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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 36 / Thursday, February 25, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
with the FMP and with the MagnusonStevens Act and other applicable laws.
This action is authorized under 50
CFR 679.20 and is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.
NMFS prepared an EIS for the Alaska groundfish harvest specifications and alternative harvest strategies see ADDRESSES and made it available to the public on January 12, 2007 72 FR
1512. On February 13, 2007, NMFS
issued the Record of Decision ROD for the Final EIS. In January 2021, NMFS
prepared a Supplementary Information Report SIR for this action to provide a subsequent assessment of the action and to address the need to prepare a Supplemental EIS SEIS 40 CFR
1501.11b; 1502.9d1. Copies of the Final EIS, ROD, and annual SIRs for this action are available from NMFS see ADDRESSES. The Final EIS analyzes the environmental, social, and economic consequences of the groundfish harvest specifications and alternative harvest strategies on resources in the action area. Based on the analysis in the Final EIS, NMFS concluded that the preferred alternative Alternative 2 provides the best balance among relevant environmental, social, and economic considerations and allows for continued management of the groundfish fisheries based on the most recent, best scientific information. The preferred alternative is a harvest strategy in which TACs are set at a level within the range of ABCs recommended by the Councils SSC; the sum of the TACs must achieve the OY
specified in the FMP. While the specific numbers that the harvest strategy produces may vary from year to year, the methodology used for the preferred harvest strategy remains constant.
The annual SIR evaluates the need to prepare a SEIS for the 2021 and 2022
groundfish harvest specifications. An SEIS should be prepared if 1 the agency makes substantial changes in the proposed action that are relevant to environmental concerns; or 2
significant new circumstances or information exist relevant to environmental concerns and bearing on the proposed action or its impacts 40
CFR 1502.9d1. After reviewing the information contained in the SIR and SAFE reports, the Regional Administrator has determined that 1
approval of the 2021 and 2022 harvest specifications, which were set according to the preferred harvest strategy in the Final EIS, does not constitute a substantial change in the action; and 2
there are no significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns and bearing on the action or its impacts. Additionally, the 2021 and 2022 harvest specifications
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will result in environmental, social, and economic impacts within the scope of those analyzed and disclosed in the Final EIS. Therefore, an SEIS is not necessary to implement the 2021 and 2022 harvest specifications.
A final regulatory flexibility analysis FRFA was prepared. Section 604 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act RFA 5
U.S.C. 604 requires that, when an agency promulgates a final rule under 5
U.S.C. 553, after being required by that section, or any other law, to publish a general notice of proposed rulemaking, the agency shall prepare a FRFA. The following constitutes the FRFA
prepared in the final action.
Section 604 of the RFA describes the required contents of a final regulatory flexibility analysis: 1 A statement of the need for, and objectives of, the rule;
2 a statement of the significant issues raised by the public comments in response to the initial regulatory flexibility analysis, a statement of the assessment of the agency of such issues, and a statement of any changes made in the proposed rule as a result of such comments; 3 the response of the agency to any comments filed by the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration in response to the proposed rule, and a detailed statement of any change made to the proposed rule in the final rule as a result of the comments; 4 a description of and an estimate of the number of small entities to which the rule will apply or an explanation of why no such estimate is available; 5 a description of the projected reporting, recordkeeping, and other compliance requirements of the rule, including an estimate of the classes of small entities which will be subject to the requirement and the type of professional skills necessary for preparation of the report or record; and 6 a description of the steps the agency has taken to minimize the significant economic impact on small entities consistent with the stated objectives of applicable statutes, including a statement of the factual, policy, and legal reasons for selecting the alternative adopted in the final rule and why each one of the other significant alternatives to the rule considered by the agency that affect the impact on small entities was rejected.
A description of this action, its purpose, and its legal basis are included at the beginning of the preamble to this final rule and are not repeated here.
NMFS published the proposed rule on December 3, 2020 85 FR 78096. NMFS
prepared an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis IRFA to accompany the proposed action, and included the IRFA in the proposed rule.

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The comment period closed on January 4, 2021. No comments were received on the IRFA or on the economic impacts of the rule more generally. The Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration did not file any comments on the proposed rule.
The entities directly regulated by this action are those that harvest groundfish in the exclusive economic zone of the BSAI and in parallel fisheries within State waters. These include entities operating catcher vessels and catcher/
processors within the action area and entities receiving direct allocations of groundfish.
For RFA purposes only, NMFS has established a small business size standard for businesses, including their affiliates, whose primary industry is commercial fishing see 50 CFR 200.2.
A business primarily engaged in commercial fishing NAICS code 11411
is classified as a small business if it is independently owned and operated, is not dominant in its field of operation including its affiliates, and has combined annual gross receipts not in excess of $11 million for all its affiliated operations worldwide.
Using the most recent data available 2019, the estimated number of directly regulated small entities include approximately 605 catcher vessels, 56
catcher/processors, and six CDQ groups.
Some of these vessels are members of AFA inshore pollock cooperatives, Gulf of Alaska rockfish cooperatives, or BSAI
Crab Rationalization Program cooperatives, and, since under the RFA
the aggregate gross receipts of all participating members of the cooperative must meet the under $11
million threshold, the cooperatives are considered to be large entities within the meaning of the RFA. Thus, the estimate of 605 catcher vessels may be an overstatement of the number of small entities. Average gross revenues in 2019
were $500,000 for small hook-and-line vessels, $1.4 million for small pot vessels, $2.9 million for small trawl vessels, $7.0 million for hook-and-line CPs, and $3.5 million for pot gear CPs.
This final rule contains no information collection requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
This action implements the final 2021
and 2022 harvest specifications, apportionments, and prohibited species catch limits for the groundfish fishery of the BSAI. This action is necessary to establish harvest limits for groundfish during the 2021 and 2022 fishing years and is taken in accordance with the FMP prepared by the Council pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The establishment of the final harvest
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