65 FR 178 pgs. 55214-55215 - Fisheries off West Coast States and in the WesternPacific; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Advance Notice ofProposed Rulemaking to Establish a Control Date
Type: PRORULEVolume: 65Number: 178Pages: 55214 - 55215
Docket number: [Docket No.; 000830248-0248-01; I.D. 080400A]
FR document: [FR Doc. 00-23536 Filed 9-12-00; 8:45am]
Agency: Commerce Department
Sub Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Official PDF Version: PDF Version
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 660
[Docket No.; 000830248-0248-01; I.D. 080400A]
RIN 0648-AN38
Fisheries off West Coast States and in the WesternPacific; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Advance Notice ofProposed Rulemaking to Establish a Control Date
AGENCY:
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION:
Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; notice of control datefor the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery; request forcomments.
SUMMARY:
The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) as authorizedby the American Fisheries Act (AFA) is considering managementmeasures to recommend to the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) toprotect the Pacific Coast groundfish fisheries from adverseimpacts caused by the AFA. This document announces a controldate of June 29, 2000; any limited entry permit on that dateowned by an owner of a vessel eligible for benefits under the AFA(AFA-qualified) and registered for use with an AFA-qualifiedvessel that does not meet minimum participation requirements thatmay be established in the future may be subject to restrictionson being registered to participate in the Pacific Coastgroundfish fisheries. Additionally, participation byAFA-qualified catcher/processors and motherships not previouslyactive in the at-sea whiting fishery may be restricted. Theintended effect of this action is to discourage speculative entryor increased effort in the Pacific Coast groundfish fisheries byentities eligible for AFA benefits and to provide notice ofpotential permit restrictions or revocation to purchasers orlessees of limited entry permits owned by AFA-qualified vesselowners and registered for use with AFA-qualified vessels.
DATES:
Comments may be submitted in writing by October 13, 2000.
ADDRESSES:
Comments may be mailed to Jim Lone, Chairman, Pacific FisheryManagement Council, 2130 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 224, Portland OR97201.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
The Pacific Fishery Management Council at 503-326-6352; orBill Robinson at 206-526-6140; or Svein Fougner at562-980-4000.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The Pacific Council which was established under section302(a)(1)(F) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation andManagement Act (16 U.S.C. 1852 (a)(1)(F) is consideringconservation and management measures to recommend to theSecretary to protect fisheries under its jurisdiction and theparticipants in those fisheries from adverse impacts caused bythe AFA (Pub.L. 105-277, Div. C, Title II, October 21, 1998, 112Stat. 2681-616; 16 U.S.C. 1851 note; 46 U.S.C. 101 note, 12102,31322; 46 App. 1274 note), or by any fishery cooperatives in theAlaska pollock fishery, as required by section 211(c)(3)(A) ofthe AFA. Section 211(b)(5) of the AFA prohibitscatcher/processors and motherships eligible under the AFA fromharvesting or processing fish in any U.S. fishery outside Alaska,except the Pacific whiting fishery, unless harvesting orprocessing by those catcher/processors and motherships isspecifically authorized under a fishery management plan. ThePacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) wasapproved on January 4, 1982 (47 FR 43964, October 5 1982), andhas been amended 11 times. Implementing regulations for the FMPand its amendments are codified at 50 CFR Part 660, subpartG.
Under the AFA, only certain vessels are eligible toparticipate in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. This eligibilityprovides greater operational flexibility in when and how thesevessels participate in the pollock fishery. Because theseAFA-qualified vessels are better able to arrange their schedules,they could potentially increase participation in other fisheries,including Pacific Coast groundfish fisheries. The concern isthat AFA-qualified vessels will use benefits gained by the AFA tomove into Pacific Coast groundfish fisheries, increase effort,and cause negative impacts on current participants. To preventany negative impact or "adverse impact", the AFAprovides the Council the opportunity to recommend managementmeasures to the Secretary to protect fisheries under itsjurisdiction and participants in those fisheries.
To harvest fish in the limited entry groundfish fisheries,vessels only need to purchase a Federal limited entry permit.Currently, no Federal permit is required to participate as amothership. Because new permit holders and motherships currentlyhave access rights that are equal to those who have open accessfishery currently have access rights that are equal to those whohave historically participated in the fishery, speculative entrymay be encouraged. Additional effort could exacerbate existingmanagement problems and erode the effectiveness of futuremeasures recommended by the Council. As a result, the Council isconsidering measures that would restrict the use of AFA-qualifiedvessels and their limited entry trawl permits in segments of thefishery in which the vessel had not been previously active, asdetermined by minimum participation requirements.
At its September 1999 meeting, the Council adopted September16, 1999, as a control date to be used in placing restrictions onparticipation in the Pacific Coast groundfish fisheries byAFA-qualified catcher vessels in the mothership and shore-basedsectors of the Pacific whiting fishery, and to all othernon-whiting groundfish fisheries in which catch is landedshoreside (64 FR 66158, November 24, 1999), At the April 2000meeting, the Council reviewed alternatives for providingprotection to Pacific Coast groundfish fisheries and itsparticipants from AFA-qualified vessels and processors thatfailed to meet minimum participation requirements in the PacificCoast groundfish fisheries. In addition, the Council consideredwhether to restrict, suspend, or void permits registered toAFA-qualified vessels if the vessels did not meet theparticipation requirements.
At its June 2000 meeting, the Council gave furtherconsideration to management measures aimed at protecting PacificCoast groundfish fishery participants from impacts caused by theAFA. The Council voted to establish a control date of June 29,2000. Any limited entry permit on that date owned by an owner ofa vessel eligible for benefits under the AFA (AFA-qualified) andregistered for use with an AFA-qualified vessel that does notmeet minimum participation requirements that may be establishedin the future, may be subject to restrictions on being registeredto participate in the Pacific Coast groundfish fisheries,similarly to restrictions imposed on the vessel.
The Council is also considering restricting futureparticipation in the whiting fishery by AFA-qualified mothershipsand catcher/processors that do not have a history in the fishery.For motherships, the criterion being considered is a certainlevel of participation in the regular whiting season in either1998 or 1999. For catcher/processors, the criterion beingconsidered is whether the catcher/processor was licensed toharvest groundfish in 1997, 1998, or 1999 through September 16,1999. No new AFA-qualified motherships or catcher processorshave entered the groundfish fishery since September of 1999.
This document notifies the public that the Council isconsidering measures to protect the Pacific Coast groundfishfisheries from adverse impacts caused by the APA. The intendedeffect of this document is to discourage speculative entry orincreased effort in the Pacific Coast groundfish fisheries byentities eligible for AFA benefits or revocation to purchasers orlessees of limited entry permits owned by AFA-qualified vesselowners and registered for use with AFA-qualified vessels on June29, 2000.
Implementation of any management measures for the fishery willrequire amendment of the regulations implementing the FMP, andmay require amending the FMP. Any action will require Councildevelopment of a regulatory proposal with public input and asupporting analysis, NMFS approval, and publication ofimplementing regulations in the Federal Register. This advance notice of proposed rulemaking has been determined tobe not significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866.
Authority:
16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. ; Pub. L. 105-277, Div.C, Title II, October 21, 1988.
Dated: September 7, 2000.
William T. Hogarth,
Deputy Assistant Administrator, National Marine FisheriesService.
[FR Doc. 00-23536 Filed 9-12-00; 8:45am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S