[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 110 (Tuesday, June 9, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 32487]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-14049]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 697

RIN 0648-AT31


Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; 
American Lobster Fishery; Trap Transfer Program Implementation

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

ACTION: American lobster trap transfer program implementation.

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SUMMARY: This document announces the implementation of the American 
lobster trap transfer program. It is necessary because we deferred the 
start of the Program in the final rule approving the Program until a 
centralized trap transfer database was ready. Significant progress has 
been made on the centralized database. We are ready to announce that we 
will begin the Trap Transfer Program. This document alerts all Federal 
American lobster permit holders that trap transfer applications will 
soon be accepted.

DATES: Federal lobster permit holders may submit applications to 
transfer traps for the 2016 fishing year from August 1, 2015, through 
September 30, 2015. Revised trap allocations resulting from the trap 
transfers will take effect at the start of the 2016 Federal fishing 
year, May 1, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Submit trap transfer applications to Lobster Trap Transfer 
Program, NMFS, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. A copy of 
the trap transfer application is available at: http://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/aps/forms.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Allison Murphy, Fishery Policy 
Analyst, 978-281-9122.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS published a final rule (79 FR 19015, 
April 7, 2014), that established a Trap Transfer Program for Lobster 
Conservation Management Areas 2, 3, and the Outer Cape, consistent with 
the recommendations of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission 
in its Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster. This 
program will allow Federal permit holders to buy and sell all or part 
of a permit's trap allocation for these three areas to other Federal 
permit holders.
    The final rule deferred the Trap Transfer Program's implementation 
date until the Commission completed the development of a centralized 
trap transfer database. A complete centralized database is needed to 
ensure that states and the agency are using the same consolidated and 
verified information at the beginning and end of the trap transfer 
period. At the time the final rule published, the trap transfer 
database was incomplete and we elected to defer implementation of the 
Trap Transfer Program until the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics 
Program (ACCSP), in collaboration with us, the Commission, and the 
states, could complete the comprehensive database. Database development 
has been completed and it has been tested by state and Federal 
partners. The database is now ready to track trap transfers.
    Accordingly, we are ready to announce that the trap transfer 
application period will be from August 1 through September 30 of each 
year. All Federal permit holders requesting transfers for fishing year 
2016 must apply to NMFS in writing no earlier than August 1, 2015, and 
no later than September 30, 2015. Applications received after September 
30, 2015, will not be processed. A copy of the trap transfer 
application is available at: http://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/aps/forms.html. We will approve or deny trap 
transfer applications pursuant to the regulations at 50 CFR 697.27 
(http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title50/50cfr697_main_02.tpl). We urge all permit holders to be aware of these 
regulations before entering into trap transfer agreements. Approved 
trap transfers will not be effective until the start of the 2016 
fishing year.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.; 16 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.

    Dated: June 4, 2015.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-14049 Filed 6-8-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P