Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Cost Recovery Program, 43792-43793 [2019-18127]

Download as PDF 43792 Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 163 / Thursday, August 22, 2019 / Notices Fifth, a copy of this Order shall be delivered to Ali Herz and shall be published in the Federal Register. Sixth, this Order is effective immediately and shall remain in effect until October 31, 2026. Issued this 13th day of August, 2019. Karen H. Nies-Vogel, Director, Office of Exporter Services. [FR Doc. 2019–18073 Filed 8–21–19; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510–33–P DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648–XV033 New England Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. ACTION: Notice; public meeting. AGENCY: SUMMARY: The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Groundfish Advisory Panel to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Recommendations from this group will be brought to the full Council for formal consideration and action, if appropriate. DATES: This meeting will be held on Monday, September 16, 2019 at 9 a.m. ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, 100 Boardman Street, Boston, MA 02129; phone: (617) 567–6789. Council address: New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, New England Fishery Management Council; telephone: (978) 465–0492. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Agenda The Groundfish Advisory Panel will review the draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and recommend preliminary preferred alternatives, as well as discuss draft alternatives focusing on (1) 2020 total allowable catches for U.S./Canada stocks of Eastern Georges Bank (GB) cod, Eastern GB haddock, and GB yellowtail flounder and (2) revisions to the GB cod Incidental Catch TAC to remove the allocation to the Closed Area I (CAI) Haddock Special Access Program (SAP). The Advisory Panel will also discuss a draft list of possible groundfish VerDate Sep<11>2014 16:37 Aug 21, 2019 Jkt 247001 priorities for 2020 and will also receive an update on the Commercial Electronic Vessel Trip Reporting (eVTR) Omnibus Framework, which proposes to implement electronic VTRs for all vessels with commercial permits for species managed by the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils. They will also make recommendations to the Groundfish Committee, and discuss other business as necessary. Although non-emergency issues not contained in this agenda may come before this group for discussion, those issues may not be the subject of formal action during these meetings. Action will be restricted to those issues specifically listed in this notice and any issues arising after publication of this notice that require emergency action under section 305(c) of the MagnusonStevens Act, provided the public has been notified of the Council’s intent to take final action to address the emergency. Special Accommodations This meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, at (978) 465–0492, at least 5 days prior to the meeting date. This meeting will be recorded. Consistent with 16 U.S.C. 1852, a copy of the recording is available upon request. Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. Dated: August 16, 2019. Tracey L. Thompson, Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. [FR Doc. 2019–18071 Filed 8–21–19; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510–22–P DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648–XH050 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: SUMMARY: NMFS publishes notification of a 1.70 percent fee for cost recovery under the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Program. PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 This action is intended to provide holders of crab allocations with the 2019/2020 crab fishing year fee percentage so they can calculate the required cost recovery fee payment that must be submitted by July 31, 2020. DATES: The Crab Rationalization Program Registered Crab Receiver permit holder is responsible for submitting the fee liability payment to NMFS by July 31, 2020. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doug Duncan, (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 privilege program 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 be forwarded to the State of Alaska for reimbursement of its share of management and data collection costs for the Program. A crab allocation holder generally incurs a cost recovery fee liability for every pound of crab landed. Catcher vessel and processor quota shareholders split the cost recovery fees equally with each paying half, while catcher/ processor quota shareholders pay the full fee percentage for crab processed at sea. The crab allocations subject to cost recovery include Individual Fishing Quota, Crew Individual Fishing Quota, Individual Processing Quota, Community Development Quota, and the Adak community allocation. The E:\FR\FM\22AUN1.SGM 22AUN1 Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 163 / Thursday, August 22, 2019 / Notices 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 their 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 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’s value and costs in the prior year. According to the fee percentage formula described above, the estimated percentage of costs to value for the 2018/2019 fishery was 1.70 percent. Therefore, the fee percentage will be 1.70 percent for the 2019/2020 crab fishing year. This is a decrease of 0.15 percent from the 2018/2019 fee percentage of 1.85 percent (83 FR 34119, July 19, 2018). Direct program costs for managing the fishery decreased by 0.7 percent from 2017/2018 to 2018/2019, while fishery value increased 8.5 percent, resulting in the decreased fee percentage. Similar to previous years, the largest direct program costs were incurred by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement. Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1862; Pub. L. 109– 241; Pub. L. 109–479. VerDate Sep<11>2014 16:37 Aug 21, 2019 Jkt 247001 Dated: August 15, 2019. Alan D. Risenhoover, Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. [FR Doc. 2019–18127 Filed 8–21–19; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510–22–P DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648–XV034 New England Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. ACTION: Notice; public meeting. AGENCY: 43793 species managed by the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils. The committee will also review Groundfish Plan Development Team, Groundfish Advisory Panel, and Transboundary Management Guidance Committee recommendations and make recommendations to the Council, and discuss other business as necessary. A Closed Session will be held for Committee members only to review the Recreation Advisory Panel and Groundfish Advisory Panel applications for 2020–22 and provide recommendations. Although non-emergency issues not contained in this agenda may come before this group for discussion, those issues may not be the subject of formal action during these meetings. Action will be restricted to those issues specifically listed in this notice and any issues arising after publication of this notice that require emergency action under section 305(c) of the MagnusonStevens Act, provided the public has been notified of the Council’s intent to take final action to address the emergency. SUMMARY: The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Groundfish Committee to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Recommendations from this group will be brought to the full Council for formal consideration and action, if appropriate. DATES: This meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 17, 2019 at 9 a.m. ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, 100 Boardman Street, Boston, MA 02129; phone: (617) 567–6789. Council address: New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, New England Fishery Management Council; telephone: (978) 465–0492. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Dated: August 16, 2019. Tracey L. Thompson, Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. Agenda [FR Doc. 2019–18072 Filed 8–21–19; 8:45 am] The committee will review the draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and recommend preliminary preferred alternatives, as well as discuss draft alternatives focusing on (1) 2020 total allowable catches for U.S./Canada stocks of Eastern Georges Bank (GB) cod, Eastern GB haddock, and GB yellowtail flounder and (2) revisions to the GB cod Incidental Catch TAC to remove the allocation to the Closed Area I (CAI) Haddock Special Access Program (SAP). The committee will also discuss a draft list of possible groundfish priorities for 2020 and will also receive an update on the Commercial Electronic Vessel Trip Reporting (eVTR) Omnibus Framework, which proposes to implement electronic VTRs for all vessels with commercial permits for BILLING CODE 3510–22–P PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 Special Accommodations This meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, at (978) 465–0492, at least 5 days prior to the meeting date. This meeting will be recorded. Consistent with 16 U.S.C. 1852, a copy of the recording is available upon request. Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648–XR022 Marine Mammals; File No. 22884 National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. ACTION: Notice; receipt of application. AGENCY: SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that Mark Baumgartner, Ph.D., Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MS No. 33, Biology Department, Woods Hole, MA E:\FR\FM\22AUN1.SGM 22AUN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 163 (Thursday, August 22, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43792-43793]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-18127]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XH050


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 1.70 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 2019/2020 crab fishing year fee percentage so they can 
calculate the required cost recovery fee payment that must be submitted 
by July 31, 2020.

DATES: The Crab Rationalization Program Registered Crab Receiver permit 
holder is responsible for submitting the fee liability payment to NMFS 
by July 31, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doug Duncan, (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 privilege program 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 be forwarded to the 
State of Alaska for reimbursement of its share of management and data 
collection costs for the Program.
    A crab allocation holder generally incurs a cost recovery fee 
liability for every pound of crab landed. Catcher vessel and processor 
quota shareholders split the cost recovery fees equally with each 
paying half, while catcher/processor quota shareholders pay the full 
fee percentage for crab processed at sea. The crab allocations subject 
to cost recovery include Individual Fishing Quota, Crew Individual 
Fishing Quota, Individual Processing Quota, Community Development 
Quota, and the Adak community allocation. The

[[Page 43793]]

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 their 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 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's value 
and costs in the prior year.
    According to the fee percentage formula described above, the 
estimated percentage of costs to value for the 2018/2019 fishery was 
1.70 percent. Therefore, the fee percentage will be 1.70 percent for 
the 2019/2020 crab fishing year. This is a decrease of 0.15 percent 
from the 2018/2019 fee percentage of 1.85 percent (83 FR 34119, July 
19, 2018). Direct program costs for managing the fishery decreased by 
0.7 percent from 2017/2018 to 2018/2019, while fishery value increased 
8.5 percent, resulting in the decreased fee percentage. Similar to 
previous years, the largest direct program costs were incurred by the 
Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the NOAA Office of Law 
Enforcement.

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

    Dated: August 15, 2019.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-18127 Filed 8-21-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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