[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 179 (Thursday, September 16, 2010)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 56485-56486]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-23165]



[[Page 56485]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 680

[Docket No. 0910051335-0151-01]
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: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: NMFS issues regulations to remove 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 submit 
a catcher/processor offload report. The purpose of this action is to 
reduce unnecessary paperwork burdens on the fishing industry. NMFS 
determined that these requirements are no longer necessary. This action 
promotes the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and other 
applicable laws.

DATES: Effective September 16, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Electronic copies of this rule, the Regulatory Impact Review 
(RIR), and the categorical exclusion memorandum may be obtained from 
the Alaska Region Web site at http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov.
    Written comments regarding the burden-hour estimates or other 
aspects of the collection-of-information requirements contained in this 
final rule may be submitted by mail to NMFS, Alaska Region, P. O. Box 
21668, Juneau, AK 99802-1668, Attn: Ellen Sebastian, Records Officer; 
in person at NMFS, Alaska Region, 709 West 9th Street, Room 420A, 
Juneau, Alaska to NMFS, Alaska Region; and by e-mail to [email protected], or fax 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. Prior to publication of this final rule, NMFS 
required that all crab harvested and processed by catcher/processors as 
individual fishing quota (IFQ) 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 were used to debit crab IFQ from a quota holder's 
account. In addition, catcher/processors were required prior to 
publication of this final rule 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 required a crab catcher/processor to offload all 
processed crab 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. CR catcher/processors were required to complete the 
offload report when crab were offloaded from the vessel and to attach a 
scale printout showing gross product offload weight. The weight 
reported on the offload report included not only the weight of crab but 
also the weight of packaging, pallets, and glaze. While NMFS could make 
deductions for these items, the deductions created variance in the 
total weight of crab landed shoreside. For this reason, NMFS 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 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 IFQ 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 rule removes the requirement at Sec.  680.5(e) 
for the owner or operator of a catcher/processor to complete and submit 
to NMFS a catcher/processor offload report with its attached scale 
printout showing gross product offload weight. It also removes Sec.  
680.5(a)(2)(i)(H) because it only serves as a cross-reference to Sec.  
680.5(e), which is removed. This rule also removes the requirement at 
Sec.  680.23(b)(4) for catcher/processors to weigh all offloaded CR 
Program crab on a state-approved scale.
    NMFS published the proposed rule for this action in the Federal 
Register on August 10, 2010 (75 FR 48298), with a public comment period 
that closed August 25, 2010. One comment was received from a private 
citizen during this comment period and is summarized and responded to 
below.

Response to Comments

    Comment 1: The commenter supports the removal of the regulatory 
requirement for catcher/processors to weigh all offloaded CR Program 
crab on a state-approved scale, saying the requirement is redundant and 
unnecessary.
    Response: NMFS agrees.

Classification

    The Administrator, Alaska Region, NMFS, has determined that this 
rule is necessary for the conservation and management of the Bering Sea 
and Aleutian Islands crab fisheries and that

[[Page 56486]]

it is consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other applicable 
laws.
    This final rule removes weighing and reporting requirements that 
NMFS has determined are no longer necessary for management and 
monitoring of the crab fisheries. These requirements constitute a 
restriction on CR catcher/processors because operators of these vessels 
currently may not legally land processed crab without complying with 
these requirements. After NMFS removes these requirements, fewer 
restrictions will apply to landings of processed crab by CR catcher/
processors. Specifically, operators of CR catcher/processors that do 
not weigh the offloaded product on approved scales and submit the 
offload report to NMFS will be able to legally land processed crab. The 
elimination of these weighing and reporting requirements reduces the 
costs associated with legally landing processed crab by relieving a 
restriction on crab landings by catcher/processor vessels. Therefore, 
this final rule is not subject to the 30-day delayed effectiveness 
provision of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1).
    This final rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
    The Chief Council for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Council for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration during the proposed rule stage 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, and no changes have been made to the 
proposed rule. As a result, a regulatory flexibility analysis was not 
required and none was prepared.
    This action will not increase recordkeeping and reporting costs.

Collection-of-Information Requirements

    This 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 rule removes 
this offload report and the associated reporting burden without 
imposing any new, additional 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: September 13, 2010.
Eric C. Schwaab,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.

0
For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 680 is amended as 
follows:

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

0
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]

0
2. In Sec.  680.5, remove and reserve paragraph (a)(2)(i)(H) and 
paragraph (e).

0
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]

0
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.

 
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               Location                             Remove                         Add               Frequency
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Sec.   680.23(f)(3)(i)................  delivery or offload are.......  delivery are............               1
Sec.   680.23(f)(3)(ii)...............  CR crab or an offload of CR     CR crab must............               1
                                         crab product must.
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[FR Doc. 2010-23165 Filed 9-13-10; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P