Fishery Management Plan and Amendments: Trawl Rationalization (Amendment 20) and Intersector Allocation (Amendment 21) Trailing Actions
At its September 2010 meeting, the Council began a series of trailing actions for the trawl rationalization program and intersector allocation. These trailing actions address issues of concern which were outstanding as of the completion of the Council’s initial work on the program (e.g. rules for the distribution of the quota set aside for the Adaptive Management Program (10%) and safe harbors from control rules for risk pools). The actions also address provisions needed to complete or clarify the final program and new concerns identified during and after program implementation.
Work on a number of trailing actions has already been completed. Trailing actions implemented after Amendment 20 and 21 implementation are listed below. At this time, the Council and NMFS are moving forward on the following trailing action issues. (Note: other actions affecting or modifying the trawl rationalization program may be taken up as part of the groundfish biennial specifications.)
Final Council Action Taken, NMFS Approval and Implementation Pending
Cost Recovery. At its September 2011 meeting, the Council adopted a cost recovery program structure. The initial recovery rates will be a maximum of 3% of exvessel value of the IFQ species delivered for the shoreside IFQ program, 2% of the value of the whiting delivered for the mothership sector, and 1% of the value of the whiting harvested for the catcher-processor sector, based on initial estimates of incremental costs. The exact percentages will be determined in 2012. Download the complete description of the Council’s recommendations on Cost Recovery. Details regarding how costs are determined and how the fee is calculated will be published in the proposed and final rules. The Council’s Cost Recovery Committee has been tasked with identifying efficiencies which might reduce costs and fees over the long-run and will be meeting to address this issue.
Quota Share/Quota Pound (QS/QP) Control Rules – Safe Harbors for Risk Pools. At its September 2011 meeting, the Council voted to provide risk pools a safe harbor from the QS control rules. This action will be finalized as part of the second program improvements and enhancement rule (PIE 2) for implementation at the start of 2013.
Slated for Preliminary Action in March and Final Action in April (NMFS Approval and Implementation to Follow)
If approved, the following would be implemented as part of PIE 2, for implementation at the start of 2013.
Quota Share/Quota Pound (QS/QP) Control Rules – Safe Harbors for Lenders. At its November 2011 meeting, the Council selected for analysis an alternatives that would provide lenders with a safe harbor from the QS control rules.
Other Lender Issues. At its November 2011 meeting, the Council selected for analysis an alternative that would add a lender field to the data system by which a lender authorization would be required for the transfer of any QS from an account which had been pledged as collateral on a loan.
Develop A Process To Certify New Observer Providers. NMFS will provide background information on this issue at the March 2012 Council meeting.
Allow A Fixed Gear Permit And A Trawl Permit Stacking. At its November 2011 meeting, the Council selected for analysis an alternative that would allow a fixed gear permit and a trawl permit to be registered to the same vessel at the same time.
Change the Opt-out Requirement for QP Deficits. At its November 2011 meeting, the Council selected for analysis an alternative that would change the opt-out requirement for QP deficits lasting more than 30 days, in order to allow vessels to rejoin the fishery after deficits are cleared.
Eliminate Double Filing of Whiting co-op Reports. At its November 2011 meeting, the Council selected for analysis an alternative that would eliminate the required filing of a preliminary co-op report in November, leaving in place the requirement that a final report be submitted in March of each year. This requirement applies to the whiting mothership and catcher-processor sectors.
Move the Whiting Season Opening Date. At its November 2011 meeting, the Council selected for analysis an alternative that would move the shoreside sector primary whiting season opening date to May 15, starting in 2013. This issue may move forward as part of the PIE 2 rulemaking process or as a stand alone rulemaking.
Multiple Gears on a Trip. At its November 2011 meeting, the Council selected for analysis an alternatives that would allow more than one gear to be carried and used on a vessel at the same time.
Chafing Gear. At its November 2011 meeting, the Council selected for analysis an alternatives that would address industry concerns about the current restrictiveness of the chafing gear regulations for the midwater trawl fishery.
Gear Modifications to Increase Efficiency and Selectivity. At its November 2011 meeting, the Council decided it would move forward on this issue but did not adopt alternatives for consideration.
The last three of the above issues (multiple gears on a trip, chafing gear, and gear modifications to increase efficiency and selectivity) may be addressed in a gear rulemaking (separate from the PIE 2 rulemaking) and, if adopted implemented sometime during 2013, not necessarily at the start of the year.
Actions Slated for 2014 Which May be Accelerated for Implementation in 2013
NMFS has identified a number of minor actions needed to more improve and enhance the trawl rationalization program. The Council originally slated this for the third PIE rule (PIE 3) to be implemented in 2014, but consented to the accelerated consideration of these issues, if it could be done without risking progress on the PIE 2 priorities. NMFS has tentatively indicated that it will be able to accelerate most of these issues and include them in the PIE 2 rule. The following issues are described more fully in Agenda Item E.7.a, Attachment 1: Trailing Action Priorities And Status, November 2011.
- Observer coverage on vessels processing groundfish at-sea
- Clarify sablefish at-sea processing exemption for the IFQ fishery
- Clarify fishery closure language
- Language describing whiting season start dates
- Reducing site inspection requirements
- Catch monitor briefings
- QS transfer regulations
- Permit renewal dates
Actions Prioritized for 2014 and Beyond
Research and policy development work on some of the following issues may occur in 2013, however, regulatory changes are not likely to be in place prior to 2014 at the earliest.
- Reduce observer costs (For possible 2014 Implementation)
- Adaptive Management Program quota pound allocation (For possible 2015 Implementation)
- Revise the widow rockfish QS allocation (For possible 2015 Implementation)
- Observer coverage exemption when testing trawl gear
- Add a VMS declaration code for “transiting” with gear stowed (For possible 2014 Implementation)
- Consider revisions to weight conversion factors based on new information (For possible 2014 Implementation)
- Actions needed to facilitate continuation of surplus QP carryover provision (if any).
Previous Trailing Actions, Now Implemented
The following trailing actions were implemented subsequent to the January 11, 2011 start of the trawl rationalization program.
Issues Implemented for January 1, 2012
The following were implemented as part of the first Program Improvements and Enhancement Rule (published in the Federal Register, December 1, 2011). This rule included Amendment 21-1, a modification of the intersector allocation amendment and regulatory amendments pertaining to the trawl rationalization program.
Amendment 21-1
- clarified that the Amendment 21 allocation percentages supersede the limited entry/open access allocations for certain groundfish species, and
- revised the amount of bycatch quota pounds that will be issued for the shoreside trawl fishery to cover Pacific halibut mortality, to better match the objective specified in Amendment 21.
Trawl Rationalization Regulatory Amendments. The regulatory amendments pertaining to the Amendment 20 trawl rationalization program included, but were not limited to:
- severability of the mothership catcher vessel (MS/CV) endorsement and associated whiting catch history assignments from the limited entry trawl permit,
- continuation of the Adaptive Management Program (AMP) quota pound pass-through, through 2014 of the Shorebased IFQ Program or until an AMP process is established, whichever is earlier,
- an exemption from the prohibition on processing at sea for qualified participants in the Shorebased Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program,
- revisions to the observer coverage requirement while a vessel is in port and before the offload is complete,
- revisions to the electronic fish ticket reporting requirements,
- revisions to the first receiver site license requirement,
- further clarification on moving between limited entry and open access fisheries, and
- a process for end-of-the-year vessel account reconciliation.
These and other included recommendations were adopted by the Council at its June 2011 meeting; the minutes and briefing materials for that meeting include numerous reference documents detailing the issues before the Council and the Council final action on each.
