[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 14 (Monday, January 22, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2964-2966]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-01009]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XF878


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish 
of the Gulf of Alaska; Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Program

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

ACTION: Notification of standard prices and fee percentage.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: NMFS publishes the standard ex-vessel prices and fee 
percentage for cost recovery under the Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish 
Program. This action is intended to provide participants in a rockfish 
cooperative with the standard prices and fee percentage for the 2017 
fishing year, which was authorized from May 1 through November 15. The 
fee percentage is 2.04 percent. The fee payments are due from each 
rockfish cooperative on or before February 15, 2018.

DATES: Valid on: January 22, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carl Greene, 907-586-7105.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The rockfish fisheries are conducted in Federal waters near Kodiak, 
AK, by trawl and longline vessels. Regulations implementing the Central 
Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Rockfish Program (Rockfish Program) are set forth 
at 50 CFR part 679. Exclusive harvesting privileges are allocated as 
quota share under the Rockfish Program for rockfish primary and 
secondary species. Each year, NMFS issues rockfish primary and 
secondary species cooperative quota (CQ) to rockfish quota share 
holders to authorize harvest of these species. The rockfish primary 
species are northern rockfish, Pacific ocean perch, and dusky rockfish. 
In 2012, dusky rockfish replaced the pelagic shelf rockfish species 
group in the GOA Groundfish Harvest Specifications (77 FR 15194, March 
14, 2012). The rockfish secondary species include Pacific cod, rougheye 
rockfish, shortraker rockfish, sablefish, and thornyhead rockfish. 
Rockfish cooperatives began fishing under the Rockfish Program on May 
1, 2012.
    The Rockfish Program is a limited access privilege program 
established under the provisions of section 303A of the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). 
Sections 303A and 304(d) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act require NMFS to 
collect fees to recover the actual costs directly related to the 
management, data collection and analysis, and enforcement of any 
limited access privilege program. Therefore, NMFS is required to 
collect fees for the Rockfish Program under sections 303A and 304(d)(2) 
of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Section 304(d)(2) of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Act also limits the cost recovery fee so that it may not exceed 3 
percent of the ex-vessel value of the fish harvested under the Rockfish 
Program.

Standard Prices

    NMFS calculates cost recovery fees based on standard ex-vessel 
value prices, rather than actual price data provided by each rockfish 
CQ holder. Use of standard ex-vessel prices is allowed under sections 
303A and 304(d)(2) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. NMFS generates a 
standard ex-vessel price for each rockfish primary and secondary 
species on a monthly basis to determine the average price paid per 
pound for all shoreside processors receiving rockfish primary and 
secondary species CQ.
    Regulations at Sec.  679.85(b)(2) require the Regional 
Administrator to publish rockfish standard ex-vessel values during the 
first quarter of each calendar year. The standard prices are described 
in U.S. dollars per pound for rockfish primary and secondary species CQ 
landings made during the previous year.

Fee Percentage

    NMFS assesses a fee on the standard ex-vessel value of rockfish 
primary species and rockfish secondary species CQ harvested by rockfish 
cooperatives in the Central GOA and waters adjacent to the Central GOA 
when rockfish primary species caught by a cooperative are deducted from 
the Federal total allowable catch. The rockfish entry level longline 
fishery and trawl vessels that opt out of joining a cooperative are not 
subject to cost recovery fees because those participants do not receive 
rockfish CQ. Specific details on the Rockfish Program's cost recovery 
provision may be found in the implementing regulations set forth at 
Sec.  679.85.
    NMFS informs--by letter--each rockfish cooperative of the fee 
percentage applied to the previous year's landings and the total amount 
due. Fees are due on or before February 15 of each year. Failure to pay 
on time will result in the permit holder's rockfish quota share 
becoming non-transferable, and the person will be ineligible to receive 
any additional rockfish quota share by transfer. In addition, 
cooperative members will not receive any rockfish CQ the following year 
until full payment of the fee is received by NMFS.
    NMFS calculates and publishes in the Federal Register the fee 
percentage in the first quarter of each year according to the factors 
and methods described in Federal regulations at Sec.  679.85(c)(2). 
NMFS determines the fee percentage that applies to landings made in the 
previous year by dividing the total Rockfish Program management, data 
collection and analysis, and enforcement costs (direct program costs) 
during the previous year by the total standard ex-vessel value of the 
rockfish primary species and rockfish secondary species for all 
rockfish CQ landings made during the previous year (fishery value). 
NMFS captures the direct program costs through an established 
accounting system that allows staff to track labor, travel, contracts, 
rent, and procurement. Fee collections in any given year may be less 
than, or greater than, the direct program costs and fishery value for 
that year, because, by regulation, the fee percentage is established in 
the first quarter of the calendar year based on the program

[[Page 2965]]

costs and the fishery value of the previous calendar year.
    Using the fee percentage formula described above, the estimated 
percentage of program costs to value for the 2017 calendar year is 2.04 
percent of the standard ex-vessel value. The fee percentage for 2017 is 
a decrease from the 2016 fee percentage of 2.54 percent (82 FR 5533, 
January 18, 2017). Program costs for 2017 were 46 percent lower than in 
2016, with the majority of the reduction coming from personnel, 
overhead, and contracting costs.

   Table 1--Standard Ex-Vessel Prices by Species for the 2017 Rockfish
                    Program Season in Kodiak, Alaska
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Standard ex-
              Species                   Period ending      vessel price
                                                             per pound
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dusky rockfish *..................  May 31..............           $0.16
                                    June 30.............            0.16
                                    July 31.............            0.16
                                    August 31...........            0.16
                                    September 30........            0.16
                                    October 31..........            0.16
                                    November 30.........            0.16
Northern rockfish.................  May 31..............            0.15
                                    June 30.............            0.14
                                    July 31.............            0.15
                                    August 31...........            0.15
                                    September 30........            0.15
                                    October 31..........            0.15
                                    November 30.........            0.15
Pacific cod.......................  May 31..............            0.36
                                    June 30.............            0.35
                                    July 31.............            0.35
                                    August 31...........            0.35
                                    September 30........            0.35
                                    October 31..........            0.35
                                    November 30.........            0.35
Pacific ocean perch...............  May 31..............            0.18
                                    June 30.............            0.18
                                    July 31.............            0.18
                                    August 31...........            0.18
                                    September 30........            0.18
                                    October 31..........            0.18
                                    November 30.........            0.18
Rougheye rockfish.................  May 31..............            0.20
                                    June 30.............            0.20
                                    July 31.............            0.20
                                    August 31...........            0.20
                                    September 30........            0.20
                                    October 31..........            0.20
                                    November 30.........            0.15
Sablefish.........................  May 31..............            3.80
                                    June 30.............            3.27
                                    July 31.............            3.37
                                    August 31...........            3.37
                                    September 30........            3.61
                                    October 31..........            3.07
                                    November 30.........            3.12
Shortraker rockfish...............  May 31..............            0.21
                                    June 30.............            0.21
                                    July 31.............            0.21
                                    August 31...........            0.21
                                    September 30........            0.21
                                    October 31..........            0.21
                                    November 30.........            0.21
Thornyhead rockfish...............  May 31..............            0.39
                                    June 30.............            0.35
                                    July 31.............            0.36
                                    August 31...........            0.36
                                    September 30........            0.38
                                    October 31..........            0.37
                                    November 30.........            0.32
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* The pelagic shelf rockfish species group has been changed to ``dusky
  rockfish.''



[[Page 2966]]

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq.; 1801 et seq.; 3631 et seq.; 
Pub. L. 108-447; Pub. L. 111-281.

    Dated: January 17, 2018.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2018-01009 Filed 1-19-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P