Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Cost Recovery Program, 42792 [2015-17639]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 138 (Monday, July 20, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Page 42792]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-17639]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XE019


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea 
and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Cost Recovery Program

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

ACTION: Notification of fee percentage.

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SUMMARY: NMFS publishes notification of a 1.48 percent fee for cost 
recovery under the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization 
Program. This action is intended to provide holders of crab allocations 
with the fee percentage for the 2015/2016 crab fishing year so they can 
calculate the required payment for cost recovery fees that must be 
submitted by July 31, 2016.

DATES: The Crab Rationalization Program Registered Crab Receiver permit 
holder is responsible for submitting the fee liability payment to NMFS 
on or before July 31, 2016.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Keeley Kent, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    NMFS Alaska Region administers the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 
Crab Rationalization Program (Program) in the North Pacific. Fishing 
under the Program began on August 15, 2005. Regulations implementing 
the Program can be found at 50 CFR part 680.
    The Program is a limited access system authorized by section 313(j) 
of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
(Magnuson-Stevens Act). The Program includes a cost recovery provision 
to collect fees to recover the actual costs directly related to the 
management, data collection, and enforcement of the Program. NMFS 
developed the cost recovery provision to conform to statutory 
requirements and to partially reimburse the agency for the actual costs 
directly related to the management, data collection, and enforcement of 
the Program. Section 313(j) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act provided 
supplementary authority to section 304(d)(2)(A) and additional detail 
for cost recovery provisions specific to the Program. The cost recovery 
provision allows collection of 133 percent of the actual management, 
data collection, and enforcement costs up to 3 percent of the ex-vessel 
value of crab harvested under the Program. Additionally, section 313(j) 
requires the harvesting and processing sectors to each pay half the 
cost recovery fees. Catcher/processor quota shareholders are required 
to pay the full fee percentage for crab processed at sea.
    A crab allocation holder generally incurs a cost recovery fee 
liability for every pound of crab landed. The crab allocations include 
Individual Fishing Quota, Crew Individual Fishing Quota, Individual 
Processing Quota, Community Development Quota, and the Adak community 
allocation. The Registered Crab Receiver (RCR) permit holder must 
collect the fee liability from the crab allocation holder who is 
landing crab. Additionally, the RCR permit holder must collect his or 
her own fee liability for all crab delivered to the RCR. The RCR permit 
holder is responsible for submitting this payment to NMFS on or before 
July 31, in the year following the crab fishing year in which landings 
of crab were made.
    The dollar amount of the fee due is determined by multiplying the 
fee percentage (not to exceed 3 percent) by the ex-vessel value of crab 
debited from the allocation. Specific details on the Program's cost 
recovery provision may be found in the implementing regulations at 50 
CFR 680.44.

Fee Percentage

    Each year, NMFS calculates and publishes in the Federal Register 
the fee percentage according to the factors and methodology described 
in Federal regulations at Sec.  680.44(c)(2). The formula for 
determining the fee percentage is the ``direct program costs'' divided 
by ``value of the fishery,'' where ``direct program costs'' are the 
direct program costs for the Program for the previous fiscal year, and 
``value of the fishery'' is the ex-vessel value of the catch subject to 
the crab cost recovery fee liability for the current year. Fee 
collections for any given year may be less than, or greater than, the 
actual costs and fishery value for that year, because, by regulation, 
the fee percentage is established in the first quarter of a crab 
fishery year based on the fishery value and the costs of the prior 
year.
    Based upon the fee percentage formula described above, the 
estimated percentage of costs to value for the 2014/2015 fishery was 
1.48 percent. Therefore, the fee percentage will be 1.48 percent for 
the 2015/2016 crab fishing year. This is an increase of 0.83 percent 
from the 2013/2014 fee percentage of 0.65 percent (79 FR 44403, July 
31, 2014). The change in the fee percentage from 2013/2014 to 2014/2015 
is due to an increase in NMFS management costs. These additional costs 
were necessary to maintain and upgrade NMFS' permitting systems and the 
Internet-based crab landings system used for the program. The value of 
crab harvested under the Program also increased from 2013/2014 to 2014/
2015 by $29 million. This increase in value of the fishery offset some 
of the management cost increases and so limited the change in the fee 
percentage between 2013/2014 and 2014/2015.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1862; Pub. L. 109-241; Pub. L. 109-479.

    Dated: July 14, 2015.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-17639 Filed 7-17-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P