Notice2023-16524
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Cost Recovery Program
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
August 3, 2023
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS publishes notification of a 3 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 2023/2024 crab fishing year fee percentage so they can calculate the required cost recovery fee payment, which must be submitted to NMFS by July 31, 2024.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 148 (Thursday, August 3, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 148 (Thursday, August 3, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51301-51302]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-16524]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XD167]
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 3 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 2023/2024 crab fishing year fee percentage so they can
calculate the required cost recovery fee payment, which must be
submitted to NMFS by July 31, 2024.
DATES: The Crab Rationalization Program Registered Crab Receiver permit
holder is responsible for submitting the fee liability payment to NMFS
by July 31, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amy Hadfield, (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 is consistent with the cost recovery provisions
included under section 304(d)(2)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. NMFS
developed the cost recovery regulations 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 not to
exceed 3 percent of the ex-vessel value of crab harvested under the
Program. The Program provides that a proportional share of fees charged
will 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 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. Program details 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
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and fishery value for that year, as regulations establish the fee
percentage in the first quarter of the crab fishing year based on the
fishery value and costs in the prior year.
According to the fee percentage formula described above, the
estimated percentage of costs to value for the 2022/2023 fishery was
5.93 percent. As this is higher than the maximum fee percentage, the
fee percentage will be 3 percent for the 2023/2024 crab fishing year.
This is an increase by approximately 0.77 percentage points from the
2022/2023 crab fishing year fee percentage of 2.23 percent (87 FR
41292, July 12, 2022). Direct program costs for managing the fishery
increased by approximately 10 percent from 2022/2023 to 2023/2024,
while fishery value decreased by approximately 58 percent, resulting in
the increased fee percentage. Similar to previous years, the largest
direct Program costs were incurred by the NOAA Office of Law
Enforcement and the State of Alaska Department of Fish and Game,
respectively.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1862; Pub. L. 109-241; Pub. L. 109-479.
Dated: July 28, 2023.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-16524 Filed 8-2-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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