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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 59 / Tuesday, March 30, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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Classification The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA, finds good cause pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553bB of the APA to waive prior notice and the opportunity for public comment because it would be impracticable and contrary to the public interest. This emergency rule provides flexibility for QS holders to temporarily transfer their IFQ to an eligible individual to harvest their IFQ for the 2021 IFQ fishing year.
This emergency rule applies only to CV
QS that is held by individuals. This emergency rule will not modify any additional restrictions on IFQ transfers.
Without the increased flexibility to temporarily transfer IFQ, there may be unforeseen challenges for harvesting and processing. The associated loss in harvesting and processing revenues would likely impact the harvesters, crew, and communities that are active in the IFQ Program.
Emergency action is necessary because the time required to follow the standard notice-and-comment rulemaking process prescribed by the Magnuson-Stevens Act and required by the APA will not provide sufficient time before the start of the 2021 IFQ fishing season which was March 6, 2021, and will substantially cut into the season itself. NMFS has no other way than this emergency rule to amend these IFQ
transfer provisions to provide additional flexibility to CV QS holders to mitigate negative impacts of the ongoing economic and operational challenges in 2021. Allowing for flexibility for 2021
will provide immediate economic benefits that outweigh the value of the deliberative notice-and-comment rulemaking process.
The need for emergency action, as described above also supports the need to waive the prior notice and comment period. For those reasons, and in the interest of implementing this emergency rule in a timely manner, the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries finds good cause under 5 U.S.C. 553d3 to waive the 30-day delay in the date of effectiveness provision of the APA and make this emergency rule effective immediately upon publication in the Federal Register. As stated above, NMFS anticipates that this emergency rule will allow for harvest of the remaining IFQ and should prevent prolonged economic losses from the potential forgone harvests.
This action has been determined to be not significant for purposes of E.O.
12866.
This emergency/interim rule is exempt from the procedures of the Regulatory Flexibility Act because the
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rule is not subject to the requirement to provide prior notice and opportunity for public comment pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
553 or any other law. Accordingly, no regulatory flexibility analysis is required and none has been prepared.
Collection-of-Information Requirements This emergency rule contains a collection-of-information requirement subject to review and approval by the Office of Management and Budget OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act PRA. NMFS has submitted an emergency information request for this requirement to OMB for approval under a new control number. Due to the need to begin collecting this information immediately, NMFS is unable to allow for the time periods normally required for clearance under the PRA. This new collection will be discontinued after the 2021 fishing season, which ends December 7, 2021.
This information collection adds a checkbox to the Application for Temporary Transfer of Halibut/
Sablefish Individual Fishing Quota IFQ, which is approved under OMB
Control Number 06480272. The checkbox will indicate the application is being submitted for a temporary transfer for the 2021 fishing year only.
It also removes the notary certification for this application because this emergency rule does not require it for NMFS to approve this application for the 2021 IFQ fishing year. Additionally, NMFS will request that the revised Application for Temporary Transfer of Halibut/Sablefish Individual Fishing Quota IFQ be added to OMB Control Number 06480272 to allow for future use of the form if necessary.
The public reporting burden for this form will remain at two hours, which includes the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.
The new information collection will cover the additional QS holders that NMFS estimates may use this form to request this temporary transfer. NMFS
estimates 1,300 respondents, 650 total responses, 1,300 total burden hours, and $6,500 total recordkeeping and reporting costs to the public for the new collection.
We invite the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the publics reporting burden. Written comments and recommendations for this information collection should be
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submitted on the following website:
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
Find this particular information collection by selecting Currently under Review or by using the search function and entering the title of the collection.
Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, no person is required to respond to, nor shall any person be subject to penalty for failure to comply with, a collection of information subject to the requirement of the PRA, unless that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control number.
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679
Alaska, Fisheries, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: March 25, 2021.
Samuel D. Rauch III, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine Fisheries Service.

For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 679 is amended as follows:
PART 679FISHERIES OF THE
EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF
ALASKA
1. The authority citation for 50 CFR
part 679 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq.; 1801 et seq.; 3631 et seq.; Pub. L. 108447; Pub. L.
111281.

2. In 679.41, add paragraphs h3
and p to read as follows:

679.41

Transfer of quota shares and IFQ.

h
3 IFQ resulting from categories B, C, or D QS may not be transferred separately from its originating QS, except as provided in paragraph d, f, k, l, m, o, or p of this section.

p Temporary IFQ transfer for 2021.
During the 2021 IFQ fishing year only, the Regional Administrator may approve a temporary transfer for IFQ
derived from categories B, C, or D QS.
1 A QS holder may apply for a temporary transfer by submitting an Application for Temporary Transfer of Halibut/Sablefish Individual Fishing Quota IFQ to the Alaska Region, NMFS. NMFS will transfer, upon approval of the application, the applicable IFQ from the applicant transferor to the recipient transferee.
The application is available at http
alaskafisheries.noaa.gov or by calling 1
8003044846. A certification from a notary is not required for NMFS to approve an Application for Temporary
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