[Federal Register: July 16, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 135)]
[Notices]
[Page 34551-34552]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16jy09-20]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XQ16
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 a notification of a zero (0) 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 2009/2010 crab fishing
year.
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, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gabrielle Aberle or Gretchen
Harrington, 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 in August 15, 2005. Regulations implementing
the Program are set forth 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 and enforcement of the Program. NMFS developed the cost
recovery provision to conform to statutory requirements and to
partially reimburse the agency for the unique added costs of management
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 collecting, and enforcement costs up to three
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 share holders 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
the due date of July 31, 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 three percent)
[[Page 34552]]
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 set forth 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.
The fee percentage has declined over time because of a variety of
factors including the increasing value of the fishery due to increased
total allowable catch limits for various crab species such as Bristol
Bay red king crab (Paralithodes camtshaticus) and Bering Sea Snow crab
(Chionoecetes opilio), increased ex-vessel price per pound of crab
relative to previous years, and decreased management costs relative to
previous years primarily due to decreased staff and contract costs.
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, fee collections for any given year may be less than,
or greater than, the actual costs and fishery value for that year.
Using the fee percentage formula described above, the estimated
percentage of costs to value for the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 crab
fishing years was 3.0 percent and 1.05 percent, respectively. These fee
levels have resulted in a fee collection greater than the actual
management, data collection, and enforcement costs for the 2008/2009
crab fishing year. Therefore, fee revenues remain to cover projected
actual costs for 2009/2010. As a result, NMFS has determined that the
fee percentage will be 0 percent for the 2009/2010 crab fishing year.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1862 et seq.
Dated: July 9, 2009.
Kristen C. Koch,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E9-16811 Filed 7-15-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S