[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 185 (Monday, September 26, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-23754]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: September 26, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 675
[Docket No. 940958-4258; I.D. 081894A]
RIN: 0648-AG92
Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area
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 delay the opening of the first
(roe) directed fishing season for the offshore component pollock
fishery in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) management area
from January 1 to January 26 of each fishing year. This action is
necessary to achieve optimum roe quality and increase revenues from the
BSAI pollock processed by the offshore component during the roe season.
The proposed action also would prohibit vessels used to fish for BSAI
or Gulf of Alaska (GOA) groundfish or BSAI king or Tanner crab prior to
January 26 from participating in the offshore component pollock fishery
until February 5. This 10-day prohibition on entry into the offshore
component fishery would not apply to vessels used to participate in the
Community Development Quota (CDQ) program prior to January 26 and is
necessary to discourage participants in the offshore component pollock
fishery from contributing to increased fishing effort in other
fisheries prior to the start of the offshore component roe season. This
action is intended to promote the fishery management objectives of the
Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Groundfish Fishery of the BSAI.
DATES: Comments must be received by October 26, 1994.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to Ronald J. Berg, Chief, Fisheries
Management Division, Alaska Region, National Marine Fisheries Service,
P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802 (Attn: Lori Gravel). Copies of the
environmental assessment/regulatory impact review/initial regulatory
flexibility analysis (EA/RIR/IRFA) may be obtained from the
aforementioned address.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan J. Salveson, 907-586-7228.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Fishing for groundfish by vessels in the exclusive economic zone of
the BSAI is managed by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) according
to the FMP for the Groundfish Fishery of the BSAI. The FMP was prepared
by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) under the
Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act and is implemented by
regulations governing the U.S. groundfish fisheries at 50 CFR parts 620
and 675.
Current regulations authorize all BSAI trawl fisheries, including
the pollock fisheries, to start on January 20 of each year. Existing
regulations at Sec. 675.20(a)(2)(ii) also authorize the establishment
of separate pollock total allowable catch (TAC) amounts for the Bering
Sea and Aleutian Islands subareas and the Bogoslof District.
Through 1995, the pollock TACs specified for each subarea and
district initially are allocated among the Western Alaska CDQ reserve
(7.5 percent), the BSAI operational reserve (7.5 percent), and the open
access fisheries (85 percent, of which 35 percent is allocated to the
inshore component and 65 percent to the offshore component). The
portion of the TACs allocated to the inshore and offshore components is
further apportioned into two seasonal allowances. The first allowance
(roe season) is available for directed fishing from January 1, until
April 15, and the second allowance (non-roe season) is available for
directed fishing from August 15, until December 31.
The Bering Sea pollock fishery has experienced increased harvesting
and processing capacity and increased effort in recent years under the
existing open access management regime. While the TAC annually
specified for pollock in the last few years has remained fairly stable
between 1.2 and 1.3 million metric tons, the increase in harvesting and
processing capacity has led to increasing daily catch rates and reduced
season lengths for both the inshore and offshore components.
Three major factors affect the length of the pollock roe season:
Annual TAC, the amount of pollock TAC apportioned to the pollock roe
season, and amount of fishing effort. Regulations authorizing the
seasonal apportionment of pollock TACs have been effective since 1991.
In 1991 and 1992, 40 percent of the Bering Sea pollock initial TAC was
apportioned to the roe season, and 45 percent was apportioned in 1993
and 1994. Since 1991, the length of the Bering Sea pollock roe season
has decreased each year. The roe season pollock quota was harvested in
52 days in 1991 and 46 days in 1992. Effective June 1, 1992, through
December 31, 1995, pollock TACs are apportioned among the offshore
component, inshore component, and CDQ pollock fisheries. The 1993 roe
season allowance apportioned to the offshore component was harvested in
33 days. The inshore component roe fishery lasted 63 days from January
20, through March 24. However, a strike by vessels delivering onshore
delayed fishing until the first week of February. The inshore
component's roe season pollock apportionment was harvested in about 48
days. In 1994, the offshore component roe season closed on February 18
(29 days), and the inshore component roe season closed on March 2 (41
days).
Pollock roe produced from the roe season harvests represents a
substantial portion of the gross wholesale value of the pollock fishery
and roe maturity is one of the most important factors in determining
product value. Good quality mature roe receives the highest price,
followed by immature and over-mature roe. Therefore, in order to
maximize the value of roe production, industry prefers to harvest as
much roe as possible during the period of peak roe maturity and to
minimize the harvest of immature and over-mature roe. Although the
timing of peak roe maturity varies depending on the age of the fish,
the location where fish spawn, and ocean conditions, industry sources
report that the period of peak roe maturity usually occurs between
February 10 and February 20.
The pollock roe season length has shortened to the degree that some
offshore processors participating in the open access fishery believe
that the fishery closes before or during the timing of peak roe
maturity. Consequently, the value of the pollock harvest is
significantly lower than it could be if the season were delayed. This
trend likely will continue under the open access management system.
Concerns about a shortened roe season do not appear to be shared by
participants in the inshore component pollock fishery or some of the
offshore processors who also participate in the CDQ pollock fisheries,
which occur after the close of the open access fishery. Inshore
processors report that peak roe maturity generally occurs during the
first 2 weeks of February and, because the 1994 roe season extended
into early March, the fishery fully encompassed the period of peak roe
maturity. Delay of the inshore component roe season would likely
increase the harvest of pollock with lower valued, over-mature roe.
At the request of offshore component processors, the Council first
considered alternatives for delaying the pollock roe season at its June
1993 meeting. Lack of industry consensus on a preferred alternative
prevented the Council from taking action. The continued shortening of
the roe season in 1994 prompted the Council again to consider
alternative season opening dates for the pollock roe season.
At its June 1994 meeting, the Council considered the testimony and
recommendations of its Advisory Panel, Scientific and Statistical
Committee, fishing industry representatives, and the public on
alternative dates for the start of the pollock roe season. For the
reasons given below, the Council determined that delaying the offshore
component roe season opening date to January 26 would provide the most
benefit to the fishing industry and recommended that NMFS initiate
rulemaking to delay the opening of the offshore component pollock roe
season until this date.
To discourage a shift in fishing effort into other fisheries by
pollock vessels prior to January 26, the Council also recommended that
vessels used to fish for BSAI or GOA groundfish or BSAI king or Tanner
crab prior to January 26 be prohibited from participating in the
offshore component pollock fishery until February 5. This prohibition
would not apply to vessels participating in a CDQ fishery.
Section 14.3 of the FMP requires that the Council consider the
following criteria when recommending a regulatory amendment to change
season opening dates: Biological, bycatch, exvessel and wholesale
prices, product quality, safety, cost, other fisheries, coordinated
season timing, enforcement and management costs, and allocation
effects. The EA/RIR/IRFA prepared for this action addresses anticipated
effects of the proposed delay relative to these criteria. The following
discussion summarizes these effects relative to how the Council's
objectives for an offshore component roe season delay are met under the
proposed action.
Biological or bycatch effects. A delay of the roe season opening
date for the offshore component pollock fishery to January 26 would
affect neither the amount of pollock harvested during the roe season
nor the overall duration of the fishery. Although the proposed action
would result in a 6-day shift of trawl effort, significant spatial
differences in trawl effort distribution would not be expected because
the location of spawning stocks of pollock likely would not vary
significantly during this 6-day period. Similarly, a 6-day delay in the
opening date of the pollock roe season would not affect the size of
pollock taken in this fishery. When female pollock are entering a
spawning condition, their energy is going into the production of eggs
and maintenance, and not into growth.
In the BSAI, Pacific halibut, red king crab, C. bairdi Tanner crab,
and herring are prohibited species for which bycatch limits are
established and apportioned each year to the pollock and other
groundfish trawl fisheries based on Council recommendations. Pacific
salmon also are prohibited species that may not be retained in the
groundfish fisheries; however, no salmon bycatch limits currently are
established. Few data exist to suggest that the proposed change in the
pollock roe season would have any positive or negative impact on the
prohibited species bycatch amounts. Observer data indicate that an
opening date later into the season could help to reduce chinook salmon
bycatch in the trawl fisheries. However, the effects of a change of
less than 1 week for a start date are difficult to measure.
The proposed action would not have an adverse effect on marine
mammals or seabirds, because it would not increase pollock harvests or
significantly change the temporal or spatial distribution of this
harvest.
Product quality and value. The proposed delay of the offshore
component pollock roe season is intended to increase the value of the
pollock harvested during the roe season by delaying the offshore
component fishery so the season fully encompasses the period of optimum
roe maturity. This action likely would affect the roe product quality
and value experienced in the CDQ pollock fisheries.
Participants in the CDQ pollock fisheries include the Western
Alaska community groups that have been allocated pollock quota and the
processors with which they contract for the harvest and processing of
the quota. In 1993 and 1994, the roe season CDQ pollock fisheries
occurred immediately after the close of the open access roe season,
when the proportion of mature roe produced was still quite high. Under
the proposed action, CDQ harvests likely would occur between January 20
and January 26 and after the offshore component fishery closed. In
either case, if the offshore component roe season delay achieves the
primary objective of allowing this fishery to be prosecuted when
pollock roe maturity is optimum, the overall gross wholesale value of
the pollock CDQ fishery would be reduced. However, based on the volume
of pollock harvested and the number of participants in the fisheries,
an increase in the value of roe production during the offshore
component fishery (due to increased roe quality) probably would be
greater than the decrease in the value of roe production in the CDQ
fisheries.
Allocation, coordinated season timing, and impacts on other
fisheries. The proposed action is intended to discourage vessels
participating in the offshore component pollock fishery from
contributing to increased fishing effort in other fisheries prior to
the start of the offshore component roe season on January 26. Under the
proposed action, vessels used to participate in a BSAI groundfish
fishery, a GOA groundfish fishery, or the BSAI king or Tanner crab
fishery would be prevented from entering the offshore component pollock
fishery until February 5--10 days after the opening of the offshore
component roe season. The intent of this action is to encourage vessel
owners to choose between fishing for pollock or for another species,
thus minimizing any preemptive impacts on other fisheries that may
otherwise occur under the proposed delay of the pollock roe season.
Costs. Vessels used to participate in a BSAI or GOA groundfish
fishery or the BSAI king or Tanner crab fisheries prior to January 26
would be prohibited from participating in the offshore pollock fishery
before February 5. This limitation could impose costs on those vessels
that target on more than one species during the pollock roe season.
These vessels would be precluded from participating in other fisheries
prior to the roe season if they also wanted to continue their pollock
target fisheries.
If approved by NMFS, the Council's recommended action to delay the
offshore component pollock roe season would be effective only through
December 31, 1995, when regulations authorizing the allocation of
pollock between the inshore and offshore component expire. Continued
effectiveness of the proposed delay would require new rulemaking
contingent on the implementation of a separate FMP amendment that would
authorize inshore/offshore groundfish allocations beyond 1995.
Classification
NMFS prepared an IRFA as part of the RIR, which concludes that this
proposed rule, if adopted, could have significant effects on a
substantial number of small entities (i.e., small businesses, small
organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions with limited
resources). The Western Alaska community groups that have received CDQs
in the pollock fishery are considered small entities, because they are
government jurisdictions with populations less than 50,000. The
proposed action would delay the start date of the offshore pollock roe
season in the BSAI in order to increase the wholesale value of roe
production in the open access fishery. If this action is successful in
its purpose, the value of roe production in the CDQ pollock fisheries
would probably decline, thereby reducing revenue to the Western Alaska
community groups. The reduction in revenue generated from the CDQ
program could have a ``significant impact'' on these small entities by
reducing their annual gross revenues by more than 5 percent.
This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for
purposes of E.O. 12866.
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 675
Fisheries, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: September 20, 1994.
Gary Matlock,
Program Management Officer, National Marine Fisheries Service.
For the reasons set out in the preamble, part 675 is proposed to be
amended as follows:
PART 675--GROUNDFISH OF THE BERING SEA AND ALEUTIAN ISLANDS AREA
1. The authority citation for part 675 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
2. In Sec. 675.23, paragraph (e) is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 675.23 Seasons.
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(e) Directed fishing for pollock. (i) Subject to other provisions
of this part, and except as provided in paragraph (e)(ii) of this
section, directed fishing for pollock is authorized from January 1,
until noon, A.l.t., April 15, and from noon, A.l.t., August 15, through
the end of the fishing year.
(ii) Applicable through December 31, 1995. (A) Subject to other
provisions of this part and except as provided in paragraph (e)(ii)(B)
of this section, directed fishing for pollock by the offshore
component, defined at Sec. 675.2 of this part, or by vessels delivering
pollock to the offshore component, is authorized from noon, A.l.t.,
January 26, until noon, A.l.t., April 15 and from noon, A.l.t., August
15, through the end of the fishing year. Directed fishing for pollock
under the Western Alaska Community Development Quota Program pursuant
to Sec. 675.27 is authorized from January 1, through the end of the
fishing year.
(B) Directed fishing for pollock by the offshore component or
vessels delivering pollock to the offshore component is prohibited
until noon, A.l.t., February 5, for those vessels that are used to fish
prior to noon, A.l.t., January 26, for groundfish in the Bering Sea and
Aleutians management area, groundfish in the Gulf of Alaska, as defined
at Sec. 672.2 of this chapter, or king or Tanner crab in the Bering Sea
and Aleutians Area, as defined at Sec. 671.2 of this chapter.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 94-23754 Filed 9-23-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-W
