[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 163 (Thursday, August 22, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43792-43793]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-18127]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XH050


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 1.70 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 2019/2020 crab fishing year fee percentage so they can 
calculate the required cost recovery fee payment that must be submitted 
by July 31, 2020.

DATES: The Crab Rationalization Program Registered Crab Receiver permit 
holder is responsible for submitting the fee liability payment to NMFS 
by July 31, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doug Duncan, (907) 586-7228.

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 privilege program 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 be forwarded to the 
State of Alaska for reimbursement of its share of management and data 
collection costs for the Program.
    A crab allocation holder generally incurs a cost recovery fee 
liability for every pound of crab landed. Catcher vessel and processor 
quota shareholders split the cost recovery fees equally with each 
paying half, while catcher/processor quota shareholders pay the full 
fee percentage for crab processed at sea. The crab allocations subject 
to cost recovery include Individual Fishing Quota, Crew Individual 
Fishing Quota, Individual Processing Quota, Community Development 
Quota, and the Adak community allocation. The

[[Page 43793]]

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 their own fee 
liability for all crab delivered to 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's value 
and costs in the prior year.
    According to the fee percentage formula described above, the 
estimated percentage of costs to value for the 2018/2019 fishery was 
1.70 percent. Therefore, the fee percentage will be 1.70 percent for 
the 2019/2020 crab fishing year. This is a decrease of 0.15 percent 
from the 2018/2019 fee percentage of 1.85 percent (83 FR 34119, July 
19, 2018). Direct program costs for managing the fishery decreased by 
0.7 percent from 2017/2018 to 2018/2019, while fishery value increased 
8.5 percent, resulting in the decreased fee percentage. Similar to 
previous years, the largest direct program costs were 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: August 15, 2019.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-18127 Filed 8-21-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P