( printed page 40629)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

NMFS manages the U.S. groundfish fisheries of the exclusive economic zone off Alaska under the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska and the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI FMP). With Federal oversight, the State of Alaska manages the commercial king crab and Tanner crab fisheries under the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands king and Tanner Crabs. The fishery management plans (FMPs) were prepared by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and approved by the Secretary of Commerce under authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. The FMPs are implemented by regulations at 50 CFR parts 679 and 680. General regulations that pertain to U.S. fisheries appear at subpart H of 50 CFR part 600.

Management of the Pacific halibut fisheries in and off Alaska is governed by an international agreement, the “Convention Between the United States of America and Canada for the Preservation of the Halibut Fishery of the Northern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea,” (Convention) which was signed in Ottawa, Canada, on March 2, 1953, and was amended by the “Protocol Amending the Convention,” signed in Washington, DC, on March 29, 1979. The Convention is implemented in the United States by the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982.

The Interagency Electronic Reporting System, with its data entry component, eLandings, was implemented with a final rule published March 2, 2005 (70 FR 10174), for the Crab Rationalization (CR) Program. The use of eLandings was implemented for groundfish fisheries and the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program through a final rule published December 15, 2008 (73 FR 76136).

Since implementation and use of eLandings, NMFS has identified minor regulatory changes needed to improve and update the methods and procedures of eLandings, and to improve the flexibility and efficiency of recordkeeping and reporting requirements for NMFS Alaska Region fishery programs.

This final rule revises regulations, as follows:

• Standardizes data entry time limits for recording discard, disposition, product, and other required information in the daily fishing logbook, daily cumulative production logbook, or eLandings to correspond with actual fishing operations.
• Sets time limits for recording information in the paper catcher vessel daily fishing logbooks (DFLs) and mothership and catcher/processor DCPLs.
• Sets time limits to submit landing reports and production reports to NMFS through eLandings.
• Sets time limits to submit electronic logbook (ELB) information through eLandings.
• Revises information to be recorded or submitted “by noon of the following day” to read “by midnight of the following day.”
• Revises “noon” and “midnight” in Alaska local time (A.l.t.) to read 1200 hours, A.l.t., and 2400 hours, A.l.t., respectively.
• Changes the deadline for a vessel operator's signature entry in the DFLs, DCPLs, and ELBs from noon to midnight.
• Revises the deadline for printing a copy of the ELB logsheet from noon to midnight each day.
• Revises the submittal time limit for the delivery “landed scale weight” entry on SSP or SFP eLandings landing reports.
• Revises the time limit to record scale weights in the DCPL for catcher/processors participating in the Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Program.
• Revises deadlines for recording scale weights and CDQ group number in the catcher/processor trawl DCPL.
• Removes the requirement to record the date of landing in the SSP or SFP landing report.
• Clarifies extension of time limits for eLandings production reports from SSPs or SFPs not taking deliveries over the weekend.
• Corrects reporting time limit tables for DCPLs and eLandings.
• Adds a requirement that the Registered Crab Receiver record the region in which the stationary floating processor is located at the time of crab delivery.
• Makes non-substantive clarification edits and corrections to regulatory text to include the recording of information in a logbook versus submitting information through eLandings, record information about crew and observers in eLandings, and the correct use of the terms “landings” and “landing.”
• Makes non-substantive clarifications to regulatory tables.
• Removes detailed NMFS mail, fax, and delivery addresses from regulations and replace them with one paragraph stating that the form must be submitted in accordance with instructions on the form.
• Provides separate species codes for Arrowtooth flounder,Atheresthes stomias, species code 121, and for Kamchatka flounder, Atheresthes evermanni, species code 117.
• Reinstates regulations about scale inspection locations that were inadvertently removed in a previous rule.

These changes are intended to remove inconsistencies in the current regulations describing eLandings. These changes will reduce potential confusion on the part of industry participants, other interested parties, and the public at large. In addition, these changes will reduce costs for processors and Registered Crab Receivers using eLandings. The fishing industry currently uses eLandings to comply with recordkeeping and reporting requirements, so the time and knowledge it takes to complete an eLandings data entry is already established. The entities upon which these changes are imposed are existing registered eLandings users.

These changes will provide benefits, by clarifying eLandings requirements for industry participants and other interested parties, and by increasing the efficiency of the eLandings process. The overall impact on the fishing industry will be increased operational flexibility. There are no economic impacts from these proposed regulatory changes.

NMFS published the proposed rule for this action in the Federal Register on February 11, 2011 (76 FR 7788), with a public comment period that closed March 14, 2011. No comments were received during this comment period.

The principal elements of this regulatory amendment are described and explained in detail in the preamble to the proposed rule and are not repeated here.

NMFS made no changes from the proposed rule to the final rule.

Classification

The Administrator, Alaska Region, NMFS, determined that the amendment is necessary for the conservation and management of the BSAI and GOA groundfish fisheries and that it is consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and other applicable laws.

This final rule has been determined to be not significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866.

The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration during the proposed rule stage that this action will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The factual basis for the certification was published in the ( printed page 40630) proposed rule and is not repeated here. No comments were received regarding this certification, and no changes have been made from the proposed rule. As a result, a regulatory flexibility analysis was not required and none was prepared.

Collection-of-Information Requirements

This final rule contains collection-of-information requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) and which have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Public reporting burden estimates per response for these requirements are listed by OMB control number.

OMB Control Number 0648-0213

Public reporting burden is estimated to average per response: 18 minutes for catcher vessel trawl gear DFL; 28 minutes for catcher vessel longline or pot gear DFL; 31 minutes for mothership DCPL; 41 minutes for catcher/processor longline or pot gear DCPL; and 30 minutes for catcher/processor trawl gear DCPL or ELB.

OMB Control Number 0648-0515

Public reporting burden is estimated to average per response: 15 minutes for eLandings application processor registration; 35 minutes for eLandings landing report; and 20 minutes for catcher/processor or mothership eLandings production report.

OMB Control Number 0648-0330

Public reporting burden is estimated to average per response: 6 minutes for inspection request for an at-sea scale.

Public reporting estimates include the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection-of-information.

Send comments on these or any other aspects of the collection-of-information to NMFS Alaska Region at the ADDRESSES above, and e-mail to OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov, or fax to 202-395-7285.

Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, no person is required to respond to, nor shall any person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with, a collection-of-information subject to the requirements of the PRA, unless that collection-of-information displays a currently valid OMB control number.

For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 679 is amended as follows:

1. The authority citation for part 679 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq.; 1801 et seq.; 3631 et seq.;Pub. L. 108-447.

2. In § 679.5,

a. Remove paragraphs (c)(3)(i)(C)( 2) and (e)(5)(i)(A)( 11);

b. Redesignate paragraph (c)(3)(i)(C)( 1) as (c)(3)(i)(C), paragraphs (c)(4)(ii)(B)( 2) through ( 6) as paragraphs (c)(4)(ii)(B)( 3) through ( 7), and paragraph (e)(5)(i)(A)( 12) as (e)(5)(i)(A)( 11);

c. Revise paragraphs (c)(3)(ii)(A) table heading, (c)(3)(ii)(A)( 2), (c)(3)(ii)(B) introductory text, (c)(3)(ii)(B) table heading, (c)(3)(ii)(B)( 1), ( 2), ( 3), ( 4), and ( 5), (c)(4)(ii) heading, (c)(4)(ii)(A) table heading, (c)(4)(ii)(A)( 2), (c)(4)(ii)(B) introductory text, (c)(4)(ii)(B) table heading, (c)(4)(ii)(B)( 1), newly redesignated (c)(4)(ii)(B)( 3) through ( 6), (c)(6)(ii) heading, (c)(6)(ii) introductory text, (c)(6)(ii) table heading, (c)(6)(ii)(A), (B), (C), (D), and (E), (e)(2)(ii), (e)(4), (e)(5)(i)(B), (e)(5)(ii), (e)(6)(ii), (e)(7)(iii)(C), (e)(8)(iii)(B), (e)(9)(ii), (e)(10)(iv), (e)(11)(i), (e)(12), (f)(2)(iii)(B)( 1), and (f)(3)(i)(C); and

d. Add paragraphs (c)(4)(ii)(B)( 2) and (e)(8)(iii)(D).

The additions and revisions read as follows:

3. In § 679.28, paragraph (b)(2)(v) is revised to read as follows.

4. At each of the locations shown in the “Location” column, remove the phrase indicated in the “Remove” column and replace it with the phrase indicated in the “Add” column for the number of times indicated in the “Frequency” column.

( printed page 40634)

5. Revise Table 1a to part 679 to read as follows:

6. Revise Table 1b to part 679 to read as follows:

7. Revise Table 2a to part 679 to read as follows:

8. Revise Table 2d to part 679 to read as follows:

9. Revise Table 3 to part 679 to read as follows:

( printed page 40638)

( printed page 40639)

( printed page 40640)

10. Revise Table 10 to part 679 to read as follows:

( printed page 40641)

( printed page 40642)

( printed page 40643)

11. Revise Table 21 to part 679 to read as follows: ( printed page 40644)