[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 145 (Friday, July 27, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Page 44216]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-18403]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XC118


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea 
and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Cost Recovery Program

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

ACTION: Notification of fee percentage.

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SUMMARY: NMFS publishes a notification of a zero (0) percent fee for 
cost recovery under the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab 
Rationalization Program. This action is intended to provide holders of 
crab allocations with the fee percentage for the 2012/2013 crab fishing 
year.

DATES: Fee liability payments made by the Crab Rationalization Program 
Registered Crab Receiver permit holders, if necessary, are due to NMFS 
on or before July 31, 2013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Palmigiano, 907-586-7240.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    NMFS Alaska Region administers the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 
Crab Rationalization Program (Program) in the North Pacific. Fishing 
under the Program began on August 15, 2005. Regulations implementing 
the Program are set forth at 50 CFR part 680.
    The Program is a limited access system authorized by section 313(j) 
of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
(Magnuson-Stevens Act). The Program includes a cost recovery provision 
to collect fees to recover the actual costs directly related to the 
management, data collection, and enforcement of the Program. NMFS 
developed the cost recovery provision to conform to statutory 
requirements and to partially reimburse the agency for the unique added 
costs of management, data collection, and enforcement of the Program. 
Section 313(j) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act provided supplementary 
authority to section 304(d)(2)(A) and additional detail for cost 
recovery provisions specific to the Program. The cost recovery 
provision allows collection of 133 percent of the actual management, 
data collection, and enforcement costs up to 3 percent of the ex-vessel 
value of crab harvested under the Program. Additionally, section 313(j) 
requires the harvesting and processing sectors to each pay half the 
cost recovery fees. Catcher/processor quota share holders are required 
to pay the full fee percentage for crab processed at sea.
    A crab allocation holder generally incurs a cost recovery fee 
liability for every pound of crab landed. The crab allocations include 
Individual Fishing Quota, Crew Individual Fishing Quota, Individual 
Processing Quota, Community Development Quota, and the Adak community 
allocation. The Registered Crab Receiver (RCR) permit holder must 
collect the fee liability from the crab allocation holder who is 
landing crab. Additionally, the RCR permit holder must collect his or 
her own fee liability for all crab delivered to the RCR. The RCR permit 
holder is responsible for submitting this payment to NMFS on or before 
the due date of July 31, in the year following the crab fishing year in 
which landings of crab were made.
    The dollar amount of the fee due is determined by multiplying the 
fee percentage (not to exceed 3 percent) by the ex-vessel value of crab 
debited from the allocation. Specific details on the Program's cost 
recovery provision may be found in the implementing regulations set 
forth at Sec.  680.44.

Fee Percentage

    Each year, NMFS calculates and publishes in the Federal Register 
the fee percentage according to the factors and methodology described 
in Federal regulations at Sec.  680.44(c)(2). The formula for 
determining the fee percentage is the ``direct program costs'' divided 
by ``value of the fishery,'' where ``direct program costs'' are the 
direct program costs for the Program for the previous fiscal year, and 
``value of the fishery'' is the ex-vessel value of the catch subject to 
the crab cost recovery fee liability for the current year. Fee 
collections for any given year may be less than, or greater than, the 
actual costs and fishery value for that year, because, by regulation, 
the fee percentage is established in the first quarter of a crab 
fishery year based on the fishery value and the costs of the prior 
year.
    The fee percentage has declined over time because of a variety of 
factors, including the increasing value of the fishery due to increased 
total allowable catch limits for various crab species such as Bristol 
Bay red king crab (Paralithodes camtshaticus) and Bering Sea snow crab 
(Chionoecetes opilio), increased ex-vessel price per pound of crab 
relative to previous years, and decreased management costs relative to 
previous years primarily due to decreased staff and contract costs.
    Using the fee percentage formula described above, the estimated 
percentage of costs to value for the 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 crab 
fishing years was 2.67 percent and 1.23 percent, respectively. These 
fee levels have resulted in a fee collection greater than the actual 
management, data collection, and enforcement costs for the 2010/2011 
and 2011/2012 crab fishing years. Therefore, fee revenues remain to 
cover projected actual costs for 2012/2013. As a result, NMFS has 
determined that the fee percentage will be zero (0) percent for the 
2012/2013 fishing year.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1862; Pub. L. 109-241; Pub. L. 109-479.

    Dated: July 24, 2012.
James P. Burgess,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National 
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-18403 Filed 7-26-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P