[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 178 (Monday, September 14, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56572-56575]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-20143]


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 Notices
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  Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 178 / Monday, September 14, 2020 / 
Notices  

[[Page 56572]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Farm Service Agency

Commodity Credit Corporation

[Docket ID CCC-2020-0007]


Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA); Seafood Trade Relief Program 
(STRP)

AGENCY: Commodity Credit Corporation, Farm Service Agency, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: The Seafood Trade Relief Program (STRP) provides payments to 
eligible commercial fishermen of seafood commodities that have been 
impacted by trade actions of foreign governments resulting in the loss 
of exports. This document announces the availability of STRP funds for 
eligible active commercial fishermen as specified in this document, 
consistent with the Presidential Memorandum issued on June 24, 2020, 
``Protecting the United States Lobster Industry.'' The Farm Service 
Agency (FSA) administers STRP on behalf of the Commodity Credit 
Corporation (CCC). Payments are for the purpose of expanding or aiding 
in the expansion of domestic markets for U.S. caught and sold seafood.

DATES: Application period: September 14, 2020, through December 14, 
2020.
    Comment Date: We will consider comments on the Paperwork Reduction 
Act that we receive by: November 13, 2020.

ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit comments on the information 
collection requirements for STRP. You may submit comments by any of the 
following methods, although FSA and CCC prefer that you submit comments 
electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID CCC-2020-0007. Follow the 
online instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: William L. Beam, Deputy Administrator, Farm 
Programs, Farm Service Agency, USDA, 1400 Independence Ave. SW, 
Washington, DC 20250. In your comment, specify the docket ID CCC-2019-
0007.
    All comments received, including those received by mail, will be 
posted without change and publicly available on http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William L. Beam, Deputy Administrator 
for Farm Programs, telephone: (202) 720-3175.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Presidential Memorandum issued on June 24, 2020, ``Protecting 
the United States Lobster Industry,'' (https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/memorandum-protecting-united-states-lobster-industry/) directs USDA to consider taking appropriate action, as 
permitted by law, to provide assistance to eligible U.S. commercial 
fishermen with seafood production that have been impacted by trade 
actions of foreign governments resulting in the loss of exports. USDA, 
in consultation with the Department of Commerce, determined that 
assistance was appropriate and will be made available under section 
5(e) of the CCC Charter Act (15 U.S.C. 714c). This section authorizes 
CCC to act to increase the domestic consumption of agricultural 
commodities by expanding or aiding in the expansion of domestic markets 
or by developing or aiding in the development of new and additional 
markets, marketing facilities, and uses for such commodities. FSA 
administers STRP on behalf of CCC.

Definitions

    For STRP, the following definitions apply. These definitions of 
``commercial fishing'' and ``exclusive economic zone (EEZ)'' are 
consistent with the definitions in the regulations of the Magnuson 
Stevens Fishery Conservation And Management Act, National Oceanic And 
Atmospheric Administration, Department Of Commerce (see 50 CFR 600.10, 
622.2, and 635.2).
    Commercial fishing means fishing that is intended to, or results 
in, the barter, trade, transfer, or sale of fish, but does not include 
aquaculture with the exception of geoducks and salmon.
    Exclusive economic zone (EEZ) means the zone established by 
Presidential Proclamation 5030, 3 CFR part 22, dated March 10, 1983, 
and is that area adjacent to the United States that, except where 
modified to accommodate international boundaries, encompasses all 
waters from the seaward boundary of each of the coastal states to a 
line on which each point is 200 nautical miles (370.40 km) from the 
baseline from which the territorial sea of the United States is 
measured.

Eligibility and Payment Limits for STRP

    This document announces the availability of STRP payments for 
commercial fishermen with seafood production reported as U.S. harvested 
in calendar year 2019. U.S. caught and sold seafood includes those fish 
or shellfish caught by U.S. vessels in Canadian waters covered by the 
Treaty Between the Governments of Canada and the United States on 
Pacific Albacore Tuna Vessels and Port Privileges.
    Eligible STRP production only includes marine species that are 
harvested by commercial fisherman who hold a valid federal or state 
license or permit to catch seafood, and such marine species are brought 
to shore and sold or transferred to another party that must be a 
legally permitted or licensed seafood dealer or processed at sea and 
sold by the same legally permitted entity that harvested or processed 
the product. Any seafood that is not sold to a permitted dealer or by a 
permitted dealer if the catch is processed at sea is ineligible for 
payment. Only those species and types of seafood listed in the table in 
this document are eligible for STRP payments. Geoducks and salmon are 
the only aquaculture production with estimated trade damages of more 
than $5 million as required by STRP.
    No person or legal entity, excluding a joint venture or general 
partnership, as determined by the regulations in 7 CFR part 1400 may 
receive, directly or indirectly, more than $250,000 in payments made 
pursuant to this NOFA.
    In general, STRP applicants with an average adjusted gross income 
(AGI) of $900,000 or more are not eligible to receive an STRP payment. 
Specifically, the $900,000 average AGI limitation provisions in 7 CFR 
part 1400 relating

[[Page 56573]]

to limits on payments for persons or legal entities, excluding joint 
ventures and general partnerships, apply to each commercial fisherman 
as an applicant for STRP. The average AGI will be calculated for a 
person or legal entity based on the 3 complete tax years that precede 
the year for which the payment is made (for 2020 the tax years are 
2016, 2017, and 2018). However, if the average AGI of a person or legal 
entity is greater than $900,000, the person or entity is not eligible 
to receive a STRP payment, unless at least 75 percent of the adjusted 
gross income of the person or entity is derived from farming, ranching, 
forestry, seafood production, or related activities.
    State and local governments are not eligible.
    In general, foreign persons are not eligible for STRP payments. 
Specifically, the foreign persons rules in 7 CFR part 1400, subpart E 
apply in determining eligibility for payments made according to this 
NOFA and for purposes of application of this subpart under this NOFA, 
production of seafood will be treated as production on a farm.
    When applying, the U.S. commercial fisherman applicant will certify 
to FSA, on form CCC-916, the ownership share in pounds of the 
commercially produced seafood as reported to Federal and State 
fisheries, this includes harvested production in Territories of the 
U.S.. In order to be eligible for STRP, U.S. commercial fishermen 
operations must be in business at the time of application. Those 
commercial fishermen operations that are not in business at the time of 
application are therefore ineligible for STRP. A person or legal entity 
will be ineligible for STRP, if for a portion or all of the 2020 
calendar year, such person or legal entity either:
     Does not have an ownership interest in the production; or
     Does not have a Federal or State permit for commercial 
fishing to harvest seafood.
    Applicants must comply with the provisions of:
     This NOFA; and
     Form CCC-916 (and any required production evidence, if 
requested by FSA).

Application Process

    Each eligible commercial fisherman applies for STRP participation 
once by completing a ``2020 Seafood Trade Relief Program (STRP) 
Application'' (form CCC-916), which is available on www.farmers.gov and 
in FSA county offices. Each applicant must submit a complete form CCC-
916 either in person, by mail, email, or facsimile to an FSA county 
office. Applicants may submit form CCC-916 in any county office 
nationwide. If a producer who applies must submit additional 
documentation for eligibility, such as certifications of compliance 
with payment limitation on form CCC-902 and adjusted gross income 
provisions on form CCC-941, or proof of a commercial license, those 
additional documents and forms must be submitted no later than 60 days 
from the date the producer signs the application.
    No STRP payment will be issued until an applicant certifies, as 
applicable, the quantity of 2019 commercial production reported in 
pounds to Federal or State fisheries. The applicant must certify to the 
total commercial production by the application period deadline as 
specified in this document.

Trade Disruptions

    There remain retaliatory tariffs by China on American seafood 
exports, which continue to disrupt seafood markets. The extent of those 
disruptions can be measured by estimating the extent to which seafood 
trade can reasonably be expected to be impacted by those retaliatory 
tariffs relative to pre-tariff trade.
    The STRP rates were calculated using USDA's assessment of the 
expected trade damage using partial equilibrium trade modeling. The 
model for each commodity is based on economic theory and each employ 
modeling frameworks and parameters widely recognized and utilized in 
both the academic and trade policy communities. Based on the increased 
tariff, the models simulate the expected reduction in U.S. exports to 
the retaliatory partner market, holding other factors constant. Trade 
damages are calculated as the difference in trade with the tariff and 
the baseline (without the tariff).
    The expected trade impacts depend on several factors, including the 
tariff levels, the amount of production affected by the trade 
disruption, the sensitivity of the retaliating country's consumers to 
higher prices due to the tariffs, and the availability of substitutes 
for U.S. products. The trade model factors all of these variables and 
the damage results provide an estimate for the adjustment costs due to 
the trade disruption. The rates are determined by allocating the 
adjustment costs over the affected supply to obtain a per-unit basis.
    The methodology is similar to the approach USDA employed to 
estimate the trade damages for U.S. commodities affected by retaliatory 
tariffs to establish commodity payment rates for the Market 
Facilitation Program (MFP) and purchase targets for the Food Purchase 
and Distribution Program (FPDP). USDA provided a detailed accounting of 
how those gross damage estimates were calculated which may be found 
here:
    2018 MFP and FPDP: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA_Trade_Methodology_Report_2018.pdf.
    2019 MFP and FPDP: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA_Trade_Methodology_Report_2019.pdf.

Payment Rates and Payment Calculations

    Data on impacted seafood tariffs \1\ and global trade flows of 
seafood products in 2017 \2\ was used to estimate gross trade damages. 
Average domestic landings between 2017 and 2019 were used to determine 
payment rates per pound of eligible commodity.\3\ Commodities with 
estimated trade damages of less than $5 million were not considered.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ The average size of China's retaliatory tariff on U.S. 
seafood products is 30%.
    \2\ Trade Data Monitor.
    \3\ NOAA fisheries.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          Value of China's
                                                          imports of U.S.      Trade damage      U.S. domestic
                    Species group 1                       seafood products  (model estimates)   landings (2017-
                                                            (2017) 2 (in      (in million $)      2019) 3 (in
                                                             million $)                           million lbs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Salmon.................................................               $319               $135                840
Sole, Flounder, and Turbot.............................                185                 78                525
Pacific Cod............................................                177                 75                545
Lobsters...............................................                167                 71                142

[[Page 56574]]

 
Crabs (Dungeness, King, Snow, and Southern tanner).....                113                 48                103
Pollock................................................                 90                 38              3,368
Atka Mackerel, Sablefish, Goosefish, Pacific ocean                      80                 34                330
 perch.................................................
Squid..................................................                 76                 32                160
Tunas..................................................                 18                7.5                 59
Geoduck................................................                 15                6.4                8.4
Herrings...............................................                 14                5.9                137
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Commodities with estimated trade damages of less than $5 million were not considered.
2 Source: Trade Data Monitor.
3 Source: NOAA fisheries

    The STRP seafood payment rate is on a per pound basis as shown in 
the following table.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         Seafood                           Rate ($/lb.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Atka mackerel...........................................           $0.10
Crab -Dungeness.........................................            0.47
Crab, King..............................................            0.47
Crab, Snow..............................................            0.47
Crab, Southern Tanner...................................            0.47
Flounder................................................            0.15
Geoduck.................................................            0.76
Goosefish...............................................            0.10
Herring.................................................            0.04
Lobster.................................................            0.50
Pacific Cod.............................................            0.14
Pacific Ocean Perch.....................................            0.10
Pollock.................................................            0.01
Sablefish...............................................            0.10
Salmon..................................................            0.16
Sole....................................................            0.15
Squid...................................................            0.20
Tuna....................................................            0.13
Turbot..................................................            0.15
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Those payment rates reflect the estimated severity of the impact of 
trade disruptions to U.S. seafood caught and sold commercially, and the 
adjustment to new trade patterns for the types of seafood products 
identified in this document.
    The actual production (in pounds) used to calculate an STRP payment 
under this document is not to exceed the 2019 reported commercial 
production in which the applicant had an ownership share (greater than 
zero shares) for seafood caught in U.S. territorial waters, including 
seafood caught in EEZs as authorized by treaties between the United 
States and Canada. The STRP payment, subject to the payment limit, will 
be calculated as follows:
    Commercial Fisherman's Share of Production of Seafood Commodity (in 
pounds) x STRP Payment Rate
    For example, a commercial fisherman submits an application 
specifying cod landings for 2019 as 375,000 pounds. FSA calculates the 
payment by multiplying 375,000 x $0.14.

Production Evidence

    To apply for an STRP payment for seafood, on the application, the 
applicant commercial fisherman will certify the amount of commercial 
landings in pounds for the 2019 season. If requested by FSA, the 
commercial fisherman must also provide supporting documentation to 
provide production evidence for the amount and type of certified 
landings.
    Examples of acceptable documentation for production evidence 
include: legal commercial fishing production records that are 
determined acceptable by the FSA county committee as verified by the 
appropriate Federal or State fishery management agency.

Paperwork Reduction Act Requirements

    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35), FSA is requesting comments from interested individuals and 
organizations on the information collection activities related to STRP. 
After the 60-day period ends, the information collection request will 
be submitted to OMB for the 3-year approval to cover STRP information 
collection.
    To start the STRP information collection approval, prior to 
publishing this document, FSA received emergency approval from OMB for 
6 months. The emergency approval covers STRP information collection 
activities.
    Title: Seafood Trade Relief Program (STRP).
    OMB Control Number: 0560-New.
    Type of Request: New Collection.
    Abstract: This information collection is required to support all 
STRP information collection activities (applicable notifications 
published in the Federal Register) to provide payments to the eligible 
applicants, with respect to seafood that have been impacted by trade 
actions of foreign governments resulting in the loss of exports. The 
information collection is necessary to evaluate the application and 
other required paperwork for determining the commercial fisherman's 
eligibility and assist in commercial fisherman's payment calculations.
    To start the STRP collection approval, FSA received emergency 
approval from OMB for 6 months. The emergency approval covers this NOFA 
and any other STRP information collection activities.
    For the following estimated total annual burden on respondents, the 
formula used to calculate the total burden hour is the estimated 
average time per response multiplied by the estimated total annual 
responses.
    Public reporting burden for this information collection is 
estimated to include the time for reviewing instructions, searching 
existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed and 
completing and reviewing the collections of information.
    Type of Respondents: Commercial fishermen.
    Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 43,000.
    Estimated Number of Reponses per Respondent: 5.03.
    Estimated Total Annual Responses: 216,300.
    Estimated Average Time per Response: 0.399 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 86,308 hours.
    FSA is requesting comments on all aspects of this information 
collection to help us to:
    (1) Evaluate whether the collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the FSA, including whether 
the information will have practical utility;

[[Page 56575]]

    (2) Evaluate the accuracy of the FSA's estimate of burden including 
the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
    (3) Enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and
    (4) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.
    All comments received in response to this document, including names 
and addresses when provided, will be a matter of public record. 
Comments will be summarized and included in the submission for Office 
of Management and Budget approval.

Environmental Review

    The environmental impacts for STRP have been considered in a manner 
consistent with the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321-4347), the regulations of the Council on 
Environmental Quality (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and the FSA regulation 
for compliance with NEPA (7 CFR part 799).
    As previously stated, the intent of STRP is to provide financial 
assistance to commercial fishermen for expanding or aiding in the 
expansion of domestic markets for U.S. commercially caught and sold 
seafood, because seafood commodities have been impacted by trade 
actions of foreign governments resulting in the loss of exports. The 
limited discretionary aspects of STRP (for example, determining AGI and 
payment limitations) were designed to be consistent with established 
FSA and CCC programs, but also take into account certain differences 
associated with seafood production from crop production. These 
discretionary aspects do not have the potential to impact the human 
environment as they are administrative. Accordingly, the following 
Categorical Exclusions in 7 CFR part 799.31 apply:
     Sec.  799.31(b)(6)(iii) applies to financial assistance to 
supplement income, manage the supply of agricultural commodities, or 
influence the cost and supply of such commodities; and
     Sec.  799.31(b)(6)(iv) applies to individual farm 
participation in FSA programs where no ground disturbance or change in 
land use occurs as a result of the proposed action or participation.
    No Extraordinary Circumstances (Sec.  799.33) exist. As such, the 
implementation of STRP and the participation in STRP do not constitute 
major Federal actions that would significantly affect the quality of 
the human environment, individually or cumulatively. Therefore, CCC 
will not prepare an environmental assessment or environmental impact 
statement for this action and this document serves as documentation of 
the programmatic environmental compliance decision for this federal 
action.

Federal Assistance Programs

    The title and number of the Federal assistance programs, as found 
in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, to which this document 
applies is 10.131--Seafood Trade Relief Program.

Richard Fordyce,
Administrator, Farm Service Agency.

Robert Stephenson,
Executive Vice President, Commodity Credit Corporation.
[FR Doc. 2020-20143 Filed 9-9-20; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-05-P