Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area; Amendment 106, 31914-31915 [2014-12829]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 106 (Tuesday, June 3, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 31914-31915]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-12829]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

RIN 0648-BD35


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea 
and Aleutian Islands Management Area; Amendment 106

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

ACTION: Notice of availability of amendment to fishery management plan; 
request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has 
submitted Amendment 106 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish 
of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP) to the 
Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) for review. Amendment 106 to the FMP 
would allow the owner of an AFA vessel to rebuild or replace that 
vessel and would allow the owners of AFA catcher vessels that are 
inactive or obsolete to remove those vessels from the AFA fishery. This 
action is necessary to bring the FMP into conformity with the AFA as 
amended by the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 (Coast Guard Act), 
and to improve vessel safety and operational efficiency in the AFA 
fleet. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of 
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the AFA, 
the FMP, and other applicable laws.

DATES: Submit comments on or before August 4, 2014.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2013-0097, 
by any one of the following methods:
     Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking portal. Go to 
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2013-0097, click the 
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or 
attach your comments.
     Mail: Address written comments to Glenn Merrill, Assistant 
Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region 
NMFS, Attn: Ellen Sebastian. Mail comments to P. O. Box 21668, Juneau, 
AK 99802.
    Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other 
address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, 
may not be considered. All comments received are a part of the public 
record and will generally be posted for public viewing on https://www.regulations.gov without change. All Personal Identifying 
Information (for example, name, address) voluntarily submitted by the 
commenter will be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential 
Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information. 
NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required fields, 
if you wish to remain anonymous). Attachments to electronic comments 
will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF 
file formats only.
    Copies of Amendment 106, the Regulatory Impact Review/Initial 
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis prepared for this action, and the 
Categorical Exclusion prepared for this action may be obtained from 
https://www.regulations.gov or from the Alaska Region Web site at https://www.alaskafisheries/noaa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Alice McKeen, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act in section 304(a) 
requires that each regional fishery management council submit an 
amendment to a fishery management plan for review and approval, 
disapproval, or partial approval by the Secretary. The Magnuson-Stevens 
Act in section 304(a) also requires that the Secretary, upon receiving 
an amendment to a fishery management plan, immediately publish a notice 
in the Federal Register announcing that the amendment is available for 
public review and comment. The Council has submitted Amendment 106 to 
the FMP to the Secretary for review. This notice announces that 
proposed Amendment 106 to the FMP is available for public review and 
comment.
    The FMP contains a number of provisions related to requirements of 
the AFA. Congress adopted the AFA in 1998 as part of the Omnibus 
Appropriations Bill FY 99 (Pub. L. 105-277). The AFA as originally 
adopted allowed the owners of AFA vessels to replace AFA vessels under 
certain limited circumstances. The President signed the AFA into law on 
October 21, 1998. In 2010, Congress amended the AFA in section 602 of 
the Coast Guard Act to significantly expand the ability of AFA vessel 
owners to rebuild or replace AFA vessels. The President signed the 
Coast Guard Act into law on October 15, 2010. The original AFA and the 
AFA amendments in the Coast Guard Act are available on the NMFS Alaska 
Region Web site at: https://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/afa/afa1998.pdf; https://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/afa/afa_amendments2010.pdf, respectively.
    Amendment 106 to the FMP would bring the FMP into conformity with 
the AFA as amended by the Coast Guard Act. Under the amended AFA and 
proposed Amendment 106, the owner of an AFA vessel may rebuild or 
replace that vessel with a vessel documented with a fishery endorsement 
under 46 U.S.C. 12113 in order to improve vessel safety or improve 
operational efficiency, including fuel efficiency, with no limitation 
on the length, weight, or horsepower of the AFA rebuilt or AFA 
replacement vessel. An AFA rebuilt or AFA replacement vessel would be 
eligible to operate in the fisheries in the Exclusive Economic Zone off 
Alaska in the same manner as the vessel before rebuilding or before 
replacement. For example, if an AFA vessel before rebuilding or 
replacement was exempt from certain harvest limitations that apply to 
AFA vessels, commonly referred to as sideboards, the AFA rebuilt or 
replacement vessel would have the same sideboard exemption or 
exemptions.
    Under current provisions of the FMP, all AFA vessels must have a 
License Limitation Program (LLP) groundfish license with a Bering Sea 
endorsement to conduct directed fishing for pollock in the Bering Sea. 
Amendment 106 would not change that requirement. All AFA vessels would 
still be required to have an LLP groundfish license with a Bering Sea 
endorsement to conduct directed fishing for pollock in the Bering Sea. 
However, Amendment 106 would change the FMP to allow an AFA rebuilt 
vessel and an AFA replacement vessel to exceed without limitation the 
maximum length overall (MLOA) specified on the vessel's LLP groundfish 
license when the vessel is fishing for groundfish in the Bering Sea and 
Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) pursuant to that LLP license.
    Amendment 106 would only amend the BSAI groundfish FMP. Amendment 
106 would not change the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the 
Gulf of Alaska (GOA). Under that fishery management plan and 
regulations implementing it, if the owner of an AFA vessel wishes to 
fish for LLP groundfish in the Gulf of Alaska, the AFA vessel must be 
named

[[Page 31915]]

on an LLP groundfish license with the appropriate area endorsement for 
the Gulf of Alaska and must not exceed the MLOA specified on that LLP 
license when fishing for LLP groundfish in the Gulf of Alaska pursuant 
to that LLP license. Amendment 106 does not remove AFA rebuilt or AFA 
replacement vessels from the MLOA requirement when those vessels 
operate in the GOA.
    Amendment 106 also would allow an owner of an AFA catcher vessels 
that is a member of an inshore cooperative to remove the vessel from 
the cooperative and direct NMFS to assign the pollock catch history of 
the removed vessel to any other vessel or vessels in the same AFA 
cooperative. The vessel or vessels that would be assigned the catch 
history would be required to remain in the cooperative for at least one 
year after NMFS assigned the catch history to them. Except for the 
assignment of the pollock catch history, NMFS would permanently 
extinguish all claims, including those related to catch history, 
associated with the removed vessel that could have qualified the owner 
of the removed vessel for any permit to participate in any fishery 
within the EEZ off Alaska. If the removed vessel was exempt from a 
sideboard harvest limitation, NMFS would permanently extinguish that 
exemption.
    Under Amendment 106, a vessel that is replaced or removed would be 
permanently ineligible for any permits to participate in any fishery in 
the Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska, unless the replaced or removed 
vessel reenters the directed pollock fishery as an AFA replacement 
vessel.
    NMFS notes that the AFA as amended by the Coast Guard Act has 
provisions on the issuance of Federal fishery endorsements. The United 
States Coast Guard, in conjunction with the Maritime Administration, 
will implement those provisions.
    NMFS is soliciting public comments on proposed Amendment 106 
through the end of the comment period (see the DATES section above). 
NMFS intends to publish in the Federal Register and seek public comment 
on a proposed rule that would implement Amendment 106, following NMFS' 
evaluation of the proposed rule under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act. All comments received by the end of 
the comment period on Amendment 106, whether specifically directed to 
the FMP amendment or the proposed rule, will be considered in the 
approval/disapproval decision on Amendment 106. Comments received after 
that date may not be considered in the approval/disapproval decision on 
Amendment 106. To be certain of consideration, comments must be 
received, not just postmarked or otherwise transmitted, by the last day 
of the comment period.

    Authority:  16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: May 29, 2014.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2014-12829 Filed 6-2-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P