Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Cost Recovery Program, 32329-32330 [2017-14720]
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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 133 / Thursday, July 13, 2017 / Notices
to the Chief, Permits and Conservation
Division at the address listed above. The
request should set forth the specific
reasons why a hearing on this
application would be appropriate.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Shasta McClenahan or Carrie Hubard,
(301) 427–8401.
The
subject permit is requested under the
authority of the Marine Mammal
Protection Act of 1972, as amended
(MMPA; 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), the
regulations governing the taking and
importing of marine mammals (50 CFR
part 216), the Endangered Species Act of
1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531
et seq.), and the regulations governing
the taking, importing, and exporting of
endangered and threatened species (50
CFR parts 222–226).
The applicant requests a 5-year permit
to take marine mammals for research in
the Atlantic Ocean and off the west
coast of Florida during vessel and
manned and unmanned aerial surveys.
The objectives of the research are to
continue North Atlantic right whale
(NARW; Eubalaena glacialis)
population monitoring efforts,
identifying and reducing human causes
of mortality and serious injury,
monitoring and protecting NARW
habitat, and helping to implement the
NARW Recovery Plan. Up to 500
endangered NARWs, and 50 non-listed
humpback whales (Megaptera
novaeangliae) may be targeted annually
for research activities including counts,
behavioral observations, photography,
photo-identification, photogrammetry,
video recording, and passive acoustic
recording. Biological samples, including
sloughed skin, fecal, breath, and skin
and blubber biopsies, may be collected
from 95 NARW adults or juveniles and
60 NARW calves annually, and these
samples may be exported and reimported for analysis. Up to 15 NARWs
may be tagged each year with either
traditional dart/barb tags or suction-cup
tags. Additional marine mammals that
may be harassed incidental to research
include up to 50 each of endangered sei
whales (Balaenoptera borealis) and nonlisted long-finned pilot whales
(Globicephala melas), and 500 each of
Atlantic white-sided (Lagenorhynchus
acutus), Atlantic spotted (Stenella
frontalis), and bottlenose (Tursiops
truncatus) dolphins, annually.
In compliance with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), an initial
determination has been made that the
activity proposed is categorically
excluded from the requirement to
sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:41 Jul 12, 2017
Jkt 241001
prepare an environmental assessment or
environmental impact statement.
Concurrent with the publication of
this notice in the Federal Register,
NMFS is forwarding copies of the
application to the Marine Mammal
Commission and its Committee of
Scientific Advisors.
Dated: July 7, 2017.
Catherine Marzin,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Protected
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017–14635 Filed 7–12–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
RIN 0648–XF514
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic
Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea and
Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization
Cost Recovery Program
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notification of fee percentage.
AGENCY:
NMFS publishes notification
of a 1.57 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 2017/2018 crab
fishing year so they can calculate the
required payment for cost recovery fees
that must be submitted by July 31, 2018.
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, 2018.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suja
Hall, 907–586–7228.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:
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
PO 00000
Frm 00014
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
32329
collection, and enforcement of the
Program. The Program implemented
under the authority of section 313(j) is
consistent with the cost recovery
provisions included under section
304(d)(2)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens
Act. NMFS developed the cost recovery
provision to conform to statutory
requirements and to reimburse the
agency for the actual costs directly
related to the management, data
collection, and enforcement of 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. The Program provides that
a proportional share of fees charged for
management and enforcement be
forwarded to the State of Alaska for its
share of management and data
collection costs for the Program. The
cost recovery provision also 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 at § 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
E:\FR\FM\13JYN1.SGM
13JYN1
32330
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 133 / Thursday, July 13, 2017 / Notices
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
2016/2017 fishery was 1.57 percent.
Therefore, the fee percentage will be
1.57 percent for the 2017/2018 crab
fishing year. This is a decrease of 0.03
percent from the 2016/2017 fee
percentage of 1.60 percent (81 FR 45458;
July 14, 2016). The change in the fee
percentage from 2016/2017 to 2017/
2018 is due to decreases in direct
program costs incurred by the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game and the
NOAA Office of Law Enforcement.
These reduced costs were due to minor
decreases in personnel, training, and
supplies related to managing the
Program in the 2016/2017 crab fishing
year. Additionally, the value of crab
harvested under the Program decreased
by $39.7 million. The decrease in the
value of the fishery offset the decreases
in direct program costs and limited the
change in the fee percentage from 2016/
2017 to 2017/2018.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1862; Pub. L. 109–
241; Pub. L. 109–479.
Dated: July 10, 2017.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017–14720 Filed 7–12–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
RIN 0648–XF119
Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to
Specified Activities; Taking Marine
Mammals Incidental to Site
Characterization Surveys off the Coast
of New York
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; issuance of an incidental
harassment authorization.
sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
AGENCY:
In accordance with the
regulations implementing the Marine
Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:41 Jul 12, 2017
Jkt 241001
amended, notification is hereby given
that NMFS has issued an incidental
harassment authorization (IHA) to
Deepwater Wind, LLC, (DWW) to
incidentally harass, by Level B
harassment only, marine mammals
during high-resolution geophysical
(HRG) and geotechnical survey
investigations associated with marine
site characterization activities off the
coast of New York in the area of the
Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands
for Renewable Energy Development on
the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS–A
0486) (Lease Area) and along potential
submarine cable routes to a landfall
location in Easthampton, New York
(‘‘Submarine Cable Corridor’’)
(collectively the Lease Area and
Submarine Cable Corridor are the
Project Area).
DATES: This Authorization is effective
from June 16, 2017 through June 15,
2018.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Laura McCue, Office of Protected
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427–8401.
Electronic copies of the applications
and supporting documents, as well as a
list of the references cited in this
document, may be obtained by visiting
the Internet at: www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/
permits/incidental/energy_other.htm. In
case of problems accessing these
documents, please call the contact listed
above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the
MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) direct
the Secretary of Commerce to allow,
upon request, the incidental, but not
intentional, taking of small numbers of
marine mammals by U.S. citizens who
engage in a specified activity (other than
commercial fishing) within a specified
geographical region if certain findings
are made and either regulations are
issued or, if the taking is limited to
harassment, a notice of a proposed
authorization is provided to the public
for review.
An authorization for incidental
takings shall be granted if NMFS finds
that the taking will have a negligible
impact on the species or stock(s), will
not have an unmitigable adverse impact
on the availability of the species or
stock(s) for subsistence uses (where
relevant), and if the permissible
methods of taking and requirements
pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring
and reporting of such takings are set
forth.
NMFS has defined ‘‘negligible
impact’’ in 50 CFR 216.103 as an impact
resulting from the specified activity that
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Frm 00015
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
cannot be reasonably expected to, and is
not reasonably likely to, we adversely
affect the species or stock through
effects on annual rates of recruitment or
survival.
The MMPA states that the term ‘‘take’’
means to harass, hunt, capture, kill or
attempt to harass, hunt, capture, or kill
any marine mammal.
Except with respect to certain
activities not pertinent here, the MMPA
defines ‘‘harassment’’ as: Any act of
pursuit, torment, or annoyance which (i)
has the potential to injure a marine
mammal or marine mammal stock in the
wild (Level A harassment); or (ii) has
the potential to disturb a marine
mammal or marine mammal stock in the
wild by causing disruption of behavioral
patterns, including, but not limited to,
migration, breathing, nursing, breeding,
feeding, or sheltering (Level B
harassment).
National Environmental Policy Act
To comply with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969
(NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and
NOAA Administrative Order (NAO)
216–6A, NMFS must review our
proposed action (i.e., the issuance of an
incidental harassment authorization)
with respect to potential impacts on the
human environment. Accordingly,
NMFS prepared an Environmental
Assessment (EA) to consider the
environmental impacts associated with
the issuance of the IHA.
NMFS’ EA will be made available at
www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/
incidental/other_energy.htm at the time
of the publication of this Federal
Register notice.
Summary of Request
On December 1, 2016, NMFS received
application request from DWW for an
IHA to take marine mammals incidental
to 2017 geophysical survey
investigations in the area of the
Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands
for Renewable Energy Development on
the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) lease
area #OCS–A–0486 Lease Area and
along potential submarine cable routes
to a landfall location in Easthampton,
New York (Project Area) designated and
offered by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management (BOEM), to support
the development of an offshore wind
project. DWW’s request was for take of
18 species of marine mammals by Level
B harassment of a small number of 18
species and take by Level A harassment
of 3 species. Neither DWW nor NMFS
expects mortality to result from this
activity; and therefore, an IHA is
appropriate. NMFS determined that the
E:\FR\FM\13JYN1.SGM
13JYN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 133 (Thursday, July 13, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32329-32330]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-14720]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XF514
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: NMFS publishes notification of a 1.57 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 2017/2018 crab fishing year so they can
calculate the required payment for cost recovery fees that must be
submitted by July 31, 2018.
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, 2018.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suja Hall, 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. The
Program implemented under the authority of section 313(j) is consistent
with the cost recovery provisions included under section 304(d)(2)(A)
of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. NMFS developed the cost recovery provision
to conform to statutory requirements and to reimburse the agency for
the actual costs directly related to the management, data collection,
and enforcement of 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. The Program provides that a proportional
share of fees charged for management and enforcement be forwarded to
the State of Alaska for its share of management and data collection
costs for the Program. The cost recovery provision also 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
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
[[Page 32330]]
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 2016/2017 fishery was
1.57 percent. Therefore, the fee percentage will be 1.57 percent for
the 2017/2018 crab fishing year. This is a decrease of 0.03 percent
from the 2016/2017 fee percentage of 1.60 percent (81 FR 45458; July
14, 2016). The change in the fee percentage from 2016/2017 to 2017/2018
is due to decreases in direct program costs incurred by the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game and the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement.
These reduced costs were due to minor decreases in personnel, training,
and supplies related to managing the Program in the 2016/2017 crab
fishing year. Additionally, the value of crab harvested under the
Program decreased by $39.7 million. The decrease in the value of the
fishery offset the decreases in direct program costs and limited the
change in the fee percentage from 2016/2017 to 2017/2018.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1862; Pub. L. 109-241; Pub. L. 109-479.
Dated: July 10, 2017.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-14720 Filed 7-12-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
