Notice2026-06870
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska; Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Program Cost Recovery Fee Notice
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
April 9, 2026
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS publishes the standard ex-vessel prices and fee percentage for cost recovery under the Central Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Rockfish Program (Rockfish Program). This action is intended to provide participants in a rockfish cooperative with the standard prices and fee percentage for the 2025 fishing year, which was authorized from April 1 through November 15. The fee percentage is 3.00 percent. The fee payments were due from each rockfish cooperative on or before February 15, 2026.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 68 (Thursday, April 9, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 68 (Thursday, April 9, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17946-17947]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-06870]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XF486]
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish
of the Gulf of Alaska; Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Program Cost
Recovery Fee Notice
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
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 (GOA)
Rockfish Program (Rockfish Program). This action is intended to provide
participants in a rockfish cooperative with the standard prices and fee
percentage for the 2025 fishing year, which was authorized from April 1
through November 15. The fee percentage is 3.00 percent. The fee
payments were due from each rockfish cooperative on or before February
15, 2026.
DATES: Valid on April 9, 2026.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dana Whitely, 907-586-7231.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The rockfish fisheries are conducted in Federal waters near Kodiak,
Alaska by trawl and longline vessels. Regulations implementing the
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
share holders to authorize harvest of these species. The rockfish
primary species are northern rockfish, Pacific ocean perch, and dusky
rockfish. The rockfish secondary species include Pacific cod, rougheye
rockfish, shortraker rockfish, sablefish, and thornyhead rockfish.
Rockfish cooperatives began fishing under the Rockfish Program in 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
[[Page 17947]]
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 3.00 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 (lb) for all shoreside processors receiving rockfish primary and
secondary species CQ. Rockfish processors that receive and purchase
landings of rockfish CQ groundfish must submit, on an annual basis, a
volume and value report for the period April 1 to November 15 (50 CFR
679.5(r)(10)(ii)).
Regulations at 50 CFR 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 50
CFR 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 would result in the permit holder's rockfish quota share
becoming non-transferable, and the person would 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 50 CFR 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,
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,
as the fee percentage is established by regulation 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 2025 calendar year is 3.05
percent of the standard ex-vessel value; since this is higher than the
statutory cap, the fee percentage is capped at 3.00 percent. Program
costs for 2025 decreased by 35 percent compared to 2024 costs and the
fishery value increased by approximately 60 percent resulting in a
lower estimated fee percentage.
Table 1--Standard Ex-Vessel Prices by Species for the 2025 Rockfish
Program Season in Kodiak, Alaska
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Average
Species Month price/lb
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Dusky Rockfish....................... April................. $0.11
May................... 0.10
June.................. 0.10
July.................. 0.10
August................ 0.10
September............. 0.10
October............... 0.10
November.............. 0.10
Northern Rockfish.................... April................. 0.10
May................... 0.10
June.................. 0.10
July.................. 0.10
August................ 0.10
September............. 0.10
October............... 0.10
November.............. 0.10
Pacific Cod.......................... April................. 0.32
May................... 0.29
June.................. 0.25
July.................. 0.28
August................ 0.28
September............. 0.28
October............... 0.28
November.............. 0.28
Pacific Ocean Perch.................. April................. 0.13
May................... 0.13
June.................. 0.13
July.................. 0.13
August................ 0.13
September............. 0.13
October............... 0.13
November.............. 0.13
Rougheye Rockfish.................... April................. 0.11
May................... 0.11
June.................. 0.11
July.................. 0.11
August................ 0.11
September............. 0.11
October............... 0.11
November.............. 0.11
Sablefish............................ April................. 1.06
May................... 0.87
June.................. 1.00
July.................. 1.15
August................ 1.15
September............. 1.15
October............... 1.15
November.............. 1.15
Shortraker Rockfish.................. April................. 0.10
May................... 0.10
June.................. 0.10
July.................. 0.10
August................ 0.10
September............. 0.10
October............... 0.10
November.............. 0.10
Thornyhead Rockfish.................. April................. 0.21
May................... 0.18
June.................. 0.16
July.................. 0.21
August................ 0.21
September............. 0.21
October............... 0.21
November.............. 0.21
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Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq.; 1801 et seq.; 3631 et seq.;
Public Law 108-447; Public Law 111-281.
Dated: April 6, 2026.
David R. Blankinship,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-06870 Filed 4-8-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on April 9, 2026.
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