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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 52 / Friday, March 19, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
FMP. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council Council prepared, and the Secretary of Commerce Secretary approved, the GOA FMP under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801
et seq. Regulations governing U.S.
fisheries and implementing the GOA
FMP appear at 50 CFR parts 600 and 679. The Rockfish Program is implemented by the GOA FMP and regulations at 50 CFR parts 600 and 679.

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Background On January 29, 2021, the Council received a request from Rockfish Program participants to consider emergency action under section 305c of the Magnuson-Stevens Act to modify the fishing season start date for the Rockfish Program in 2021. On February 10, 2021, the Council recommended that NMFS implement an emergency rule to modify the fishing season start date for fishing vessels participating in a rockfish cooperative as part of the Rockfish Program from May 1, 2021 to April 1, 2021 to address the negative economic and social impacts on harvesters and processors participating in the Rockfish Program and the community of Kodiak, Alaska due to the Coronavirus COVID19 pandemic.
The following sections describe the Rockfish Program, the existing dates of the fishing season, the emergency rule, and justification for emergency action.
The Rockfish Program This section provides a brief overview of the Rockfish Program and additional detail is available in Section 2 of the Analysis see ADDRESSES.
The Rockfish Program is a limited access privilege program LAPP
developed to enhance resource conservation and improve economic efficiency in the Central Gulf of Alaska CGOA rockfish fisheries. The Rockfish Program was implemented by Amendment 88 to the GOA FMP 76 FR
81247, December 27, 2011, and reauthorized under Amendment 111 to the GOA FMP on March 31, 2020 86 FR
11895, March 1, 2021. For more information about the background and history of this program, see the preamble to the final rule for Amendment 111 86 FR 11895, March 1, 2021.
Generally, the Rockfish Program 1
assigns quota share QS and cooperative quota CQ to participants for primary and secondary species, 2
allows a participant holding an license limitation program LLP license with rockfish QS to form a rockfish cooperative with other persons, 3
allows holders of catcher/processor LLP

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licenses to opt-out of rockfish cooperatives for a given year, 4
establishes a limited access fishery for participants who do not participate in a fishery cooperative for a given year, 5
includes an entry level longline fishery for persons who do not hold rockfish QS, 6 establishes constraints, commonly known as sideboard limits, for other non-Rockfish Program fisheries that apply to vessels and LLP licenses eligible to participate in the Rockfish Program, and 7 includes monitoring and enforcement provisions.
As summarized in Sections 2 and 4.2
of the Analysis see ADDRESSES, one of the overall goals of the Rockfish Program is to provide greater security to harvesters through the formation of rockfish cooperatives. Fishing under cooperative management resulted in a slower-paced fishery that allows a harvester to choose when to fish. The Rockfish Program also provided greater stability for processors by spreading out production over a longer period.
Overall, the Rockfish Program provides greater benefits to shoreside processors, catcher/processors, CGOA fishermen, and communities than were realized under the previous LLP management scheme.
Amendment 111 to the FMP and the implementing final rule 86 FR 11895, March 1, 2021 reauthorized the Rockfish Program, removed the Rockfish Program sunset date of December 31, 2021 and addressed a variety of administrative and management issues associated with the existing Rockfish Program. For more detail on the changes made by Amendment 111 to the FMP, see the preambles to the proposed rule 85 FR 55243, September 4, 2020 and final rule 86 FR 11895, March 1, 2021.
Rockfish Program Fishing Season Dates Fishing by cooperative participants, specifically fishing vessels, under the Rockfish Program is currently authorized from 1200 hours, A.l.t., May 1 through 1200 hours, A.l.t., November 15 each year. With implementation of the Rockfish Program, the Central GOA
rockfish fishery has changed from an approximate 3-week race to fish starting at the beginning of July, to a fishery that primarily occurs in May and June, with smaller harvest amounts occurring until November. Prior to the implementation of the Rockfish Program, the Gulf of Alaska rockfish fisheries opened on July 1 for fishing vessels using trawl gear.
As summarized in Section 3 of the Analysis see ADDRESSES, the Rockfish Program was developed to slow the race for fish, minimize bycatch and associated mortalities, provide for improved conservation of habitat, and
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address the social and economic concerns that have arisen under the original management system. The longer fishing season established under the Rockfish Program provides participants access to markets including a possible fresh market that were historically impossible to access because of the short duration and timing of the previous open access fishing season. In addition, by slowing the race for fish, Rockfish Program participants could focus on improving the quality of their landings, increasing fishery value and reducing overall Prohibited Species Catch PSC.
The lengthened fishing season under the Rockfish Program, enables cooperative members to consolidate their rockfish allocations and realize operational efficiencies.
As summarized in Section 3.6 of the Analysis, the start and end dates for the current fishing season under the Rockfish Program were set based on considerations of bycatch of other species, rockfish reproduction, and processor activity. The pre-Rockfish Program July season start date for the rockfish trawl fishery was intended to reduce halibut PSC.
Under the Rockfish Program, an earlier start date was implemented because PSC limits are effectively managed by participating cooperatives.
Bycatch of non-PSC species has been minimally impacted by the extended Rockfish Program season. The overall level of halibut, chinook and chum salmon PSC in the Rockfish Program remains low due to the PSC avoidance measures implemented by cooperative managers that include various reporting requirements and bycatch standards that have been proven to reduce PSC under the extended season.
In establishing existing Rockfish Program season start date, the Council and NMFS considered the timing of rockfish reproduction. The proposed April 1 season start date for this emergency rule is within the range of season start dates analyzed in the implementation of Rockfish Program.
Section 3.6 of the Analysis prepared for this emergency rule notes that modifying the opening season start date to April 1 would not create a biological concern but that the most conservative management approach would be to maintain the season start date at May 1
to marginally reduce any potential fishery impacts on rockfish reproduction and improve operational efficiency by staggering the opening of this fishery relative to other fisheries.
The season closing date of November 15 was selected to allow for fishing activity to be distributed over the course
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