vessels 
and have the opportunity to observe hopper scale activities for 
consistency with the regulatory requirement that vessels weigh all 
landed CR crab. NOAA Fisheries Office for Law Enforcement (OLE) uses 
eLandings weekly reports, the printouts from the hopper scales showing 
the total weight of crab harvested, and additional auditing methods to 
verify CR quota accounting instead of using the catcher/processor 
offload reports. Further, even without the requirement to weigh and 
report the gross weight of offloaded product, the OLE will still have 
the authority and ability to conduct a full audit of offload weights to 
verify reported crab catch weight.
    Specifically, this proposed rule would remove the requirement at 
Sec.  680.5(e) for the owner or operator of a catcher/processor to 
complete and submit to NMFS-at the time of offload of CR crab-a 
catcher/processor offload report with its attached scale printout 
showing gross product offload weight. It also would remove Sec.  
680.5(a)(2)(i)(H) because it only serves as a cross-reference to Sec.  
680.5(e), which would be removed. This rule also would remove the 
requirement at Sec.  680.23(b)(4) for catcher/processors to weigh all 
offloaded CR Program crab on a state-approved scale.

Classification

    Pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the NMFS Assistant 
Administrator for Fisheries has determined that this proposed rule is 
consistent with the FMP, other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 
and other applicable law, subject to further consideration after public 
comment.
    This rule would relieve restrictions by removing weighing and 
reporting requirements under the CR Program that NMFS has determined 
are no longer necessary for management and monitoring of the crab 
fisheries. Adequate information about the weight of crab harvested by 
catcher/processors under the CR Program is available under regulations 
that govern the weighing and reporting of crab catch on the IFQ landing 
report. The reports to be removed by this action were first implemented 
at the inception of the CR fisheries and were intended to be used 
primarily for purposes of auditing IFQ landing reports. However, with 
more experience managing those fisheries and advances in electronic 
reporting, NMFS has determined that these requirements are no longer 
necessary. Removing these requirements would relieve restrictions on 
the industry and would reduce costs to both the industry and NMFS.
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the

[[Page 48300]]

Small Business Administration that this proposed rule, if adopted, 
would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 
small entities.

Factual Basis for Certification

Estimate of Economic Impact on Small Entities by Entity Size and 
Industry

    The impacts of this action have been evaluated in the accompanying 
Regulatory Impact Review (RIR). The proposed regulatory changes would 
remove reporting requirements for directly regulated entities. The 
estimated costs of the current requirement imposed on directly 
regulated entities are small (on the order of $25 per report and the 
fleet of four to six vessels submits a total of about 18 such reports, 
annually). Thus, because the action would remove a regulatory 
requirement and decrease compliance costs for directly regulated 
entities, this proposed action is not expected to have a significant 
adverse economic impact on any directly regulated small entities.

Description and Estimate of the Number of Small Entities to Which the 
Rule Applies

    The number of active crab catcher/processors changes annually. As 
noted above, from four to six vessels have submitted these reports in 
recent years. In 2009, there were five crab catcher/processors. An 
analysis of operation gross revenues from all Alaskan sources indicates 
that only one of these is a small entity under RFA criteria (total 
gross revenues from all sources less than $4 million). While this 
vessel would be affected by this action, one vessel would not 
constitute a substantial number of small entities.

Criteria Used to Evaluate Whether the Rule Would Impose ``Significant 
Economic impacts''

    The two criteria recommended to determine the significant economic 
impact of the action are disproportionality and profitability. The 
proposed action would not place a substantial number of small entities 
at a disadvantage, relative to large entities. The proposed action 
would not have disproportionate impacts on small entities.
    The proposed action would not adversely affect the profitability of 
any small entity. Indeed, the proposed action would ``remove'' a 
reporting burden and, as such, would ``reduce'' economic costs imposed 
upon directly regulated small entities.

Criteria Used to Evaluate Whether the Rule Would Impose Impacts on ``a 
Substantial Number'' of Small Entities

    NMFS' Guidelines for Economic Review of National Marine Fisheries 
Service Regulatory Actions (https://reefshark.nmfs.noaa.gov/f/pds/publicsite/documents/procedures/0111105.pdf) explain that the term 
``substantial number'' has no specific statutory definition and the 
criterion does not lend itself to objective standards applicable across 
all regulatory actions. Rather, ``substantial number'' depends upon the 
context of the action, the problem to be addressed, and the structure 
of the regulated industry. The Small Business Administration casts 
``substantial'' within the context of ``more than just a few'' or de 
minimis (``too few to care about'' criteria).

Description of and Basis for Assumptions Used

    The proposed rule would not impose adverse economic impacts on any 
of these entities. The economic analysis contained in the RIR further 
describes the potential size, distribution, and magnitude of the 
economic impacts that this action may have on small entities. Based 
upon that analysis and the foregoing, NMFS finds that the proposed 
action would not have a significant economic impact on the small 
entities participating in these fisheries. As a result, an initial 
regulatory flexibility analysis is not required, and none has been 
prepared.
    This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.

Collection-of-information Requirements

    This proposed rule contains collection-of-information requirements 
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) and which have been 
approved by the Office for Management and Budget (OMB) under OMB 
Control No. 0648-0570.
    Public reporting burden per response is estimated to average 20 
minutes for a catcher/processor crab offload report. This proposed rule 
would remove this offload report and the associated reporting burden.
    These estimates of public reporting burden include 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 this burden estimate or any other aspect of 
this data collection, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to 
NMFS (see ADDRESSES); 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, and no person shall be subject to 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 680

    Alaska, Fisheries, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: August 4, 2010.
Eric C. Schwaab,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
    For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 680 is 
proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 680-SHELLFISH FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF 
ALASKA

    1. The authority citation for part 680 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority:  16 U.S.C. 1862; Pub. L. 109-241; Pub. L. 109-479.
    Sec.  680.5 [Amended]
    2. In Sec.  680.5, remove and reserve paragraph (a)(2)(i)(H) and 
paragraph (e).
    3. In Sec.  680.23, revise paragraph (b)(4) to read as follows:


Sec.  680.23  Equipment and operational requirements.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (4) Offload all CR crab product processed onboard at a shoreside 
location in the United States accessible by road or regularly scheduled 
air service; and
* * * * *
    Sec.  680.23 [Amended]
    4. At each of the locations shown in the ``Location'' column, 
remove the phrase indicated in the ``Remove'' column and replace it 
with the phrase indicated in the ``Add'' column for the number of times 
indicated in the ``Frequency'' column.

[[Page 48301]]



------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Location                Remove          Add        Frequency
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec.   680.23(f)(3)(i)          delivery or   delivery are            1
                                offload are
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec.   680.23(f)(3)(ii)                    CR crab or    CR crab must 1
                                 an offload
                                        of CR crab
                                product must
------------------------------------------------------------------------

[FR Doc. 2010-19728 Filed 8-9-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S