[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 139 (Thursday, July 19, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34119-34120]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-15468]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XG279


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 notification of a 1.85 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 2018/2019 crab fishing year so they can 
calculate the required payment for cost recovery fees that must be 
submitted by July 31, 2019.

DATES: The Crab Rationalization Program Registered Crab Receiver permit 
holder is responsible for submitting the fee liability payment to NMFS 
on or before July 31, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kurt Iverson, (907) 586-7210.

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 can be found 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. The 
Program implemented under the authority of section 313(j) is consistent 
with the cost recovery provisions included under section 304(d)(2)(A) 
of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. NMFS developed the cost recovery provision 
to conform to statutory requirements and to reimburse the agency for 
the actual costs directly related to the management, data collection, 
and enforcement of 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. The Program provides that a proportional 
share of fees charged for management and enforcement be forwarded to 
the State of Alaska for its share of management and data collection 
costs for the Program. The cost recovery provision also requires the 
harvesting and processing sectors to each pay half the cost recovery 
fees. Catcher/processor quota shareholders 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

[[Page 34120]]

the RCR. The RCR permit holder is responsible for submitting this 
payment to NMFS on or before 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 at 50 
CFR 680.44.

Fee Percentage

    Each year, NMFS calculates and publishes in the Federal Register 
the fee percentage according to the factors and methodology described 
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.
    Based upon the fee percentage formula described above, the 
estimated percentage of costs to value for the 2017/2018 fishery was 
1.85 percent. Therefore, the fee percentage will be 1.85 percent for 
the 2018/2019 crab fishing year. This is an increase of 0.28 percent 
from the 2017/2018 fee percentage of 1.57 percent (81 FR 32329, July 
13, 2017). Although direct program costs for managing the fishery 
increased by 2.9 percent from 2016/2017 to 2017/2018, the increase in 
the fee percentage was more affected by a $24.0 million decrease in the 
value of the crab harvested under the Program. Similar to previous 
years, the largest direct program costs are incurred by the Alaska 
Department of Fish and Game and the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement.

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

    Dated: July 16, 2018.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2018-15468 Filed 7-18-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P