01-12217. Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Emergency Interim Rule to Revise Certain Provisions of the American Fisheries Act; Correction

AGENCY:

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

ACTION:

Emergency interim rule; correction.

SUMMARY:

This document corrects the emergency interim rule that revised certain provisions of the American Fisheries Act for implementation for the 2001 fishing year, which was published January 22, 2001.

DATES:

Effective January 18, 2001, through July 17, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Patsy A. Bearden, 907-586-7008.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

An emergency interim rule was published in the Federal Register on January 22, 2001 (66 FR 7327), to revise certain provisions of the American Fisheries Act for implementation for the 2001 fishing year.

Correction

In the emergency interim rule, § 679.7(k) was inadvertently omitted. Correct this omission at page 7330, third column, by adding instruction 2a to read as follows:

2a. Section 679.7(k) is added to read as follows:

§ 679.7

Prohibitions.

* * * * *

(k) Prohibitions specific to the AFA (applicable through July 17, 2001). It is unlawful for any person to do any of the following:

(1) Catcher/processors—(i) Permit requirement. Use a catcher/processor to engage in directed fishing for non-CDQ BSAI pollock without a valid AFA catcher/processor permit on board the vessel.

(ii) Fishing in the GOA. Use an unrestricted AFA catcher/processor to fish for any species of fish in the GOA.

(iii) Processing BSAI crab. Use an unrestricted AFA catcher/processor to process any species of crab harvested in the BSAI.

(iv) Processing GOA groundfish. Use an unrestricted AFA catcher/processor to process any groundfish harvested in Statistical Area 630 of the GOA.

(v) Directed fishing after a sideboard closure. Use an unrestricted AFA catcher/processor to engage in directed fishing for a groundfish species or species group in the BSAI after the Regional Administrator has issued an AFA catcher/processor sideboard directed fishing closure for that groundfish species or species group under § 679.20(d)(1)(iv) or § 679.21(e)(3)(v).

(vi) Catch weighing—(A) Unrestricted AFA catcher/processors. Use an unrestricted AFA catcher processor to process any groundfish that was not weighed on a NMFS-certified scale.

(B) Restricted AFA catcher processors. Use a restricted AFA catcher processor to process any pollock harvested in the BSAI directed pollock fishery that was not weighed on a NMFS-certified scale.

(2) Motherships—(i) Permit requirement. Use a mothership to process pollock harvested by an AFA catcher vessel with an inshore or mothership sector endorsement in a non-CDQ directed fishery for pollock in the BSAI without a valid AFA permit on board the vessel.

(ii) Cooperative processing endorsement. Use an AFA mothership to process groundfish harvested by a fishery cooperative formed under § 679.60 unless the AFA mothership permit contains a valid cooperative pollock processing endorsement.

(iii) Catch weighing requirement. Use an AFA mothership to process groundfish harvested in the BSAI or GOA that was not weighed on a NMFS-certified scale.

(3) Shoreside processors and stationary floating processors—(i) Permit requirement. Use a shoreside processor or stationary floating processor to process groundfish harvested in a non-CDQ directed fishery for pollock in the BSAI without a valid AFA inshore processor permit at the facility or vessel.

(ii) Cooperative processing endorsement. Use a shoreside processor or stationary floating processor required to have an AFA inshore processor permit to process groundfish harvested by a fishery cooperative formed under § 679.61 unless the AFA inshore processor permit contains a valid cooperative pollock processing endorsement.

(iii) Restricted AFA inshore processors. Use an AFA inshore processor with a restricted AFA inshore processor permit to process more than 2,000 mt round weight of non-CDQ pollock harvested in the BSAI directed pollock fishery in any one year.

(iv) Single geographic location requirement. Use an AFA inshore processor to process pollock harvested in the BSAI directed pollock fishery at a location other than the single geographic location defined as follows:

(A) Shoreside processors. The physical location at which the land-based shoreside processor first processed BSAI pollock harvested in the BSAI directed pollock fishery during a fishing year;

(B) Stationary floating processors. A location within Alaska State waters that is within 5 nm of the position in which the stationary floating processor first processed BSAI pollock harvested in the BSAI directed pollock fishery during a fishing year.

(v) Catch weighing requirement. Use an AFA inshore processor to process groundfish harvested in the BSAI or GOA that was not weighed on a scale certified by the State of Alaska.

(4) Catcher vessels. (i) Use a catcher vessel to engage in directed fishing for non-CDQ BSAI pollock for delivery to any AFA processing sector (catcher/processor, mothership, or inshore) unless the vessel has a valid AFA catcher vessel permit on board that contains an endorsement for the sector of the BSAI pollock fishery in which the vessel is participating.

(ii) Use an AFA catcher vessel to retain any BSAI crab species unless the catcher vessel's AFA permit contains a crab sideboard endorsement for that crab species.

(iii) Use an AFA catcher vessel to engage in directed fishing for a groundfish species or species group in the BSAI or GOA after the Regional Administrator has issued an AFA catcher vessel sideboard directed fishing closure for that groundfish species or species group under § 679.20(d)(1)(iv),§ 679.21(d)(8) or § 679.21(e)(3)(iv), if the vessel's AFA permit does not contain a sideboard exemption for that groundfish species or species group.

(5) AFA inshore fishery cooperatives—(i) Quota overages. Use an AFA catcher vessel listed on an AFA inshore cooperative fishing permit to harvest non-CDQ pollock in excess of the cooperative's annual allocation of pollock specified under § 679.61.

(ii) Liability. An inshore pollock cooperative is prohibited from exceeding its annual allocation of BSAI pollock TAC. The owners and operators of all vessels listed on the cooperative fishing permit are responsible for ensuring that all cooperative members comply with all applicable regulations contained in part 679. The owners and operators will be held jointly and severally liable for overages of an annual cooperative allocation, and for any other violation of these regulations committed by a member vessel of a cooperative.

(6) Crab processing limits. It is unlawful for an AFA entity that processes pollock harvested in the BSAI directed pollock fishery by an AFA inshore or AFA mothership catcher vessel cooperative to use an AFA crab facility to process crab in excess of the crab processing sideboard cap established for that AFA inshore or mothership entity under § 679.64. The owners and operators of the individual entities comprising the AFA inshore or mothership entity will be held jointly and severably liable for any overages of the AFA inshore or mothership entity's crab processing sideboard cap.

Dated: May 9, 2001.

William T. Hogarth,

Deputy Asst. Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.