[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 21 (Monday, February 2, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 5499-5501]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-01842]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 680

RIN 0648-BD61


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

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

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

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SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) 
submitted Amendment 45 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/
Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs (Crab FMP) to NMFS for review. 
If approved, Amendment 45 would establish, for a limited period of 
time, a process to permanently remove Pacific cod catch limits, known 
as sideboard limits, which are applicable to certain hook-and-line 
catcher/processors in the Central and Western Gulf of Alaska (GOA) 
Regulatory Areas. This action would authorize NMFS to remove these 
Pacific cod sideboard limits in the Central or Western GOA if all 
eligible participants in the hook-and-line catcher/processor sector in 
a regulatory area sign and submit to NMFS an affidavit requesting that 
NMFS remove the sideboard limit. Eligible participants would be 
required to submit an affidavit to NMFS within 1 year of the date of 
publication of a final rule implementing Amendment 45, if it is 
approved by the Secretary of Commerce. Amendment 45 is necessary to 
provide participants in the Central and Western GOA hook-and-line 
catcher/processor sectors with an opportunity to cooperatively 
coordinate harvests of GOA Pacific cod through private arrangement to 
the participants' mutual benefit, which would remove the need for 
current regulations that impose sideboard harvest restrictions on some 
participants in the sectors. This action is intended to promote the 
goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the Crab FMP, and other 
applicable laws.

DATES: Submit comments on or before April 3, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2013-0133, 
by any one of the following methods.
     Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2013-0133, click the ``Comment Now!'' icon, 
complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
     Mail: Submit written comments to Glenn Merrill, Assistant 
Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region 
NMFS, Attn: Ellen Sebastian. Mail comments to 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 following documents may be obtained from

[[Page 5500]]

http://www.regulations.gov or from the NMFS Alaska Region Web site at 
http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov:
     The Regulatory Impact Review/Initial Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis (RIR/IRFA), and the Categorical Exclusion prepared 
for this action (collectively referred to as the ``Analysis'');
     The Harvest Specifications Supplemental Information Report 
prepared for the final 2014 and 2015 harvest specifications;
     The Final Environmental Assessment/Final RIR/Initial IRFA 
for Amendment 83 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the 
GOA (GOA FMP) Allocation of Pacific Cod Among Sectors in the Western 
and Central GOA; and
     The Alaska Groundfish Harvest Specifications Final 
Environmental Impact Statement.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Seanbob Kelly, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that each 
regional fishery management council submit any fishery management plan 
amendment it prepares to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or 
partial approval by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary). The 
Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that NMFS, upon receiving a fishery 
management plan amendment, immediately publish a notice in the Federal 
Register announcing that the amendment is available for public review 
and comment. This notice announces that proposed Amendment 45 to the 
Crab FMP is available for public review and comment.
    The king and Tanner crab fisheries in the exclusive economic zone 
of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands are managed under the Crab FMP. 
The Council prepared the Crab FMP under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. 
Regulations implementing the Crab FMP are located at 50 CFR part 680.
    The Crab Rationalization (CR) Program, implemented in 2005, is a 
catch share program that allocates Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 
(BSAI) crab resources through issuance of quota share among harvesters, 
processors, and coastal communities. As part of the CR Program, 
eligible vessel owners were allocated quota share in several valuable 
crab fisheries. The CR Program provides increased flexibility for crab 
fishermen to choose when and where to fish, or whether to lease their 
crab quota share and fish for species other than crab. The Council and 
NMFS recognized that the benefits of the CR Program could create 
incentives for participants to increase their level of participation in 
groundfish fisheries, especially Pacific cod fisheries in the Central 
and Western GOA. Participants in the Bering Sea C. opilio (snow) crab 
fisheries have historically participated in GOA Pacific cod fisheries. 
Therefore, the CR Program established GOA Pacific cod sideboard limits 
to prevent increased fishing effort in the GOA Pacific cod fisheries by 
those receiving Bering Sea snow crab quota share, and to mitigate the 
potentially adverse impacts of increased fishing effort on participants 
in the GOA Pacific cod fisheries who did not benefit from the CR 
Program.
    CR Program GOA Pacific cod sideboard limits constrain the harvest 
of GOA Pacific cod by vessels and holders of license limitation program 
(LLP) licenses that were used to harvest specific amounts of Pacific 
cod in the GOA and snow crab in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 
Management Area. Originally, the CR Program GOA Pacific cod sideboard 
limits in the Central and Western GOA were calculated using the Pacific 
cod total allowable catch (TAC) for the Central and Western GOA. With 
the implementation of Amendment 83 to the Fishery Management Plan for 
Gulf of Alaska Groundfish in 2012, the CR Program GOA Pacific cod 
sideboard limits in the Central and Western GOA are calculated using 
the apportionment of Pacific cod TAC established for specific gear 
types (e.g., hook-and-line gear, pot gear) and by operation type (i.e., 
catcher/processor vessels, catcher vessels). CR Program GOA Pacific cod 
sideboard limits in the Central and Western GOA for vessels using hook-
and-line gear and operating as catcher/processors (the hook-and-line 
catcher/processor sector) are now much smaller than they were prior to 
Amendment 83. As a result, NMFS prohibits target fishing, commonly 
known as directed fishing, for Pacific cod in the Central and Western 
GOA by participants in the hook-and-line catcher/processor sector who 
are subject to CR Program GOA Pacific cod sideboard limits so that 
these small sideboard limits are not exceeded.
    This proposed action would establish, for a limited period of time, 
a regulatory process for the removal of the Central and/or the Western 
CR Program GOA Pacific cod sideboard limits for the hook-and-line 
catcher/processor sectors. As proposed, Amendment 45 would allow NMFS 
to permanently remove a CR Program GOA Pacific cod sideboard limit if 
NMFS receives an affidavit signed by all persons holding LLP licenses 
with endorsements that permit directed fishing for Pacific cod as a 
hook-and-line catcher/processor in the Central or Western GOA (i.e., 
all eligible participants) and stating that all eligible participants 
in that regulatory area recommend removal of the CR Program GOA Pacific 
cod sideboard limit. This proposed action is necessary to provide 
participants with an opportunity to cooperatively agree to coordinate 
Pacific cod harvests in a manner that is mutually beneficial to all 
eligible participants in the Central and Western GOA hook-and-line 
catcher/processor sectors, thus eliminating the need for the sideboard 
limits imposed through regulation.
    If NMFS receives an affidavit from all eligible participants in the 
Central GOA, then NMFS would remove the CR Program GOA Pacific cod 
sideboard limit for the hook-and-line catcher/processor sector in the 
Central GOA. If NMFS receives an affidavit from all eligible 
participants in the Western GOA, then NMFS would remove the CR Program 
GOA Pacific cod sideboard limit for the hook-and-line catcher/processor 
sector in the Western GOA.
    This proposed action would require that eligible participants in 
each regulatory area submit a completed affidavit no later than 1 year 
(365 days) following publication in the Federal Register of the final 
rule implementing Amendment 45, if approved by the Secretary. The 
Council recommended a 1-year deadline to provide sufficient time to 
encourage negotiations among eligible participants, while not unduly 
prolonging the management uncertainty for those participants currently 
subject to the CR Program GOA Pacific cod sideboard limits and 
prohibited from targeting Pacific cod in the Central or Western GOA.
    If all of the eligible participants are unable or unwilling to 
agree to the sideboard removal, NMFS would not remove the CR Program 
GOA Pacific cod sideboard limits and certain hook-and-line catcher/
processors would continue to be subject to CR Program GOA Pacific cod 
sideboard limits. The Council determined that maintaining the CR 
Program GOA Pacific cod sideboard limits for vessels and any associated 
LLP licenses is consistent with the CR Program because the sideboard 
limits continue to provide protections originally intended under the CR 
Program if agreement cannot be reached among all participants. Removing 
sideboard limits without coordination and agreement among all eligible 
participants would increase the likelihood of increased fishing effort 
(a ``race for fish'') among fishery participants and ultimately would 
not provide long-term management stability.

[[Page 5501]]

This result would be inconsistent with the purpose and need for this 
action.
    Public comments are solicited on proposed Amendment 45 to the Crab 
FMP through the end of the comment period (see DATES). NMFS intends to 
publish in the Federal Register and seek public comment on a proposed 
rule that would implement Amendment 45, following NMFS' evaluation of 
the proposed rule under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Public comments on 
the proposed rule must be received by the end of the comment period on 
Amendment 45 to be considered in the approval/disapproval decision on 
Amendment 45. All comments received by the end of the comment period on 
Amendment 45, whether specifically directed to the amendment or the 
proposed rule will be considered in the amendment approval/disapproval 
decision. Comments received after that date will not be considered in 
the approval/disapproval decision on the amendment. To be considered, 
comments must be received, not just postmarked or otherwise 
transmitted, by the last day of the comment period.

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

    Dated: January 27, 2015.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-01842 Filed 1-30-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P