[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 139 (Tuesday, July 21, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 39065-39067]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-19334]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 679
[Docket No. 980702167-8167-01; I.D. 051898A]
RIN 0648-AK73
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Stand Down
Requirements for Trawl Catcher Vessels Transiting Between the Bering
Sea and Gulf of Alaska
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS proposes regulations to implement a stand down
requirement for trawl catcher vessels transiting between the Bering Sea
and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI) and Gulf of Alaska (GOA).
This action is necessary to prevent unexpected shifts of fishing effort
between BSAI and GOA fisheries that cause management problems and can
lead to overharvests of total allowable catch (TAC) in the Western and
Central (W/C) Regulatory Areas of the GOA. This action is intended to
further the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for
Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska and the Fishery Management Plan for
the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area
(FMPs).
DATES: Comments on the proposed rule must be received no later than
August 20, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional
Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box
21668, Juneau, AK 99802, Attn: Lori J. Gravel, or delivered to the
Federal Building, 709 West 9th Street, Juneau, AK. Copies of the
Environmental Assessment/Regulatory Impact Review/Initial Regulatory
Flexibility Analysis (EA/RIR/IRFA) prepared for this action are
available from NMFS at the same address, or by calling the Alaska
Region, NMFS, at 907-586-7228.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kent Lind, 907-586-7228 or
kent.lind@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The groundfish fisheries off Alaska are
managed by NMFS under the FMPs. The FMPs were prepared by the North
Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) under the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). Federal
regulations governing the groundfish fisheries appear at 50 CFR parts
600 and 679.
Background and Need for Action
In recent years, management of the inshore pollock and Pacific cod
fisheries of the W/C Regulatory Areas of the GOA has become
increasingly difficult and the risk of harvest overruns has grown due
to TAC amounts that are small relative to the potential fishing effort.
The problem has been most acute in the Western Regulatory Area of the
GOA due to the constant potential that numerous large catcher vessels
based in the Bering Sea could cross into the GOA
[[Page 39066]]
to participate in pollock and Pacific cod openings that have relatively
small TACs. NMFS currently lacks a preseason vessel registration
program that could gauge potential effort in these fisheries prior to
openings, and inseason catch information in these fisheries is neither
timely nor accurate enough to allow adequate management.
The difficulty of managing the pollock fishery in the Western
Regulatory Area was demonstrated in 1997 during the September 1 third
season opening. On September 4, 1997, NMFS announced a closure of the
fishery effective September 7, 1997, based on the observed level of
effort in the Western Regulatory Area. Once the closure date was
announced, a large number of Bering Sea-based vessels entered the GOA
to participate in the final 2 days of the fishery. NMFS inseason
managers did not anticipate this increase in effort because the Bering
Sea pollock fishery was still open at that time and NMFS expected that
Bering Sea-based vessels would continue to fish in the Bering Sea.
Nevertheless, these Bering Sea-based vessels harvested approximately
7,000 mt of pollock from the Western Regulatory Area in the final 2
days of the fishery. As a consequence of this unanticipated effort, the
1997 annual TAC of 18,600 mt for this area was exceeded by 8,017 mt or
43 percent of the total.
In response to the difficulties associated with managing the
pollock and Pacific cod fisheries of the W/C Regulatory Areas, the
Council has developed two distinct management solutions. The first
program, adopted by the Council at its February 1998 meeting and
contained in this proposed rule, is a stand down requirement for
inshore trawl catcher vessels transiting between the BSAI and GOA. The
second management program, currently under development by NMFS and the
Council, is a vessel registration program that would require vessels to
register with NMFS in advance of entering certain critical fisheries.
Both of these programs are described in detail in the EA/RIR prepared
for this action.
Elements of the Proposed Rule
This proposed rule would impose a stand down requirement for all
trawl catcher vessels transiting between the BSAI and GOA FMP
management areas that would be in effect when the pollock or Pacific
cod fisheries are open in the BSAI or GOA. Vessels leaving the BSAI
would be required to offload all fish caught in the BSAI and would be
prohibited from deploying trawl gear in the W/C Regulatory Areas of the
GOA until 1200 hours A.l.t. on the third day after the date that
offloading was completed. Vessels transiting from the Western
Regulatory Area to the BSAI would be subject to the same 3-day stand
down requirement. However, vessels transiting between the Central
Regulatory Area and the BSAI would face a 2-day stand down period. The
Council believed that a shorter stand down period for vessels
transiting between the Central Regulatory Area and the BSAI was
warranted because the Central Regulatory Area is farther from the BSAI
and less subject to rapid shifts of effort back and forth from BSAI
fisheries.
The purpose of requiring vessels to offload all fish caught in one
area before deploying gear in the new area is to aid enforcement
officers in determining whether a violation of the stand down
requirement has occurred. If vessels were allowed to retain fish on
board the vessel while transiting to a new area, enforcement officers
boarding a vessel would have no means of determining whether the fish
on board the vessel were caught in the previous area, or caught in the
new area in violation of the stand down requirement. Requiring vessels
to empty their holds before beginning the stand down period would
eliminate this enforcement difficulty.
Classification
This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for
the purposes of E.O. 12866.
NMFS has prepared an initial regulatory flexibility analysis that
consists of the EA/RIR and the preamble to this proposed rule. A copy
of the EA/RIR is available from NMFS (see ADDRESSES).
The proposed stand down requirement would affect an estimated 275
trawl catcher vessels fishing for groundfish in the GOA and BSAI, all
of which are considered small entities, because it would restrict their
ability to make rapid transits between the BSAI and GOA groundfish
fisheries. Managing pollock and Pacific cod fisheries in the GOA has
been increasingly difficult because of the potential for large catcher
vessels based in the BSAI to participate in pollock and Pacific cod
openings in the GOA that have relatively small TACs and risk harvest
overruns. Ten to 15 catcher vessels, believed to be based in the BSAI,
made rapid transits from one area to another in 1997. NMFS cannot
calculate how many such vessels might transit in 1998 but it is
possible that more than 10-15 catcher vessels could participate in GOA
pollock and Pacific cod fisheries and risk harvest overruns. NMFS
projects that the proposed restriction could result in the foregone
harvest of pollock to BSAI-based catcher vessels, which could exceed
the estimated 7,663 mt of pollock harvested in 1997 by these vessels.
NMFS cannot calculate this proposed rule's effect on the affected
vessels, but it is possible that it could result in losses of 5 percent
or more of these vessels' gross revenues and/or increase the costs of
production by more than 5 percent. No entities are expected to be
forced out of business as a result of this action. As such, based on
NMFS threshold guidelines, this action could result in a significant
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
This proposed rule would not result in any new reporting
requirements and does not duplicate, overlap with, or conflict with any
other Federal rules.
Alternatives to the proposed stand down requirement include no
action, variations on the length or applicability of the stand down
requirement, or establishing a vessel registration program. The no
action alternative would preserve the possibility of distributional
impacts resulting from the BSAI-based fleet taking some of the TAC that
would otherwise be harvested by the GOA-based fleet. This alternative's
risks to the long-term health of the stock, due to the potential for
continued overharvests, could lead to negative economic impacts in
future years.
The Council considered a range of variations on the length and
applicability of the stand down requirement. The options that would
have applied the requirements either to all groundfish vessels, or all
trawl vessels were rejected because the objective of preventing
overharvests could be achieved through a less restrictive option that
applied the stand down requirement only to trawl catcher vessels. The
options that would have applied the stand down requirements to all
target fisheries was selected over the option that would have applied
only to the pollock and Pacific cod fisheries due to potential
conflicts with the increased retention/improved utilization program and
the difficulties of enforcing a more narrowly tailored rule. Reducing
the length of the stand down period for the Western Regulatory Area
from 72 to 48 hours may have marginally reduced some of the impacts on
small entities and still reduced the number of rapid transits. However,
this alternative would not have alleviated the impacts of the
offloading requirement and could have resulted in enforcement
difficulties. There were also several options concerning when the stand
down period should begin: from the time of gear retrieval in one area,
from
[[Page 39067]]
noon on the date of landing fish, or from the actual time and date of
the delivery of fish. Beginning the period at the time of retrieval of
gear could have reduced impacts associated with delay on small
entities. This approach would have relied on log book data, and vessels
under 60 feet LOA are not required to maintain logbooks. However, NMFS
does not believe that many of these small catcher vessels make rapid
transits. Beginning the period at the time of actual delivery would
have imposed a new record keeping and reporting requirement, and would
have entailed a Paperwork Reduction Act clearance process that would
have precluded implementing this action prior to 1999.
A vessel registration system, which would require vessels to pre-
register for the areas in which they would be fishing, would resolve
NMFS's management problems with the relatively minor impact of reduced
flexibility for the fishing fleets. In some cases this option would
impose costs on vessels that realize mid-course they would prefer to
fish in another area, but it would improve the predictability of the
fishing season and allow fishers to plan more effectively. The council
has recommended developing this alternative and implementing it at a
later date.
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679
Alaska, Fisheries, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: July 14, 1998.
David L. Evans,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 679 is
proposed to be amended as follows:
PART 679--FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA
1. The authority citation for part 679 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., 773 et seq., and 3631 et seq.
2. In Sec. 679.23 a new paragraph (h) is added to read as follows:
Sec. 679.23 Seasons.
* * * * *
(h) Stand down requirements for catcher vessels transiting between
the BSAI and GOA.
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If you own or operate a catcher vesssel You are prohibited from
and fish for groundfish with trawl gear subsequently deploying trawl Until * * *
in the * * * gear in the * * *
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(1) BSAI while pollock or Pacific cod is Western and Central 1200 hours A.l.t. on the third day
open to directed fishing in the BSAI. Regulatory Areas of the GOA. after the date of landing or transfer
of all groundfish on board the vessel
harvested in the BSAI, unless you are
engaged in directed fishing for
Pacific cod in the GOA for processing
by the offshore component.
(2) Western Regulatory Area of the GOA BSAI......................... 1200 hours A.l.t. on the third day
while pollock or inshore Pacific cod is after the date of landing or transfer
open to directed fishing in the Western of all groundfish on board the vessel
Regulatory Area of the GOA. harvested in the Western Regulatory
Area of the GOA.
(3) Central Regulatory Area of the GOA BSAI......................... 1200 hours A.l.t. on the second day
while pollock or inshore Pacific cod is after the date of landing or transfer
open to directed fishing in the Central of all groundfish on board the vessel
Regulatory Area of the GOA. harvested in the Central Regulatory
Area of the GOA.
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[FR Doc. 98-19334 Filed 7-20-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
