Notice2026-10119
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Full Coverage Trawl Electronic Monitoring 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
May 20, 2026
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS publishes this notice to announce the 2025 fee percentage of 0.12 percent applicable to participants in the full coverage category of the Trawl Electronic Monitoring Program (Trawl EM Program). NMFS used this fee percentage to calculate fee liabilities for the 2025 fishing season. Annually, NMFS issues invoices to vessel owners subject to the fee. Fees for the 2025 fishing season are due to NMFS on or before May 31, 2026.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 97 (Wednesday, May 20, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 97 (Wednesday, May 20, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29463-29464]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-10119]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XF670]
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Full
Coverage Trawl Electronic Monitoring Fee Notice
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notification of fee percentage for vessels participating in the
full coverage category of the Trawl Electronic Monitoring Program.
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SUMMARY: NMFS publishes this notice to announce the 2025 fee percentage
of 0.12 percent applicable to participants in the full coverage
category of the Trawl Electronic Monitoring Program (Trawl EM Program).
NMFS used this fee percentage to calculate fee liabilities for the 2025
fishing season. Annually, NMFS issues invoices to vessel owners subject
to the fee. Fees for the 2025 fishing season are due to NMFS on or
before May 31, 2026.
DATES: The fee percentage is valid on May 20, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Additional information about the Trawl EM Program is
available on NMFS Alaska Region's website at <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/resources-fishing/electronic-Monitoring-alaska">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/resources-fishing/electronic-Monitoring-alaska</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general questions about this fee,
contact Amy Hadfield at (907) 586-7376. For questions about the fee
billing process, contact Tristan Mandeville at (907) 586-7231.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On July 29, 2024, NMFS published a final rule to implement the
Trawl EM Program for pelagic trawl pollock catcher vessels and tender
vessels delivering to shoreside processors and stationary floating
processors in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska (89
FR 60796). Under the Trawl EM Program regulations at 50 CFR 679.51(g),
a vessel owner or operator of a catcher vessel or tender vessel can
request to be placed in the Trawl EM Program each year and, therein, to
use an EM system in place of an observer in most cases. Placement in
the Trawl EM Program reduces overall monitoring costs for fishery
participants and increases data quality necessary for fishery
management. A vessel placed in the Trawl EM Program remains in the
[[Page 29464]]
Trawl EM Program for that calendar year. NMFS can choose to disallow
participation in the Trawl EM Program for reasons such as compliance
issues or non-payment of fees.
Vessels in the Trawl EM Program are either in the partial coverage
category or the full coverage category based on their assigned level of
observer coverage. Only participants in the full coverage category are
subject to the trawl EM fee announced in this notice. Participants in
the partial coverage category pay their fee through the North Pacific
Observer Program fee as calculated from the standard prices published
in the Federal Register on December 30, 2025 (90 FR 61117).
Pursuant to section 313 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act, NMFS established a process for
calculating and administering the trawl EM fee for the full coverage
category as specified at Sec. 679.56. Activities directly related to
NMFS's administration of the trawl EM full coverage category are funded
by the trawl EM fee. These activities include EM data collection, EM
data review, vessel monitoring plan (VMP) approval, and trawl EM
category data. The fee liability is based on the ex-vessel value of
pollock harvested by vessels in the full coverage trawl EM category.
This notice announces the fee percentage in the Federal Register. The
Regional Administrator sends invoices to vessel owners and each vessel
owner is responsible for the payment of the trawl EM fee no later than
May 31 of the fishing year following the year in which pollock landings
occurred. The total dollar amount of the fee due is determined by
multiplying the trawl EM fee percentage by the annual ex-vessel value
of pelagic trawl pollock landings under the full coverage category of
the Trawl EM Program as described in this notice.
Standard Price
For purposes of calculating the trawl EM fee percentage, NMFS uses
a standard ex-vessel price (standard price) for pollock. A standard
price is determined under Sec. 679.66(b) using information on landings
purchased (volume) and ex-vessel value paid (value). NMFS annually
receives information used to calculate the pollock standard price in
the existing First Wholesale Volume and Value Report, which is
submitted in early November of each year. NMFS published the standard
price of $0.15 per pound for pollock for 2025 in the Federal Register
on December 5, 2025 (90 FR 56134).
Fee Percentage
Annually, NMFS calculates the total costs directly related to the
EM data collection, EM data review, VMP approval, and trawl EM category
data maintenance (direct program costs). For 2025, direct program costs
were tracked from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025. A more
detailed explanation will be provided in the North Pacific Observer
Program Annual report, which will be published in June of 2026.
NMFS calculates the applicable fee percentage according to the
factors described at Sec. 679.56(c)(2). NMFS determined the fee
percentage which applies to full coverage trawl EM landings made in
2025 by dividing the direct program costs by the value of the catch
subject to the trawl EM fee.
Under the fee percentage formula described generally above, the
percentage of direct program costs to fishery value for the 2025
calendar year is 0.12 percent. For 2025, NMFS applied the calculated
trawl EM fee percentage to all pollock landings in the full coverage
trawl EM category made between January 1 and December 31 to calculate
the trawl EM fee liability for each vessel owner in the full coverage
trawl EM category. A Trawl EM Program vessel owner's 2025 fee payment
must be submitted to NMFS on or before May 31, 2026. Payment must be
made in accordance with the payment methods set forth at Sec.
679.56(a)(4)(ii).
(Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.)
Dated: May 18, 2026.
David R. Blankinship,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-10119 Filed 5-19-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 20, 2026.
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