27 Research Plan/Observer Program (not implemented)
Purpose and Need
Amendments 13 and 18 to the groundfish FMPs authorized a comprehensive domestic fishery observer program. The 1990 and 1991 observer program required specific levels of observer coverage which varied with size of fishing vessel and quantity of fish processed by floating and shoreside processors. These requirements were established because it was recognized that living marine resources could not be effectively managed without the types of information that were either available only or most efficiently through an observer program.
The observer program required that owners and operators of vessels and shoreside processing facilities participating in the groundfish fishery arrange for and pay for the cost of placing observers aboard their vessels and at their shoreside processing facilities beginning in January, 1990. Each vessel or processor required to have observer coverage is responsible for the cost of obtaining the required observers from a certified contractor. The cost averaged between $5,800 and $7,100 per observer month in 1991. There were three problems identified for this method of paying for observer coverage. It was not an equitable system in that some operations payed for 100% coverage and others did not pay anything, it limited the ability of the NMFS to effectively manage the observer program, and it may have resulted in a conflict of interest that could reduce the credibility of observer data. It also based observer coverage levels on a simple vessel length criterion, which likely does not result in the most efficient, appropriate coverage across all fisheries. The Research plan was designed to address these problems. Industry support for such a change is demonstrated by the willingness and ability of the industry to convince Congress to amend the Act to allow the North Pacific Fisheries Research Plan to be established and paid for by a broad-based system of user fees. The proposed plan was to be applicable to the groundfish, halibut, and BSAI crab fisheries.
Analysis
A 26-page EA/RIR (final draft dated March 22, 1994), together with a lengthy (100+ pp.) appendix section, was prepared for this amendment. Three alternatives including the status quo were considered. Under the status quo alternative, the authority to establish a research plan would not be used, existing observer coverage requirements and contracting arrangements would be used, and no observer program would be implemented for the halibut fishery. The alternative adopted provided for a research plan, and attendant fee on landings, to address problems identified with the existing observer program.
Regulation Summary
The Magnuson-Stevens Act authorized the Council and the Secretary to establish a North Pacific Fisheries Research Plan which: (1) requires that observers be stationed on fishing vessels and at fish processing facilities, and (2) establishes a system of fees to pay for the cost of implementing the research plan. The Research Plan, as adopted under this amendment, contained four objectives and elements that included observer employment and contracts, observer duties, data collection and transmission, annual determination of coverage levels by fishery, in-season changes to coverage levels, establishment of an observer oversight committee, coordination between the NMFS groundfish and ADF&G shellfish observer programs, a fee assessment (up to 2% of ex-vessel value of harvested fish), and details on fee collection and contingency plans in case of funding shortfalls.
BSAI Amendment 27 (GOA Amendment 30) was adopted by the Council in June 1992, then reconsidered and adopted as revised in December 1993. NMFS published a proposed rule on May 6, 1994 (59 FR 23664) and a final rule on September 6, 1994 (59 FR 46126). Effective date of implementation was October 6, 1994. Amendment 1 (which delayed implementation until 1997) to the research plan was announced on December 26, 1995 (60 FR 66755).
Results
Though the amendment was approved, it was never fully implemented. Instead, implementation was delayed one year, and then replaced with a modified pay-as-you-go system adopted under Amendments 47/47. Start-up fees were collected by NMFS in the first year of implementation (1995), but the Council repealed the Research Plan due to various concerns, including the possibility that the fee would not cover all necessary coverage levels. Fees were refunded following the repeal of the Plan. An Observer Committee has been convened to examine fee plan alternatives and is currently evaluating possible options.