[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 95 (Wednesday, May 15, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 24475-24477]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-12073]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Parts 672, 675, and 676
[Docket No. 960501122-6122-01; I.D. 042596A]
RIN 0648-AI46
Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska; Groundfish Fishery of the
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area; Limited Access Management of
Federal Fisheries Off of Alaska; Addition of the City of Akutan To the
List of Communities Eligible to Participate in the Community
Development Quota Programs (CDQ)
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 to add the city of Akutan to the list of western
Alaska communities that are eligible to participate in the CDQ
programs, to remove the authority to use scales to weigh total catch in
the pollock CDQ fishery, and to prohibit processor vessels from filling
fish holding bins above the level of the viewing port. These actions
are necessary to further the objectives of the CDQ programs.
DATES: Comments must be received at the following address by June 13,
1996.
ADDRESSES: Comments must be sent to Ronald J. Berg, Chief, Fisheries
Management Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK
99802-1668; Attn: Lori Gravel. The Environmental Assessment/Regulatory
Impact Review/Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (EA/RIR/IRFA) may
be obtained from the same address or by calling 907-586-7228.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Ham, 907-586-7228.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The domestic groundfish fisheries in the exclusive economic zone of
the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management
area (BSAI) are managed by NMFS in accordance with 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 Island Area (BSAI FMP). The FMPs were prepared by the Council
and approved by NMFS under the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and
Management Act (Magnuson Act). The FMPs are implemented by regulations
that appear at 50 CFR parts 672, 675, and 676. General regulations that
also govern the groundfish fisheries appear at 50 CFR part 620.
Beginning with the 1995 fishing season, the Pacific halibut and
sablefish fixed gear fisheries have been managed under the Individual
Fishing Quota (IFQ) program. The IFQ program is a regulatory regime
designed to promote the conservation and management of these fisheries
and to further the objectives of the Magnuson Act and the Northern
Pacific Halibut Act. Further information on the implementation of the
IFQ program, and the rationale supporting it, are contained in the
preamble to the final rule implementing the IFQ Program published in
the Federal Register, November 9, 1993 (58 FR 59375), and revised in
subsequent amendments to the program published in the Federal Register.
Information on the halibut and sablefish (H/S) CDQ program, and the
rationale supporting it, are contained in the preamble to the proposed
rule to implement the program that was published in the Federal
Register on December 3, 1992 (57 FR 57130).
The pollock CDQ program originally was developed by the Council and
submitted as part of Amendment 18 to the BSAI FMP. Amendment 18 was
approved in part by NMFS (57 FR 23321, June 3, 1992). Initial Federal
regulations implementing the pollock CDQ program became effective on
November 18, 1992 (57 FR 54936, November 23, 1992), and expired on
December 31, 1995. The Council proposed re-authorizing the pollock CDQ
program for an additional 3 years as part of Amendment 38 to the FMP,
and NMFS approved this amendment on November 28, 1995. Regulations
implementing the pollock CDQ program for 1996, 1997, and 1998, were
published on December 12, 1995 (60 FR 63654), and corrected on January
2, 1996 (61 FR 20).
The pollock and H/S CDQ programs apportion designated percentages
of the annual total allowable catch for pollock, Pacific halibut, and
fixed gear sablefish to a CDQ reserve that may be allocated to eligible
western Alaska communities. The purpose of the CDQ program is to
provide the CDQ communities with a means for starting or supporting
commercial seafood activities that will result in ongoing, regionally
based, commercial seafood or related businesses.
CDQ Eligibility for Akutan
The pollock CDQ regulations and the H/S CDQ regulations
(Sec. 675.27(d)(2) and Sec. 676.24(f)(2), respectively), list four
criteria for determining the eligibility of western Alaska communities
to participate in the CDQ programs. In 1992, NMFS determined that the
city of Akutan met the first three criteria but did not meet the fourth
criterion. The fourth criterion states that: ``the community must not
have previously developed harvesting or processing capability
sufficient to support substantial groundfish fisheries participation in
the BSAI, except if the community can show that benefits from an
approved community development plan (CDP) would be the only way to
realize a return from previous investments.''
Akutan was excluded from CDQ participation because a large
groundfish processing plant--the Trident plant--was located within
Akutan's city limits.
Despite the presence of this processing plant, the city of Akutan
apparently gains little benefit. The Council, at its September 1995,
meeting, recommended to NMFS that Akutan be added to the list of CDQ-
eligible communities. The Council took this action because the Aleutian
Pribilof Island Community Development Association, a CDQ group, put
forward evidence showing that Akutan should not be denied CDQ
eligibility because of the fourth criterion. The evidence showed that
the residents of Akutan have little economic interaction with the
Trident processing plant in Akutan due to the nature of the processing
plant's operations. The processing plant physically is detached from
the city of
[[Page 24476]]
Akutan, and the plant uses its own catcher vessels to supply the plant
with raw fish product. The processing plant was built to support the
large capacity, heavily capitalized fleet. The plant cannot usually
accept deliveries from the community's small skiff fleet because of the
relatively small volume of groundfish produced by that fleet, and
little or no local market exists for the local skiff fleet's fish.
Hence, the city of Akutan does not have access to groundfish processing
facilities that would support substantial groundfish fisheries
participation in the BSAI.
In addition to a lack of groundfish processing capability, the city
of Akutan has not developed harvesting capability. Vessels in the local
skiff fleet are too small and unsafe to participate effectively and no
small boat harbor is available for moorage. Allowing Akutan to
participate in the CDQ programs could provide a basis for the community
to develop the groundfish harvesting fleet and a boat harbor that would
enable the community to make deliveries to the existing Trident
groundfish processing plant or to develop alternative groundfish
processing facilities.
Weighing Total Catch in the Pollock CDQ Fishery
Processor vessels in the pollock CDQ fishery are required to either
provide measured, marked, and certified fish holding bins for
volumetric estimates of catch weight or to provide scales to weigh
total catch. This requirement at Sec. 675.27(h)(2)(ii)(A) and (B) was
published on May 16, 1994 (59 FR 25346), and effective August 15, 1994.
NMFS proposes to terminate the option to use scales to weigh catch
until NMFS issues regulations specifying a procedure to assure that
accurate weights are obtained from the scales.
Under the current regulations, any scale used on a processor vessel
to weigh groundfish harvested in the CDQ fisheries must measure catch
weights to at least 95-percent accuracy. However, evaluation of two
different models of flow scales during the 1995 pollock CDQ fishery and
open access pollock non-roe season indicates that, although these
scales are capable of weighing with a high degree of accuracy,
consistently accurate weighing has not yet been achieved. Observers
performed a series of scale tests by weighing approximately 800
kilograms of fish, first on a motion compensated platform scale (to
establish the ``known weight'' of the fish) and then again on the flow
scale. The accuracy of the scale, as measured by the difference between
these two weights, varied between 0 percent and 97 percent in
individual tests. This level of variability in scale performance would
not be acceptable under the current CDQ regulations or any regulations
anticipated for the BSAI pollock fishery. NMFS believes that requiring
that the scale perform to a certain level of accuracy is not adequate
to assure accurate weights. NMFS intends to implement a scale testing
and certification program that would require a processor vessel to
demonstrate that the scale was weighing accurately before the vessel
would be allowed to process fish. An advance notice of proposed
rulemaking, which outlines NMFS's proposed scale testing and
certification program, was published in the Federal Register on
February 20, 1996 (61 FR 6337). Once the scale testing and
certification program is implemented, the use of scales to weigh total
catch in the pollock CDQ fisheries may be allowed. Until such
regulations are implemented, Sec. 675.27(h)(2)(ii)(B) would be removed.
Prohibiting Vessels From Overfilling Bins
NMFS has become aware that the operators of some processor vessels
in the pollock CDQ fishery have been filling fish holding bins above
the level of the viewing port. When this happens, the NMFS-certified
observer is not able to see the marked increments on the inside of the
bins and to estimate total catch. Therefore, NMFS proposes to amend the
pollock CDQ regulations at Sec. 675.27(h)(2)(ii) to prohibit such
activity.
Classification
This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for
purposes of E.O. 12866.
NMFS prepared an initial regulatory flexibility analysis as part of
the regulatory impact review. The analysis describes the impact this
proposed rule would have on small entities if it is adopted. The
addition of Akutan to the list of eligible CDQ communities would affect
a substantial number of small entities, that is, the other 5
communities currently participating in the CDQ program. Akutan would be
expected to receive some CDQ support, and support would be reduced for
one or more of the other communities accordingly. While it is possible
that Akutan would receive only a very small allocation and the
resulting reallocations would not have a significant impact, it is more
likely that the reallocations would reduce the gross revenues of the
other 5 communities by more than 5 percent, thus having a significant
economic impact on these entities. It would be speculative to try to
predict specific allocations or impacts. The economic impact on other
communities is not a factor to be considered in determining whether a
particular community is eligible under the CDQ program. Accordingly,
there are no practical alternatives that would be available or that
could be considered to reduce or minimize the economic impact on other
communities if Akutan is added to the list of CDQ communities. Other
aspects of this proposed rule are not expected to have a significant
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
There are no reporting and recordkeeping requirements other than
those already discussed in the Paperwork Reduction Act material that
has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for approval.
There are no Federal rules that duplicate, overlap, or conflict
with this proposed rule.
There are no significant alternatives to the proposed action that
would accomplish the stated objectives.
A copy of the EA/RIR/IRFA analysis is available from NMFS (see
ADDRESSES).
List of Subjects
50 CFR Parts 672 and 675
Fisheries; Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
50 CFR Part 676
Alaska, Fisheries, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: May 8, 1996.
Gary Matlock,
Program Management Officer, National Marine Fisheries Service.
For reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR Parts 672, 675, and 676
are proposed to be amended as follows:
PART 672--GROUNDFISH OF THE GULF OF ALASKA
1. The authority citation for part 672 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
2. Table 7 to 50 CFR part 672, is amended by removing the statement
in brackets that follows the table heading and by revising the heading
of the Table and the entries under ``Aleutian Region'' to read as
follows:
Table 7 to Part 672--Communities Determined To Be Eligible To Apply for
Community Development Quotas (Other Communities That Do Not Appear on
This Table May Also Be Eligible)
Aleutian Region:
1. Atka
2. Akutan
[[Page 24477]]
3. False Pass
4. Nelson Lagoon
5. Nikolski
6. St. George
7. St. Paul
* * * * *
PART 675--GROUNDFISH OF THE BERING SEA AND ALEUTIAN ISLANDS AREA
3. The authority citation for part 675 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
4. In Sec. 675.27, the last sentence of paragraph (d)(2)(iv) and
paragraph (h)(2)(ii) introductory text are revised, paragraph
(h)(2)(ii)(A) heading and paragraph (h)(2)(ii)(B) are removed, and
paragraphs (h)(2)(ii)(A)(1) through (h)(2)(ii)(A)(5) are redesignated
as paragraphs (h)(2)(ii)(A) through (h)(2)(ii)(E), respectively, and
paragraph (h)(2)(ii)(F) is added to read as follows:
Sec. 675.27 Western Alaska Community Development Quota Program.
(applicable through December 31, 1998)
* * * * *
(d) * * *
(2) * * *
(iv) * * * The community of Unalaska is excluded under this
provision.
* * * * *
(h) * * *
(2) * * *
(ii) Each processor vessel participating in the CDQ fishery for
pollock must estimate the total weight of its groundfish catch by the
volumetric procedures specified in this paragraph.
* * * * *
(F) Fish must not be loaded into a bin used for volumetric
measurements above the level of the viewing port in the bin.
PART 676--LIMITED ACCESS MANAGEMENT OF FEDERAL FISHERIES IN AND OFF
OF ALASKA
5. The authority citation for part 676 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq. and 1801 et seq.
6. In Sec. 676.24, the last sentence of paragraph (f)(2)(iv) is
revised to read as follows:
Sec. 676.24 Western Alaska community Development Quota Program.
* * * * *
(f) * * *
(2) * * *
(iv) * * * The community of Unalaska is excluded under this
provision;
* * * * *
7. Table 1 to Sec. 676.24, is amended by revising the heading of
the Table and the entries under ``Aleutian Region'' to read as follows:
Table 1 to Sec. 676.24--Communities Determined To Be Eligible To Apply
for Community Development Quotas (Other Communities That Do Not Appear
on This Table May Also Be Eligible)
Aleutian Region:
1. Atka
2. Akutan
3. False Pass
4. Nelson Lagoon
5. Nikolski
6. St. George
7. St. Paul
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 96-12073 Filed 5-14-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-W