[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 22, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3647-3649]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-00949]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XY060]
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish
of the Gulf of Alaska; Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Program
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
[[Page 3648]]
ACTION: Notification of standard prices and fee percentage.
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SUMMARY: NMFS publishes the standard ex-vessel prices and fee
percentage for cost recovery under the Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish
Program. This action is intended to provide participants in a rockfish
cooperative with the standard prices and fee percentage for the 2019
fishing year, which was authorized from May 1 through November 15. The
fee percentage is 3.0 percent. The fee payments are due from each
rockfish cooperative on or before February 15, 2020.
DATES: Valid on: January 22, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carl Greene, 907-586-7105.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The rockfish fisheries are conducted in Federal waters near Kodiak,
AK, by trawl and longline vessels. Regulations implementing the Central
Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Rockfish Program (Rockfish Program) are set forth
at 50 CFR part 679. Exclusive harvesting privileges are allocated as
quota share under the Rockfish Program for rockfish primary and
secondary species. Each year, NMFS issues rockfish primary and
secondary species cooperative quota (CQ) to rockfish quota shareholders
to authorize harvest of these species. The rockfish primary species are
northern rockfish, Pacific ocean perch, and dusky rockfish. In 2012,
dusky rockfish replaced the pelagic shelf rockfish species group in the
GOA Groundfish Harvest Specifications (77 FR 15194, March 14, 2012).
The rockfish secondary species include Pacific cod, rougheye rockfish,
shortraker rockfish, sablefish, and thornyhead rockfish. Rockfish
cooperatives began fishing under the Rockfish Program on May 1, 2012.
The Rockfish Program is a limited access privilege program
established under the provisions of section 303A of the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).
Sections 303A and 304(d) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act require NMFS to
collect fees to recover the actual costs directly related to the
management, data collection and analysis, and enforcement of any
limited access privilege program. Therefore, NMFS is required to
collect fees for the Rockfish Program under sections 303A and 304(d)(2)
of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Section 304(d)(2) of the Magnuson-Stevens
Act also limits the cost recovery fee so that it may not exceed 3
percent of the ex-vessel value of the fish harvested under the Rockfish
Program.
Standard Prices
NMFS calculates cost recovery fees based on standard ex-vessel
value prices, rather than actual price data provided by each rockfish
CQ holder. Use of standard ex-vessel prices is allowed under sections
303A and 304(d)(2) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. NMFS generates a
standard ex-vessel price for each rockfish primary and secondary
species on a monthly basis to determine the average price paid per
pound for all shoreside processors receiving rockfish primary and
secondary species CQ.
Regulations at Sec. 679.85(b)(2) require the Regional
Administrator to publish rockfish standard ex-vessel values during the
first quarter of each calendar year. The standard prices are described
in U.S. dollars per pound for rockfish primary and secondary species CQ
landings made during the previous year.
Fee Percentage
NMFS assesses a fee on the standard ex-vessel value of rockfish
primary species and rockfish secondary species CQ harvested by rockfish
cooperatives in the Central GOA and waters adjacent to the Central GOA
when rockfish primary species caught by a cooperative are deducted from
the Federal total allowable catch. The rockfish entry level longline
fishery and trawl vessels that opt out of joining a cooperative are not
subject to cost recovery fees because those participants do not receive
rockfish CQ. Specific details on the Rockfish Program's cost recovery
provision may be found in the implementing regulations set forth at
Sec. 679.85.
NMFS informs--by letter--each rockfish cooperative of the fee
percentage applied to the previous year's landings and the total amount
due. Fees are due on or before February 15 of each year. Failure to pay
on time will result in the permit holder's rockfish quota share
becoming non-transferable, and the person will be ineligible to receive
any additional rockfish quota share by transfer. In addition,
cooperative members will not receive any rockfish CQ the following year
until full payment of the fee is received by NMFS.
NMFS calculates and publishes in the Federal Register the fee
percentage in the first quarter of each year according to the factors
and methods described in Federal regulations at Sec. 679.85(c)(2).
NMFS determines the fee percentage that applies to landings made in the
previous year by dividing the total Rockfish Program management, data
collection and analysis, and enforcement costs (direct program costs)
during the previous year by the total standard ex-vessel value of the
rockfish primary species and rockfish secondary species for all
rockfish CQ landings made during the previous year (fishery value).
NMFS captures the direct program costs through an established
accounting system that allows staff to track labor, travel, contracts,
rent, and procurement. Fee collections in any given year may be less
than, or greater than, the direct program costs and fishery value for
that year, because, by regulation, the fee percentage is established in
the first quarter of the calendar year based on the program costs and
the fishery value of the previous calendar year.
Using the fee percentage formula described above, the estimated
percentage of program costs to value for the 2019 calendar year is 3.08
percent of the standard ex-vessel value; however, the fee percentage
amount must not exceed 3.0 percent pursuant section 304(d)(2)(B) of the
Magnuson-Stevens Act. Therefore, the 2019 fee percentage is set at 3.0
percent. The fee percentage for 2019 is an increase from the 2018 fee
percentage of 2.86 percent (84 FR 1709, February 5, 2019). Although
program costs for 2019 decreased over costs accrued in 2018, this was
offset by a 7.6 percent decrease in the value of the fishery in 2019,
relative to the 2018 fishery value. The majority of the 2019 costs come
from direct personnel and overhead costs, which has been consistent
across all years of the program.
Table 1--Standard Ex-Vessel Prices by Species for the 2019 Rockfish
Program Season in Kodiak, Alaska
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Standard
ex-vessel
Species Period ending price per
pound
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Dusky rockfish *................... May 31................ $0.18
June 30............... 0.18
July 31............... 0.18
August 31............. 0.18
September 30.......... 0.18
October 31............ 0.18
November 30........... 0.18
Northern rockfish.................. May 31................ 0.17
June 30............... 0.17
July 31............... 0.17
August 31............. 0.17
September 30.......... 0.17
October 31............ 0.17
November 30........... 0.17
Pacific cod........................ May 31................ 0.46
June 30............... 0.48
July 31............... 0.45
August 31............. 0.45
September 30.......... 0.45
October 31............ 0.43
[[Page 3649]]
November 30........... 0.45
Pacific ocean perch................ May 31................ 0.20
June 30............... 0.20
July 31............... 0.20
August 31............. 0.20
September 30.......... 0.20
October 31............ 0.20
November 30........... 0.20
Rougheye rockfish.................. May 31................ 0.18
June 30............... 0.20
July 31............... 0.20
August 31............. 0.20
September 30.......... 0.20
October 31............ 0.20
November 30........... 0.20
Sablefish.......................... May 31................ 1.27
June 30............... 1.02
July 31............... 1.21
August 31............. 1.21
September 30.......... 1.21
October 31............ 1.40
November 30........... 1.18
Shortraker rockfish................ May 31................ 0.22
June 30............... 0.22
July 31............... 0.22
August 31............. 0.22
September 30.......... 0.22
October 31............ 0.23
November 30........... 0.22
Thornyhead rockfish................ May 31................ 0.57
June 30............... 0.20
July 31............... 0.42
August 31............. 0.42
September 30.......... 0.42
October 31............ 0.42
November 30........... 0.42
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* The pelagic shelf rockfish species group has been changed to ``dusky
rockfish.''
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq.; 1801 et seq.; 3631 et seq.;
Pub. L. 108-447; Pub. L. 111-281.
Dated: January 16, 2020.
Karyl K. Brewster-Geisz,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-00949 Filed 1-21-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P