Purpose and Need

In 1998, the American Fisheries Act (AFA) was signed into law, allowing the BSAI pollock fleet the opportunity to rationalize the fishery through the formation of cooperatives while protecting non-AFA participants in other fisheries. The AFA eliminated the race for pollock through the establishment of cooperatives with specific provisions for their allocations, structure, and participation by catcher vessels and processing plants, as well as annual reporting requirements and excessive share limits. In response to a directive in the AFA, the Council added measures to protect other fisheries from adverse effects arising from the exclusive pollock allocation. Cooperative fishing began under the AFA program in 1999. The Council heard inshore sector concerns of the adverse economic impacts of prohibiting members of an inshore cooperative from leasing their pollock to members of other AFA-eligible inshore cooperatives, as defined in AFA regulations. The ability for the AFA inshore sector to lease quota was limited to the point where the market did not function properly. In turn, the Council adopted a problem statement identifying the need to increase the flexibility of quota leasing in the AFA sector in order to meet three objectives: 

1) Increase efficiency and provide catcher vessel owners with a more functional market for leasing of individual pollock allocations,

2) ensure that an inshore cooperative is able to harvest its entire allocation in the event of vessel breakdowns or other unanticipated emergencies, and 

3) improve safety by providing greater flexibility for larger catcher vessels to harvest cooperative allocations during hazardous weather in winter months and when Steller sea lion conservation measures require that fishing be done further offshore.

Analysis

A 34-page RIR/IRFA was prepared for the amendment that analyzed a status quo alternative, and the Council-preferred action alternative to allow inshore cooperatives to contract with AFA eligible inshore cooperative member vessels outside of their cooperative.

Regulation Summary

Amendment 69 to the BSAI FMP allowed AFA inshore catcher vessel cooperative to contract with a non-member vessel to harvest a portion of its inshore pollock allocation so long as the non-member vessel holds an AFA catcher vessel permit with an inshore processing endorsement and id a member of another inshore cooperative. This amendment supersedes subparagraph 210(b)(1)(B) of the AFA which prohibits inshore cooperative vessels from fishing in excess of their cooperative allocation, and paragraph 210(b)(5) which prohibits inshore cooperative vessels from fishing for any BSAI pollock that is not allocated to that cooperative.

Results

The result of the amendment is a greater assurance that cooperatives would be able to harvest their entire BSAI pollock allocation, and the persons leasing the quota would receive a higher price per pound for their pollock. Additionally, the amendment provides the fleet with the flexibility to respond to management measures implemented to protect Stellar sea lions that would otherwise place a great burden on small independent vessel