[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 243 (Monday, December 20, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 79330-79333]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-31918]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 100413185-0213-01]
RIN 0648-AY84


Groundfish Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; 
American Fisheries Act; Recordkeeping and Reporting

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This action would amend the regulations implementing the 
American Fisheries Act that require cooperatives participating in the 
directed fishery for pollock in the Bering Sea to prepare and submit 
preliminary annual reports to the North Pacific Regional Fishery 
Management Council. The Council determined that the requirement for a 
preliminary annual report is no longer necessary. However, this 
proposed action would retain the requirement for the cooperatives to 
submit a single annual report to the Council. This 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 January 4, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional 
Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, 
Attn: Ellen Sebastian. You may submit comments, identified by RIN 0648-
AY84, by any one of the following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov.
     Fax: 907-586-7557, Attn: Ellen Sebastian.

[[Page 79331]]

     Mail: P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802.
     Hand Delivery to the Federal Building: 709 West 9th 
Street, Room 420A, Juneau, AK.
    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) 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 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 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. groundfish fisheries 
in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 
Management Area under the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the 
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP). The North 
Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) prepared the FMP under the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act. Regulations implementing the FMP appear at 
subpart F of 50 CFR part 679. General regulations that pertain to U.S. 
fisheries appear at subpart H of 50 CFR part 600.

Background

    In October 1998, Congress enacted the American Fisheries Act (AFA), 
16 U.S.C. 1851 note, which ``rationalized'' the Bering Sea pollock 
fishery by identifying the vessels and processors eligible to 
participate in the fishery and allocating pollock among those eligible 
participants. The AFA allocates 10 percent of the Bering Sea pollock 
total allowable catch to the Western Alaska Community Development Quota 
(CDQ) Program. After subtracting the CDQ Program allocation, and an 
amount set aside for the catch of pollock in other Bering Sea 
fisheries, the AFA allocates the remaining available pollock quota (the 
``directed fishing allowance'') among the AFA inshore sector (50 
percent), the AFA catcher/processor sector (40 percent), and the AFA 
mothership sector (10 percent).
    The AFA allowed for development of pollock fishing cooperatives in 
the non-CDQ sectors. Thirteen cooperatives were developed as a result 
of the AFA: Ten inshore catcher vessel cooperatives, two offshore 
catcher/processor cooperatives, and one mothership cooperative. The 
cooperatives further subdivide each cooperative's pollock allocation 
among vessel owners in the cooperative through private contractual 
agreements. The cooperatives manage these allocations to optimize their 
harvest and to ensure that individual vessels and companies do not 
harvest more than their agreed upon share of pollock. The cooperatives 
also enforce contract provisions and participate in an intercooperative 
agreement to reduce salmon bycatch by the directed pollock fishery.
    The regulations establishing the AFA cooperative reporting 
requirements were first published in December 30, 2002 (67 FR 79692). 
These regulations require that each cooperative prepare preliminary and 
final annual reports describing the cooperative's harvest of pollock, 
prohibited species, and non-pollock groundfish, including species for 
which NMFS establishes annual sideboards that limit incidental catch by 
AFA participants. The purpose of the annual reports is, ``to assist the 
Council and NMFS in meeting the requirements of section 210(a)(1) of 
the AFA, which requires that NMFS make that information available to 
the public in a manner that NMFS and the Council decide is 
appropriate.'' 67 FR 79692. Another purpose of the cooperatives' AFA 
cooperative annual report is to provide the Council information upon 
which it can make decisions on cooperative allocations and sideboard 
protection measures.
    Currently, all AFA cooperatives must submit both preliminary and 
final annual written reports on directed pollock fishing activity to 
the Council. The preliminary report is due on December 1, one month 
after the pollock fishery's closure on November 1, while the final 
report is due on April 1 of the following year. The two reports result 
from the Council's recognition that one month following the fishery's 
closure may not be enough time for the AFA cooperative representatives 
to compile all of the required information for the annual report. 
Requiring cooperatives to file a second report also allowed 
cooperatives to update catch and bycatch data after the end of the 
year.
    In August 2010, NMFS changed the deadline for submission of the 
final AFA cooperative annual report from February 1 to April 1. (75 FR 
53026) This new date allows the AFA cooperative report to arrive about 
the same time as the annual Chinook Salmon Prohibited Species Catch 
(PSC) Incentive Plan Agreement (IPA) and Non-chinook Salmon Inter-
Cooperative Agreement (ICA) reports, which describe salmon PSC in the 
Bering Sea pollock fisheries.
    In recent years, the Council has found that the preliminary AFA 
cooperative report is not necessary to develop recommendations on final 
groundfish specifications or on cooperative allocations and sideboard 
protection measures. The Council instead uses the stock assessment 
reports provided by the Council's Groundfish BSAI Plan Team, and the 
total allowable catch (TAC) recommendations provided at the December 
Council meeting to develop these recommendations.
    The Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) reports for the 
groundfish fisheries managed by the Council are compiled by the 
respective Plan Teams from chapters contributed by scientists at the 
NMFS Alaska Fisheries Science Center and the State of Alaska Department 
of Fish and Game. These SAFE reports include separate stock assessment 
and fishery evaluation sections. The stock assessment section includes 
recommended acceptable biological catch (ABC) levels for each stock and 
stock complex managed under the FMP. For purposes of determining TACs, 
the data provided in these reports is a sufficient substitute for that 
which is provided by the preliminary reports on the pollock fishery 
from the cooperatives. The Council considers the ABC recommendations, 
together with social and economic factors, in determining TACs and 
other management strategies for the fisheries.
    Therefore, at its June 2010 meeting, the Council determined that, 
combined with the SAFE Report and TAC recommendations, a single annual 
report from each AFA cooperative, renamed the ``annual AFA cooperative 
report,'' will provide sufficient information to the Council, the 
industry and the public about the directed fisheries for pollock in the 
Bering Sea. If this proposed rule is enacted, the cooperatives will be 
required to submit one report containing the same

[[Page 79332]]

information previously contained in two reports.
    Each AFA cooperative annual report would be required to provide the 
following information:
     How the cooperative allocated pollock, other groundfish 
species, and prohibited species catch among the vessels in the 
cooperative;
     The catch and discard of these species by area for each 
vessel in the cooperative;
     How the cooperative monitored fishing by its members; and
     A description of any actions taken by the cooperative to 
penalize any vessel that exceeded the allocations made to the vessel by 
the cooperative.
    This action does not result in a substantial change in the 
reporting requirements. Some decrease in miscellaneous costs might 
occur due to postage cost differences. It is also possible that the 
burden would decrease due to planning and writing of one report instead 
of two reports, one revising the other.

Classification

    Pursuant to Section 304(b)(1)(A) of 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.
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration that this proposed rule, if adopted, would not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
The basis of this certification is as follows.
    The purpose of this proposed regulatory change is to remove a 
preliminary reporting requirement for pollock fishery cooperatives. 
These preliminary fishery reports are no longer necessary, and NMFS can 
obtain the same information from other reports and from a single annual 
report from the regulated cooperatives. The proposed action will not 
increase any of the costs, which are small (see below), imposed by the 
current regulations, and is instead likely to reduce them.
    Specifically, the impact of this action will be twofold: (1) 
Cooperatives will not be required to submit a preliminary report, as 
well as a final report, thereby reducing their preparation and filing 
costs; and (2) the Council will realize reduced administrative costs, 
since it will no longer have to receive and process a preliminary 
report as well as a final report. As noted above, if this rule is 
promulgated, entities will no longer be required to produce a 
preliminary report. The elimination of this requirement will impose no 
costs on any entity that previously produced these reports; rather, it 
will reduce their costs. Thus, this action has a net benefit to 
directly regulated entities.
    There are thirteen entities that, under the current regulations, 
must file reports with NMFS. These entities are fishing cooperatives 
that developed as a result of the AFA: Ten inshore catcher vessel 
cooperatives, one cooperative for catcher vessels delivering to 
catcher/processors, two offshore cooperatives for catcher/processors, 
and one for catcher vessels delivering to motherships. Under the Small 
Business Administration's (SBA) regulations implementing the RFA, a 
small fishing business is defined as an entity that receives annual 
revenues of no more than $4 million. All of the fishing cooperatives 
currently subject to this rule have annual revenues of greater than $4 
million, and therefore none of these cooperatives is a small entity as 
defined by SBA.
    Moreover, this rule, if implemented, will reduce the costs to all 
entities affected by the rule. NMFS estimates that thirteen AFA 
cooperative reports are submitted per year. Each of these is required 
to submit an annual report. The total time required for a firm to 
prepare and file both its preliminary and final reports is estimated to 
be 12 hours for each respondent. Thus, at $75/hour, the total estimated 
cost for submitting both reports currently is $900. This action would 
permit some reduction in these costs, because the estimated burden for 
the annual report is 8 hours for a total estimated cost of $600. The 
estimated total savings would be $300, a rough estimate of the likely 
upper bound cost savings. The Council is estimated to incur $275 in 
costs for processing these preliminary reports. There would be some 
cost savings here, as well. Further analysis of the economic impact is 
found in the RIR, available at ADDRESSES above. The RIR describes the 
potential size, distribution, and magnitude of the economic impacts 
that this action may have on affected entities.
    Based upon the above analysis, the proposed rule would not impose 
economic impacts on any of the affected entities. Accordingly, 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.
    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 Number 0648-0401. 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.
    Public reporting burden per response is estimated to average 8 
hours for an AFA preliminary annual report and 4 hours for an AFA final 
annual report. The AFA preliminary annual report would be removed with 
this action and the AFA final annual report would be renamed the AFA 
cooperative annual report, which is estimated to average 8 hours per 
response.
    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.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679

    Alaska, Fisheries, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: December 15, 2010.
John Oliver,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Operations, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 679 is 
proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 679--FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA

    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.

    2. In Sec.  679.61, revise (f) introductory text, paragraph (f)(1), 
and paragraph (f)(2) introductory text to read as follows:


Sec.  679.61  Formation and operation of fishery cooperatives.

* * * * *
    (f) Any fishery cooperative governed by this section must submit an 
annual

[[Page 79333]]

written report on fishing activity to the North Pacific Fishery 
Management Council, 605 West 4th Avenue, Suite 306, Anchorage, AK 
99501. The Council will make copies of each report available to the 
public upon request.
    (1) What is the submission deadline? The cooperative must submit 
the annual report by April 1 of each year. Annual reports must be 
postmarked or received by the submission deadline.
    (2) What information must be included? The annual report must 
contain, at a minimum:
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2010-31918 Filed 12-17-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P