Notice2025-20763
Determination of Size Standard Review
Primary source
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Published
November 24, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
This action serves as notice that NMFS has determined, after review consistent with NMFS' small business size standards regulations, the U.S. Small Business Administration's review requirements under the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, the Small Business Administration's regulations establishing size standards, and Small Business Administration's size standards methodology, the NMFS-established and codified single small business size standard of $11 million in annual gross receipts for all businesses in the commercial fishing industry continues to reflect the size distribution of all businesses in the commercial fishing industry and is appropriate for continued use for Regulatory Flexibility Act purposes only. Therefore, no revision to the standard is warranted at this time.
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 224 (Monday, November 24, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 224 (Monday, November 24, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52917-52921]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-20763]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XF212]
Determination of Size Standard Review
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of determination.
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SUMMARY: This action serves as notice that NMFS has determined, after
review consistent with NMFS' small business size standards regulations,
the U.S. Small Business Administration's review requirements under the
Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, the Small Business Administration's
regulations establishing size standards, and Small Business
Administration's size standards methodology, the NMFS-established and
codified single small business size standard of $11 million in annual
gross receipts for all businesses in the commercial fishing industry
continues to reflect the size distribution of all businesses in the
commercial fishing industry and is appropriate for continued use for
Regulatory Flexibility Act purposes only. Therefore, no revision to the
standard is warranted at this time.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tara Scott, Industry Economist, (301)
427-8500, email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#73271201125d20101c0707331d1c12125d141c05"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7723160516592414180303371918161659101801">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 29, 2015, the National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued a final rule establishing a single
small business size standard of $11 million in annual gross receipts
for all businesses primarily engaged in the commercial fishing industry
(North American Industry Classification System [NAICS] 11411) for
Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) compliance purposes only (80 FR 81194,
December 29, 2015) (see 50 CFR 200.2). For the purposes of the rule, a
``commercial fishing business'' is a business primarily engaged in
commercial fishing, the ``commercial fishing industry'' is composed of
all such businesses, and the $11 million standard only applies to this
industry (Idem at 81194). The standard is used in place of the U.S.
Small Business Administration's (SBA) current standards of $25 million,
$14 million, and $11.5 million for the finfish (NAICS 114111),
shellfish (NAICS 114112), and other marine fishing (NAICS 114119)
sectors of the U.S. commercial fishing industry in all NMFS rules
subject to the RFA after July 1, 2016. This standard does not apply to
businesses primarily engaged in seafood processing (NAICS 311170),
seafood wholesale activities (NAICS 424460), or any other activity
within the seafood industry. Under the RFA, an agency must prepare an
initial and final regulatory flexibility analysis (IRFA/FRFA) for each
proposed and final rule, respectively, unless it certifies that a rule
will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of
small entities. Agencies generally rely on the SBA size standards to
identify small entities for RFA purposes. For NMFS, rulemaking
activities that may be impacted by changes to the size standards for
defining ``small'' businesses include, but are not limited to,
regulatory actions and analyses undertaken pursuant to the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Endangered Species Act
Marine Mammal Protection Act and National Environmental Policy Act.
Consistent with NMFS' small business size standards regulations (50
CFR 200.2), SBA's review requirements under the Small Business Jobs Act
of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-240, 124 Stat. 2504, Sept. 27, 2010 regulations
establishing size standards (13 CFR 121.102), and SBA's Size Standards
Methodology (available at <a href="https://www.sba.gov/document/support-2024-size-standards-methodology-white-paper">https://www.sba.gov/document/support-2024-size-standards-methodology-white-paper</a> and noticed in 89 FR 74109),
NMFS reviews this standard at least once every 5 years to determine if
a change is warranted. A change may be warranted because of changes in
industry structure, market conditions, inflation, or other relevant
factors (50 CFR 200.2(b)). NMFS reviews all of the applicable factors
simultaneously as part of its size standard review, in order to
minimize the frequency of changes to the standard and the need for
additional rulemakings.
Review Methodology
In establishing the $11 million size standard during 2015, NMFS
determined that the data used by SBA to develop size standards were not
representative of all commercial fishing businesses. Specifically, in
establishing commercial fishing size standards during 2013 (78 FR
37198, June 20, 2013), SBA relied primarily on specialized tabulations
from the U.S. Census Bureau's economic census. The sample frame for the
economic census and related Census Bureau data such as County Business
Patterns or Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages from the Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS) are for establishments or firms that are subject
to payroll tax. While some commercial fishing businesses do have wage-
based employees, remuneration for the majority of commercial fishing
business crew is based on a share of total revenue on each fishing
trip. For
[[Page 52918]]
this reason, commercial fishing crew are considered co-ventures or sole
proprietorships and not subject to payroll tax, which means that the
majority of fishing businesses do not have wage-based employees.
Given the determination that the data used by SBA were not
representative of how fishing businesses operate, NMFS used available
Census Bureau data for the limited number of commercial fishing
businesses that did have wage-based employees and requested specialized
data from the Census Bureau's non-employer series. The non-employer
series includes any commercial fishing establishment or individual that
files income tax (e.g., Schedule C) and that does not report any paid
employees. These data were combined with the data for wage-based
commercial fishing businesses to establish a single size standard of
$11 million solely for purposes of conducting NMFS' regulatory analyses
under the RFA (80 FR 81194, December 29, 2015).
Since 2015, the SBA changed the methods for determining size
standards from an anchor-based size standard to one in which industry
factors are ranked relative to the 20th and 80th percentile within a
group of industries. The revised SBA methodology was published in 2019
and then updated in 2024. Additionally, the SBA changed the basis for
calculating receipts-based size standards from a 3-year to a 5-year
average (84 FR 66561, December 5, 2019). In addressing these changes,
NMFS has determined that commercial fishing revenue reported through
NMFS seafood dealers or first-receivers would be the best available
data upon which to update the commercial fishing size standard. All
commercial fishing businesses that fish in the U.S. Exclusive Economic
Zone (EEZ) waters are required to have a Federal permit, which also
carries a requirement to report commercial fishing landings and revenue
through a NMFS dealer reporting or a trip-ticket system. This means
that the NMFS commercial fishing receipts data would include both
entities that have wage-based employees and some but not all
establishments included in the Census Bureau's non-employer series. The
non-employer series includes establishments that own fishing vessels
but also includes individuals who fish from shore, as well as fishing
crew, who would not be included in the commercial fishing receipts
data. This creates uncertainty over whether or not an establishment is
a ``small business concern,'' as defined under the RFA and over the
number of non-employer establishments that would not be directly
regulated by NMFS's actions, and therefore, would not be counted for
RFA purposes, because they fish exclusively in State waters. By
contrast, the NMFS data focuses on commercial fishing businesses that
are most likely to be regulated under the RFA. NMFS revenue data is
also more current than alternative data from either BLS or Census
Bureau and is replicable, which improves responsiveness to updates for
inflation or any future adjustments to the size standard. Importantly,
use of NMFS data makes it possible to evaluate the robustness of size
standards to potential economic effects and it ensures consistency with
the data used for conducting small entity impact analysis under the
RFA.
In order to undertake a more precise review, NMFS developed a
National database of total annual receipts from commercial fishing
operations constructed from data reported to NMFS in the Pacific
Islands, Alaska, West Coast, Southeast, and Greater Atlantic regions,
and for Atlantic Highly Migratory Species. Total nominal receipts from
all available sources of fishing revenue earned while fishing in State
or EEZ waters from any commercial fishing vessel issued a Federal
permit were included. Annual total revenues were compiled for the most
recent 5-year period of available complete data, which was from 2019 to
2023. Ownership information of fishing vessels is included on the forms
submitted by vessel owners for annual renewal of fishing permits for
some but not all fisheries. For this reason, vessel-level annual
receipts were the unit of observation for each commercial fishing
entity. This is an establishment-based definition for entity size.
The resulting database consisted of 16,374 entities with average
annual receipts from 2019 to 2023 of $2.956 billion for all
establishments (table 1). The distribution of fishing revenue by
interval of fishing revenue size is also shown in table 1. Nation-wide,
there were 5,923 vessel entities (36 percent of the total) with 5-year
average revenue of less than $5,000 with aggregate receipts of $7.2
million or 0.24 percent of total receipts. By contrast, the largest
share of aggregate receipts was 28.8 percent for the 572 entities (3.5
percent of the total) with average receipts of between $1 million and
less than $2.5 million.
The SBA methodology identifies four primary factors for describing
industry structure; average firm size, start-up costs, industry
competition, and size distribution of firms. Following the SBA
methodology, average firm size is measured by the simple and weighted
average of annual receipts; startup costs are measured by average
assets; industry competition is measured by the four-firm concentration
ratio; and the size distribution of firms is measured by the Gini
coefficient (13 CFR 121.102(a)). Of these primary factors, NMFS does
not have sufficient data on the capital value of fishing vessel assets
and permits to reliably estimate fishing firm asset values. For this
reason, NMFS used the simple average, weighted average, four-firm
concentration ratio, and Gini coefficient measures of commercial
fishing industry structure. The values for these four metrics based on
the 5-year average receipts for each of the 16,374 entities are shown
in column two of table 2. The SBA's industry factors at the 20th and
80th percentiles for receipts-based size standards for all industries,
excluding Subsectors 111 and 112 (see SBA, SBA's Size Standards
Methodology, p. 37, table 5, June 2024), are shown in columns one and
three, respectively, in table 2.
Following the size standard estimation procedures and applying the
formulas in SBA's Size Standards Methodology (June 2024) results in the
size standards shown in column 4 of table 2. The estimated size
standards are rounded to the nearest $500 thousand as required by SBA.
Specifically, the size standard for the NMFS National simple average of
$180 thousand would be $10 million; the size standard for the NMFS
National weighted average of $1.84 million would be $13 million; the
size standard for the NMFS National four-firm concentration ratio of
less than 2 percent would be $9 million; and the size standard for the
NMFS National Gini coefficient of 0.811 would be $35.5 million.
Applying these size standards to the national database of commercial
fishing establishments results in a range of small entities from 16,361
small (13 large) to 16,374 small (0 large) (see table 3). For purposes
of comparison, the current NMFS size standard of $11 million is shown
in the bottom row of table 3. Under the current NMFS size standard
there would be 16,367 entities classified as small and 7 classified as
large. All entities would be classified as small using the Gini
coefficient factor. For all other industry structure factors, at least
99 percent of NMFS national commercial fishing establishments would be
classified as small entities. Omitting the Gini coefficient, the
average of the size standards for simple average, weighted average, and
four-firm concentration ratio is $10.7 million, which rounded to the
nearest whole million would be $11 million.
[[Page 52919]]
Table 1--Receipts Category for NMFS National Data for Commercial Fishing Establishments
[i.e., average number of establishments, average annual gross receipts, and share of total receipts for 2019-
2023]
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Share of total
Establishment receipts size Number of Receipts receipts
establishments ($1,000) (percent)
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All establishments............................................ 16,374 $2,956,652 ..............
Less than $5,000.............................................. 5,923 7,206 0.24
$5,000-$9,999................................................. 1,087 7,878 0.27
$10,000-$24,999............................................... 1,547 25,596 0.87
$25,000-$49,999............................................... 1,310 47,546 1.64
$50,000-$99,999............................................... 1,484 108,630 3.67
$100,000-$249,999............................................. 2,156 350,619 11.86
$250,000-$499,999............................................. 1,386 487,422 16.49
$500,000-$999,999............................................. 803 549,451 18.58
$1,000,000-$2,499,999......................................... 572 850,552 28.77
$2,500,000-$4,999,999......................................... 75 255,409 8.64
$5,000,000 or more............................................ 31 266,342 9.01
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Table 2--Size Standards by Industry Structure Factors for NMFS National Data for Commercial Fishing
Establishments
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SBA industry SBA industry
Industry structure factors factor 20th NMFS National factor 80th Size standard
percentile data percentile ($millions)
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Simple average receipts (millions).............. 1.09 0.18 8.34 $10.0
Weighted average receipts (millions)............ 26.82 1.84 1,155.04 13.0
Four-firm concentration ratio (Percent)......... 8 1.94 41.9 9.0
Gini coefficient................................ 0.697 0.811 0.835 35.5
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Table 3--Number of Small and Large Entities for Small Business Size Standard by Industry Factor
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Size standard Number of Number of
Industry structure factors ($millions) small entities large entities Percent small
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Simple average receipts......................... $10.0 16,365 9 99.95
Weighted average receipts....................... 13.0 16,371 3 99.98
Four-firm concentration ratio................... 9.0 16,361 13 99.92
Gini coefficient................................ 35.5 16,374 0 100
Current NMFS size standard...................... 11.0 16,367 7 99.96
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Sensitivity Analysis
For the initial estimation of size standards reported in tables 2
and 3, the 5-year average revenue was based on all vessels reporting
fishing revenues during at least 1 year from 2019 to 2023. This means
that the 5-year average revenue includes years where commercial fishing
receipts for some establishments or entities were zero. Additionally,
the 5-year period from 2019 to 2023 includes the year 2020, during
which the COVID-19 global pandemic had general effects on the U.S.
economy but was also particularly disruptive for seafood markets and
trade. More recently, prices received by commercial fishing vessel
owners were down by a nation-wide average of 10 percent during 2023
compared to average prices during 2019 to 2022. While the declines in
prices received in Alaska were more pronounced, prices were also lower
in other fisheries throughout the United States.
To examine the robustness of the size standards reported in table
2, adjusted average receipts were estimated to (1) account for
participants with zero receipts in some years by using only non-zero
receipts for the years from 2019 to 2023; (2) remove the effects of the
COVID-19 global pandemic by using the 4-year average from 2019 to 2023,
excluding 2020; and (3) remove the 2023 Low Price Effects by using the
4-year average from 2019 to 2022. The resulting industry metrics and
size standards for the three evaluated scenarios are reported in table
4. For each scenario, the industry metrics differed from the ``Base''
reported in table 2; however, the small entity size standard for
weighted average was unchanged at $13 million and the size standards
for the simple average and four-firm concentration ratio differed by no
more than $0.5 million. Across all three scenarios the Gini coefficient
was lower than the Base, but, as was the case shown in table 3 for all
of the sensitivity scenarios, 100 percent of commercial fishing
establishments would still be classified as small (see table 5).
Additionally, at least 99 percent of small entities would be classified
as small under any of the evaluated scenarios.
[[Page 52920]]
Table 4--Sensitivity Analysis of a Change in 5-Year Average, COVID-19, and Low Price Effects on the Size Standard
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Non-zero revenue Excluding 2020 COVID-19 effects Excluding 2023 low price
------------------------------------------------------------------ effects
Industry structure factors -------------------------------
Industry Size standard Industry Size standard Industry Size standard
statistic ($millions) statistic ($millions) statistic ($millions)
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Simple average receipts............................... $205,924 $10.5 $190,630 $10.0 $199,835 $10.0
Weighted average receipts............................. 1,745,870 13.0 1,865,573 13.0 1,801,200 13.0
Four-firm concentration ratio (percent)............... 1.70% 8.5 1.92% 8.5 1.85% 8.5
Gini coefficient...................................... 0.779 29.5 0.805 34.5 0.800 33.0
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Table 5--Sensitivity Analysis of a Change in 5-Year Average, COVID-19 Effects, and Low Price Effects on the Percent of Commercial Fishing Establishments
Classified as a Small Entity
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Non-zero revenue Excluding 2020 COVID-19 effects Excluding 2023 low price
------------------------------------------------------------------ effects
Industry structure factors -------------------------------
Size standard Percent small Size standard Percent small Size standard
($millions) ($millions) ($millions) Percent small
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Simple average receipts............................... $10.5 99.95% $10.0 99.94% $10.0 99.96%
Weighted average receipts............................. 13.0 99.98 13.0 99.98 13.0 99.98
Four-firm concentration ratio (percent)............... 8.5 99.91 8.5 99.91 8.5 99.93
Gini coefficient...................................... 29.5 100.00 34.5 100.00 33.0 100.00
Current NMFS size standard............................ 11.0 99.96 11.0 99.96 11.0 99.97
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The size standards by industry structure metric for the Base (5-
year average including $0 receipts values) and for the three
sensitivity scenarios are reported in table 6.
Table 6--Summary of Size Standards Compared to the Base
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Excluding 2023
Base size Non-zero Excluding 2020 low price
Industry structure factors standard revenue size COVID-19 effects effects size
($millions) standard size standard standard
($millions) ($millions) ($millions)
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Simple average receipts..................... $10.0 $10.5 $10.0 $10.0
Weighted average receipts................... 13.0 13.0 13.0 13.0
Four-firm concentration ratio............... 9.0 8.5 8.5 8.5
Gini coefficient............................ 35.5 29.5 34.5 33.0
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As previously noted, the size standard for weighted average
receipts is unchanged and the simple average size standard was $10
million for Base and two of the three sensitivity scenarios. The four-
firm concentration ratio was $8.5 million for all three sensitivity
scenarios compared to $9 million for the Base. Excluding the Gini
coefficient, when averaging across all other factors, the Base and the
three sensitivity scenarios yield an average size standard of $10.6
million, which rounded to the nearest whole million would be $11
million.
Market Conditions
NMFS produces an annual summary of economic performance for U.S.
commercial fisheries in the Fisheries Economics of the United States
Report (FEUS). The most recent report, from 2022, is available at
<a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/resource/document/fisheries-economics-united-states-reports">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/resource/document/fisheries-economics-united-states-reports</a>. The report provides information on landing,
revenue and trends. The report also describes the U.S. commercial
fisheries' economic impact on the economy. Per the FEUS 2022 report,
there was a continued decline in revenue over the prior 5 years (see
table 1 on page 6 and figure 3 on page 7). Specifically in 2022, U.S.
commercial fisheries experienced a 16-percent decrease in revenues as a
result of falling prices, which dropped 11 percent in real 2022
dollars. The report also notes that while average landing prices had
increased in 2021 likely due to inflationary pressures and stronger
recovery from the COVID-19 global pandemic, 2022 landing prices had
reverted back to pre-pandemic levels. The primary species that
contributed the most to the decline in revenue were Alaska pollock,
Gulf shrimp, American lobster, and sea scallops. The FEUS 2022 report
also notes a number of structural factors throughout the supply chain
that likely contributed to the decline in landing prices and the
resulting decline in average revenue.
NMFS recently published the Alaska Seafood Snapshot in August of
2024 (available at <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/s3/2024-10/ak-seafood-industry-snapshot-10-31-2024-afsc.pdf">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/s3/2024-10/ak-seafood-industry-snapshot-10-31-2024-afsc.pdf</a>), which reported that the
Alaska seafood industry experienced a direct loss of $1.8 billion
between 2022 and 2023. The decrease in revenues in 2023 was largely
driven by low seafood prices across nearly all Alaska species as a
result of global market forces; high inventories and high levels of
global supply; lower global consumer demand for seafood due to
inflation; and lower cost of seafood production and
[[Page 52921]]
processing in countries that compete with U.S. seafood products.
With regards to Gulf Shrimp, revenue decline is largely
attributable to decreased landings price as domestic shrimp producers
faced a supply and demand mismatch and unfair competition from imports,
as determined by the U.S. International Trade Commission. In an article
by Blank, C., they noted that U.S. shrimp sales were down in 2023, and
market difficulties were expected to continue in 2024 (available at
<a href="https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/premium/foodservice-retail/shrimp-sales-down-in-2023-experts-forecast-continued-difficulties-in-2024">https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/premium/foodservice-retail/shrimp-sales-down-in-2023-experts-forecast-continued-difficulties-in-2024</a>
(accessed July 11, 2025)). To date, the Department of Commerce has
levied countervailing and antidumping duties on imports of select
countries and the NMFS' Shrimp Futures Initiative is working to
understand the challenges facing the Southeast's shrimp fisheries.
NMFS does not anticipate these various structural factors
throughout the supply chain to be fully resolved in the near term.
Therefore, NMFS will continue to monitor these factors and assess if
additional reviews or revisions to the size standard are warranted.
Determination
Based on the results of the review, NMFS has determined the small
business size standard of $11 million in annual gross receipts
continues to reflect the size distribution of all businesses in the
commercial fishing industry and is appropriate for continued use for
RFA purposes only. Therefore, no revision to the standard is warranted
at this time. NMFS will monitor industry structure, market conditions
and other relevant factors as necessary to ensure the size standard
remains appropriate to meet the intent of the RFA.
Dated: November 20, 2025.
Kelly Denit,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-20763 Filed 11-21-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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