47 Authorize an Interim North Pacific Groundfish and Halibut Observer Program
Purpose and Need
In December 1989, GOA Amendment 18 and BSAI Amendment 13 authorized a comprehensive observer program for U.S. fisheries. To fulfill the objectives of Amendments 18 and 13, the Council and NMFS developed the North Pacific Fisheries Research Plan (Research Plan) under Amendment 30, which required observers to be stationed on certain groundfish vessels and established a fee structure to fund the observer program. Amendment 30 was approved and the Research Plan was partially implemented in 1994 with minor changes in 1995. The Council was reluctant to fully implement the Research Plan until they had more time to reconsider the changes and requested additional time to analyze the effects of fully implementing the Research Plan. This extension maintained 1995 observer coverage requirements through 1996. In 1995, the Council asked NMFS to repeal the Research Plan in favor of a program that allowed direct payment for observer services as had been done in the past. This request initiated the analysis process to explore alternatives to the Research Plan. After hearing the alternatives in April 1996, the Council determined that the information was not sufficient to make a decision and requested additional cost comparisons. However, since current observer coverage requirements expired on December 31 of that year, the Council adopted an alternative the authorized an interim groundfish observer program and superseded the Research Plan.
Analysis
A 67-page EA/RIR/IRFA (Secretarial review draft dated June 1996) was prepared to analyze two action alternatives and a status quo alternative. Two options were included under the status quo: 1) Reinitiate the fee collection program during 1997 as authorized under section 313 of the Magnuson-Stevens Act so that the Research Plan may be fully implemented by 1998, or 2) Do not reinitiate the fee collection program so that the Research Plan expires at the end of 1996. Under Option 2, lacking further action by the Council to supersede the Research Plan by an FMP amendment under Alternatives 2 or 3, no observer coverage would be authorized for the Alaska groundfish fisheries in 1997 and beyond. Alternative 2 would revert back to the observer program as it existed before implementation of the Research Plan with an option to implement an interim observer program to supersede the Research Plan on January 1, 1997. This was the Council’s preferred alternative and it authorized mandatory groundfish observer coverage requirements through 1997. A third alternative to establish a pay-as-you go groundfish observer program was also considered, but was seen by many as inequitable, because although all participants in the groundfish, halibut, and crab fisheries benefited from the groundfish and crab observer programs, only those with observer coverage requirements bore the cost.
Regulation Summary
GOA Amendment 47 (BSAI Amendment 47/ BSAI Crab Amendment 6) created an interim North Pacific Groundfish Observer Program that would expire December 31, 1997 or when superseded by a permanent observer program. This Program superseded the Research Plan under Amendment 30.
Results
The modified Observer Program was superseded in 2013 by Amendment 76, the restructured Observer Program, which addressed the problems identified in Amendments 30 and 47.