[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 246 (Wednesday, December 26, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66251-66253]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-27872]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XF888
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries Off West Coast States;
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Trawl Rationalization Program; 2019
Cost Recovery
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; 2019 cost recovery fee percentages and mothership (MS)
pricing.
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SUMMARY: This action provides participants in the Pacific Coast
Groundfish Trawl Rationalization Program with the 2019 fee percentages
and MS pricing needed to calculate the required payments for the cost
recovery fees due in 2019.
For calendar year 2019, NMFS announces the following fee
percentages by sector specific program:
2.9 percent for the Shorebased Individual Fishing Quota
(IFQ) Program,
0 percent for the MS Co-op Program,
0 percent for the Catcher/Processer (CP) Co-op Program.
For 2019, the MS pricing to be used as a proxy by the CP Co-op
Program is: $0.07./lb for Pacific whiting.
DATES: Applicable January 1, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher Biegel, Cost Recovery
Program Coordinator, (503) 231-6291, fax (503) 872-2737, email
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson[hyphen]Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act (MSA) requires NMFS to collect fees to
recover the costs directly related to the management, data collection
and analysis, and enforcement directly related to and in support of a
limited access privilege program (LAPP) (16 U.S.C. 1854(d)(2)), also
called ``cost recovery.'' The Pacific Coast Groundfish Trawl
Rationalization Program is a LAPP, implemented in 2011, and consists of
three sector-specific programs: The Shorebased IFQ Program, the MS Co-
op Program, and the CP Co-op Program. In accordance with the MSA, and
based on a recommended structure and methodology developed in
coordination with the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council),
NMFS began collecting mandatory fees of up to three percent of the
ex[hyphen]vessel value of
[[Page 66252]]
groundfish from each program (Shorebased IFQ Program, MS Co-op Program,
and CP Co-op Program) in 2014. NMFS collects the fees to recover the
incremental costs of management, data collection and analysis, and
enforcement of the Groundfish Trawl Rationalization Program. Additional
background can be found in the cost recovery proposed and final rules,
78 FR 7371 (February 1, 2013) and 78 FR 75268 (December 11, 2013),
respectively. The details of cost recovery for the Groundfish Trawl
Rationalization Program are in regulation at 50 CFR 660.115 (Trawl
fishery -cost recovery program), Sec. 660.140 (Shorebased IFQ
Program), Sec. 660.150 (MS Co-op Program), and Sec. 660.160 (CP Co-op
Program).
By December 31 of each year, NMFS must announce the next year's fee
percentages and the applicable MS pricing for the CP Co-op Program.
NMFS calculated the 2019 fee percentages by sector using the best
available information. For 2019, the fee percentages by program, taking
into account the adjusted direct program costs (DPCs), are:
2.9 percent for the Shorebased IFQ Program,
0 percent for the MS Co-op Program, and
0 percent for the CP Co-op Program.
MS Co-Op and CP Co-Op program fee percentages are 0 percent because of
the application of a credit from overpayment of cost recovery fees in
prior years.
To calculate the fee percentages, NMFS used the formula specified
in regulation at Sec. 660.115(b)(1), where the fee percentage by
sector equals the lower of three percent or DPC for that sector divided
by total ex-vessel value (V) for that sector multiplied by 100 (Fee
percentage = the lower of 3 percent or (DPC/V) x 100).
`DPC,' as defined in the regulations at Sec. 660.115(b)(1)(i), are
the actual incremental costs for the previous fiscal year directly
related to the management, data collection and analysis, and
enforcement of each program (Shorebased IFQ Program, MS Co-op Program,
and CP Co-op Program). Actual incremental costs means those net costs
that would not have been incurred but for the implementation of the
Groundfish Trawl Rationalization Program, including both increased
costs for new requirements of the program and reduced costs resulting
from any program efficiencies.
``V'', as specified at Sec. 660.115(b)(1)(ii), is the total ex-
vessel value, as defined at Sec. 660.111, for each sector from the
previous calendar year. The regulations define ex-vessel value slightly
differently for each sector, thus NMFS uses slightly different methods
to calculate ``V'' for each sector. For the Shorebased IFQ Program,
NMFS used the ex-vessel value for calendar year 2017 as reported in
Pacific Fisheries Information Network (PacFIN) from shorebased IFQ
electronic fish tickets. For the MS Co-op Program and the CP Co-op
Program, NMFS uses the average price of Pacific whiting as reported in
PacFIN from the shorebased IFQ sector in 2017 and the retained catch
estimates (weight) from the observer data, as reported in the North
Pacific Observer Program database. NMFS does not collect pricing data
for these two sectors so it uses the shorebased IFQ sector data as a
proxy.
Redetermination of Past DPCs and Adjustment of DPCs
On August 10, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
issued its opinion in Glacier Fish Co. LLC v. Pritzker, 832 F.3d 1113
(9th Cir. 2016), a case involving a challenge to NMFS' authority to
collect cost recovery fees from members of the CP Co-op Program and the
reasonableness of NMFS' calculation of the CP Co-op Program's 2014 fee
percentage. In response to the court decision, NMFS re-evaluated and
modified the methodology used to determine the CP Co-op Program's DPC
for the 2014 fee calculation. NMFS elected to apply a similar revised
methodology for all programs for 2014-2016 to redetermine the DPC for
those years and to continue to use the revised methodology for all
programs going forward, including the 2017-2019 fee calculations.
The redetermination resulted in overpayments of the cost recovery
fee by the CP and MS Co-op Programs. NMFS adjusted the fees for these
two sectors in subsequent years to account for this overpayment, as
specified at Sec. 660.115(b)(1)(i).
In addition, for the 2019 fee calculation, the NMFS Northwest
Fishery Science Center (NWFSC) determined that some of the observer
hours attributed to the CP Co-op Program in 2017 were not incremental.
Therefore, these hours were removed and used as a $1,207 credit to the
2018 CP Co-op Program DPC in the 2019 fee calculation. This credit is
reflected in the NWFSC initial DPC.
Based on the estimated fees received in 2018 and adjustments for
overpayments by the MS and CP Co-op Programs, the adjusted DPCs for
2019 are:
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Total by 2017 Fee Final sector
sector adjustment totals
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IFQ............................................................. $1,753,653.57 $0.00 $1,753,653.57
MS.............................................................. 71,400.39 -145,328.85 -73,928.46
CP.............................................................. 47,178.23 -116,563.48 -69,385.25
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The fee calculations using the adjusted 2018 DPCs are described
below.
Shorebased IFQ Program:
2.9 percent = the lower of 3 percent or ($1,753,653.57/
$60,624,195.00) x 100
MS Co-op Program:
-0.7 percent = the lower of 3 percent or (-$73,928.46/
$11,350,915.58) x 100
CP Co-op Program:
-0.3 percent = the lower of 3 percent or (-$69,385.25/
$24,656,732.10) x 100.
The 2019 fee percentages for the MS and CP Co-op Programs will be
set at 0.0 percent to reflect the application of a credit from
overpayment of cost recovery fees in prior years.
MS pricing is the average price per pound that the CP Co-op Program
will use to determine their fee amount due (MS pricing multiplied by
the value of the Pacific whiting harvested by the vessel registered to
a CP-endorsed limited entry trawl permit, multiplied by the CP fee
percentage, equals the fee amount due). MS pricing is based on the
average price per pound of Pacific whiting as reported in PacFIN from
the shorebased IFQ sector. In other words, data from the IFQ fishery
was used as a proxy for the MS average price per pound to determine the
MS pricing used in the calculation for the CP Co-op Program's fee
amount due. NMFS has calculated the 2019 MS pricing to be used as a
proxy by the CP Co-op Program as: $0.07/lb for Pacific whiting.
[[Page 66253]]
Cost recovery fees are submitted to NMFS by Fish buyers via Pay.gov
(https://www.pay.gov/paygov/). Fees are only accepted in Pay.gov by
credit/debit card or bank transfers. Cash or checks cannot be accepted.
Fish buyers registered with Pay.gov can login in the upper left-hand
corner of the screen. Fish buyers not registered with Pay.gov can go to
the cost recovery forms directly from the website below. The links to
the pay.gov forms for each program (IFQ, MS, or CP) are listed below:
IFQ: https://www.pay.gov/public/form/start/58062865
MS: https://www.pay.gov/public/form/start/58378422
CP: https://www.pay.gov/public/form/start/58102817
As stated in the preamble to the cost recovery proposed and final
rules, in the spring of each year, NMFS will release an annual report
documenting the details and data used for the above calculations. The
report includes information such as the fee percentage calculation,
program costs, and ex-vessel value by sector. The 2017-2018 annual
report was delayed until November 2018 to allow for changes to the
report following discussions with members of industry. Annual reports
are available at: http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/fisheries/groundfish_catch_shares/rules_regulations/costrecovery.html.
Corrections to the 2018 Cost Recovery Fee Calculations
Between the publication of the 2018 cost recovery fees in the
Federal Register (82 FR 61752) and the presentation of the 2017-2018
Cost Recovery Annual Report to the Council, NMFS identified two costs
(totaling $163,614.41) that had been included in the 2017 IFQ DPCs that
were not recoverable. This does not affect the 2019 fees, and a
description of these costs is included below as an explanation.
While reviewing the DPCs for the 2018 cost recovery fee, NMFS
identified a total of $163,614.41 in costs that were not recoverable
and, therefore, removed that amount from the fee calculations. Part of
that total consisted of a contracting cost of $74,480.64, which NMFS
removed because these contracting costs were to fund a database that
supports both catch share and non-catch share data and is not
considered incremental. The remainder, i.e., $89,133.77, was associated
with a task code that staff used on their timesheet intended for cost
recovery for non-recoverable tasks, and NMFS also removed that cost.
Both of these costs were only associated with the Shorebased IFQ
Program and their removal did not affect the 2018 fee percentage for
that program because the IFQ DPC remained above the three percent cap.
IFQ DPC adjustment from the Federal Register notice announcing the
2018 cost recovery fees
$2,179,402.10--Original 2017 IFQ DPC
-$163,614.41--Adjustment to the 2017 IFQ DPC
$2,015,787.69--Adjusted 2017 IFQ DPC
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., 16 U.S.C.773 et seq., and 16
U.S.C. 7001 et seq.
Dated: December 19, 2018.
Karen H. Abrams,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2018-27872 Filed 12-21-18; 8:45 am]
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