30 Increase Community Development Quota Allocation for Sablefish
Purpose and Need
A 12% limit for allocation to individual CDQ applicants was placed in the FMPs for the BSAI and the GOA and in the implementing regulations in 1992. The purpose of the original 12% limit was to prevent monopolization of CDQ sablefish allocations and ensure an adequate distribution of benefits from the CDQ program. The 12% limit was set in the development phase, when there were potentially 55 communities initially determined to qualify. Had the limit been set too high, communities would have expended resources unnecessarily to compete for large portions of a limited sablefish reserve. Subsequently, the 55 communities formed six geographical groups, in order to pool their efforts in producing Community Development Plans and managing the CDQ harvest. The six groups are: Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association; Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation; Central Bering Sea Fisherman’s Association; Coastal Villages Fisheries Cooperative; Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation; and Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association. The reduction in the number of CDQ groups, combined with the 12% limit, resulted in an inability to allocate the entire CDQ reserve (6 groups x 12% = 72% of CDQ reserve). This amendment raised the allocation limit of the sablefish CDQ reserve from 12% to 33% in the FMP for the BSAI, so that the total sablefish CDQ reserve could be allocated, providing for a more efficient use of the public resource. Full allocation is also consistent with the Council intent and the resource management objectives of the Magnuson -Stevens Act. Amendment 34 to the FMP for the GOA corrected the inadvertent inclusion of the CDQ program in the FMP by removing and reserving section 4.4.1.1.8.
The sablefish CDQ program was designed to promote the revitalization of rural communities in Western Alaska by providing those communities access to nearby fishery resources. The purpose of the amendment is to further the Council intent of the program by fully allocating the CDQ reserve.
Analysis
A 20-page Regulatory Impact Review (final draft dated March 1994) was prepared for this amendment. Two alternatives including the status quo were considered. The status quo did not require an environmental assessment because it was previously analyzed in the environmental documentation for the Individual Fishing Quota program, of which the CDQ program is a part. The status quo would require the communities to apply individually, and not as the six groups they had already formed. The proposed alternative would raise the sablefish allocation limit to 33%, and therefore fully allocate the CDQ reserve and more efficiently use the resource. The alternative chosen was also shown to be less obtrusive than the current process, in that groups formed for distribution can apply in their present form and alleviate excessive and needless competition between the 55 communities.
Regulation Summary
The alternative adopted and approved raised the sablefish Community Development Quota allocation limit for qualified applicants from 12% to 33% in order to allow total allocation of the sablefish CDQ reserve; removed the inadvertent inclusion of the CDQ program in the FMP for the GOA; and expanded the types of evidence that may be used to verify vessel leases for the halibut and sablefish individual fishing quota program. It was emphasized that this action did not change the amount of sablefish available for harvest by persons participating in the Pacific halibut and sablefish IFQ program.
Results
The result of Amendment 30 is that the CDQ reserve is fully allocated and harvested. The 2000 CDQ sablefish allocation was 1,127,873 pounds in the BSAI which equaled 20% of the fixed gear total allowable catch. Since approval of Amendment 30, the CDQ allocation has been harvested as in the box below: