[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 143 (Friday, July 25, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 43377-43379]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-17556]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

RIN 0648-BD74


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Fishery 
Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska

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

ACTION: Notice of availability of a proposed fishery management plan 
amendment; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the North Pacific Fishery Management 
Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 96 to the Fishery Management 
Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA FMP) for review by the 
Secretary of Commerce (Secretary). Amendment 96 would revise the 
sablefish individual fishing quota program (IFQ Program) to allow Gulf 
of Alaska Community Quota Entities (CQEs) to transfer and hold small 
blocks of sablefish quota share (QS). Amendment 96 would allow CQEs to 
acquire additional QS and facilitate sustained participation by CQE 
community residents in the IFQ Program. This action is necessary to 
promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the GOA FMP, 
and other applicable laws.

DATES: Comments on Amendment 96 must be received by September 23, 2014.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA-NMFS-2013-0161, by any of the following methods:
     Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2013-0161, click the 
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or 
attach your comments.
     Mail: Submit written comments to Glenn Merrill, Assistant 
Regional

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Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, 
Attn: Ellen Sebastian. P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802-1668.
    Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other 
address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, 
may not be considered by NMFS. All comments received are a part of the 
public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on 
www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying 
information (e.g., name, address), confidential business information, 
or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily by the sender 
will be publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter 
``N/A'' in the required fields if you wish to remain anonymous). 
Attachments to electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, 
Excel, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
    Electronic copies of the Regulatory Impact Review (RIR) and the 
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) for Amendment 96 are 
available from http://www.regulations.gov or from the NMFS Alaska 
Region Web site at http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peggy Murphy, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that each 
regional fishery management council submit any FMP or FMP amendment it 
prepares to the Secretary for review and approval, disapproval, or 
partial approval. The Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that NMFS, 
upon receiving an FMP amendment, immediately publish a notice in the 
Federal Register that the amendment is available for public review and 
comment. This notice announces that proposed Amendment 96 to the GOA 
FMP is available for public review and comment.
    Amendment 96 to the GOA FMP would revise the IFQ Program for 
sablefish fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska. The IFQ Program for the 
fixed-gear commercial fisheries for halibut and sablefish in waters in 
and off Alaska is a limited access privilege program implemented in 
1995 (58 FR 59375, November 9, 1993). The IFQ Program limits access to 
the halibut and sablefish fisheries to those persons holding QS in 
specific management areas. The amount of halibut and sablefish that 
each QS holder may harvest is calculated annually and issued as IFQ in 
pounds.
    In 2002, the Council recommended revisions to IFQ Program 
regulations and policy to allow a non-profit entity to hold QS on 
behalf of residents of specific rural communities located adjacent to 
the coast of the GOA. In 2004, NMFS implemented the Council's 
recommendations as Amendment 66 to the GOA FMP (69 FR 23681, April 30, 
2004). Amendment 66 implemented the community quota entity program (CQE 
Program) to allow these communities to form non-profit corporations 
called CQEs to transfer and hold catcher vessel QS under the IFQ 
Program. GOA CQEs that transfer and hold QS on behalf of an eligible 
community may lease the resulting annual IFQ to fishermen who are 
residents of the community. The GOA CQE Program was developed to allow 
a distinct set of small, remote, coastal communities in Southeast and 
Southcentral Alaska to transfer and hold halibut and sablefish QS for 
use by community residents in order to help minimize adverse economic 
impacts of the IFQ Program on such communities and provide for the 
sustained participation of the communities in the IFQ fisheries.
    Amendment 96 is specific to the GOA CQE Program and does not affect 
the Aleutian Islands CQE Program. Where the terms ``CQE'' or ``CQE 
Program'' are used in this notice, they are specifically referring to 
the regulations and management measures applicable to the GOA CQE 
Program, and not to the Aleutian Islands CQE Program.
    The CQE Program includes a number of management provisions that 
originated from the IFQ Program structure and affect the use of CQE-
held QS and the annual IFQ derived from the QS. The provisions relevant 
to Amendment 96 include management area and vessel size category 
designations for QS; QS use caps; and QS blocks. Under some of these 
provisions, a CQE has the same privileges and is held to the same 
limitations as individual QS holders in the IFQ fishery. For example, 
CQE-held QS is subject to the same IFQ regulatory area use cap that 
applies to non-CQE held QS. In other instances, the CQE is subject to 
less restrictive provisions than individual, non-CQE QS holders. For 
example, a community resident leasing IFQ from a CQE may fish the IFQ 
derived from QS assigned to a larger vessel size category on a smaller 
size category of catcher vessel. In other instances, the CQE must 
operate under more restrictive provisions than individual, non-CQE QS 
holders, in part to protect existing QS holders and preserve ``entry-
level'' opportunities for new entrants.
    Amendment 96 would amend the GOA FMP to remove the restriction on 
CQEs transferring and holding sablefish QS blocks that are less than a 
minimum size. The IFQ Program initially issued QS in blocks. A block is 
a consolidation of QS units that cannot be subdivided upon transfer. 
The CQE Program prohibits CQEs from holding ``small blocks'' of QS in 
GOA IFQ regulatory areas. The amount of QS units that comprise a small 
block in each IFQ regulatory area in the GOA is specified for the 
sablefish fishery in regulations at 50 CFR 679.41.
    A primary purpose of QS blocks was to conserve small blocks of QS 
that could be transferred at a relatively low cost by crew members and 
new entrants to the IFQ fisheries. Smaller blocks of QS are typically 
designated for vessels of a smaller size category: category C in the 
sablefish fishery. New entrants tend to own or hold smaller category C 
vessels. Because blocks were structured to be limited in size, blocked 
QS typically is less expensive and more affordable for new entrants. 
The IFQ Program also limits the number of blocks individual QS holders 
and CQEs may transfer and hold in order to prevent unrestricted 
transferring of the type of QS that is most useful and affordable for 
new entrants to purchase.
    When the CQE Program was developed, the Council and NMFS were 
concerned that CQEs would try to acquire as much of the most affordable 
QS as they were allowed to hold and that gains in CQE holdings could 
reflect losses of QS holdings among residents of the same CQE 
communities. The Council and NMFS were also concerned that CQEs might 
have greater access to capital than would individuals, so they could 
buy up blocks of QS that are most in demand by non-CQE fishermen with 
small operations. The Council and NMFS determined it was appropriate to 
restrict CQEs from transferring or holding small blocks of QS to 
preserve fishing opportunities for new entrants in certain IFQ 
regulatory areas.
    CQEs participating in the CQE Program have made little progress 
towards reaching the regulatory limits on the maximum amount of QS that 
may be transferred or IFQ that may be harvested. Since implementation 
of the CQE program in 2004, only two of the 45 communities eligible for 
the CQE program have formed CQEs, transferred QS, and harvested the 
resulting IFQ. These two CQEs do not hold sablefish QS. Based on a 
review of the CQE Program in 2010, the Council determined that lack of 
participation in the CQE Program can be attributed to limited 
availability of QS for transfer, increased market prices for halibut 
and sablefish QS, and limited viable options for financing QS transfer. 
However, the Council also noted that the current

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prohibition on CQEs' transferring and holding blocks of QS of less than 
a minimum size may contribute to their low participation in the CQE 
Program. Given these factors, the Council and NMFS determined it was 
appropriate to relieve the prohibitions on CQEs' transferring or 
holding small blocks of QS.
    The Council adopted Amendment 96 on April 6, 2013. Amendment 96 
would remove the restriction on CQEs' transferring and holding small 
blocks of QS and allow all CQEs to transfer any size block of sablefish 
QS to hold for use by eligible community members. The objectives of 
Amendment 96 are to provide CQE communities in the GOA with increased 
opportunity to transfer and hold QS, and sustain participation of CQE 
community residents in the IFQ fisheries.
    In proposing Amendment 96, the Council and NMFS considered the 
current participation of CQE and non-CQE QS holders in the IFQ fishery, 
and the potential changes in access to QS, effects on the QS market, 
and social and economic tradeoffs. Given the reasons for low 
participation in the CQE Program described above, the Council and NMFS 
determined it is unlikely that CQEs would transfer the maximum amount 
of QS made available by Amendment 96. Thus, small block halibut QS 
would continue to be available to non-CQE participants in the IFQ 
sablefish fishery. The Council and NMFS determined that removing the 
small block restriction from the CQE Program could improve the ability 
of CQEs to obtain the most affordable blocks of QS without negatively 
impacting the ability of non-CQE fishery participants to obtain the 
similar size blocks of QS.
    An RIR/IRFA was prepared for Amendment 96 that describes the CQE 
Program, the purpose and need for this action, the management 
alternatives evaluated to address this action, the economic and 
socioeconomic effects of the alternatives, and the potential adverse 
economic impacts on small entities directly regulated by the proposed 
rule (see ADDRESSES).
    Amendment 96 and its proposed implementing regulations are designed 
to comply with the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the national standards, and 
other applicable law. The proposed amendment and implementing 
regulations particularly address National Standard 8, which provides 
that conservation and management programs shall, consistent with the 
conservation requirements of the Act, take into account the importance 
of fishery resources to communities in order to provide for the 
sustained participation of such communities, and to the extent 
practicable, minimize adverse economic impacts on such communities.
    The IFQ Program for Pacific halibut is implemented under the 
authority of the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982. The Council does 
not have a halibut fishery management plan. The Council and Secretary, 
however, consider the impacts of all the IFQ management measures on 
fishery-dependent communities. If Amendment 96 is approved, then 
regulations affecting the halibut and sablefish IFQ Program would be 
implemented in one rule. Amendment 96 is intended to promote the goals 
and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the GOA FMP, and other 
applicable laws.
    Public comments are being solicited on proposed Amendment 96 to the 
GOA FMP through the end of the comment period stated in this notice of 
availability (see DATES). A proposed rule that would implement 
Amendment 96 will be published in the Federal Register for public 
comment, following NMFS's evaluation of the proposed rule under the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act. Public comments, whether specifically directed to 
the amendment or the proposed rule, must be received, not just 
postmarked or otherwise transmitted, by 5 p.m., A.l.t., on the last day 
of the comment period (see DATES). Comments received by the end of the 
comment period will be considered in the approval/disapproval decision 
on Amendment 96. Comments received after that date will not be 
considered in the decision to approve or disapprove Amendment 96.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: July 22, 2014.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2014-17556 Filed 7-24-14; 8:45 am]
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