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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 59 / Tuesday, March 30, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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this expectation, the Council chose to not request that the Secretary seek public comment on the June 25, 2020
emergency rule, and create the opportunity for the Secretary to extend the emergency IFQ Program temporary transfer rules effectiveness another 186
days and well into 2021. However, the continued dissemination of vaccines along with the existence of new virus variants necessitate the continuation of pandemic precautions that impede IFQ
Program participants travel and fishing operations.
In 2020, IFQ Program fishery participants stated that health mandates and travel restrictions increased costs to QS holders who live outside of Alaska.
In addition to increased costs, ex-vessel prices for halibut and sablefish have decreased substantially in many Alaskan ports due to recent and unforeseen deteriorating market conditions see Section 3 of the Analysis. Additionally, health advisories and travel policies limit IFQ
Program participants ability to access remote Alaska fishing ports in a timely and cost-efficient manner.
Even if health advisories and restrictive travel policies are relieved during the 2021 IFQ fishing year, fishery participants may not be able to conduct fishing operations due to limited air travel to many Alaskan ports.
Alternatively, health advisories and travel policies may possibly become more restrictive in response to the rapidly changing pandemic. Because of these circumstances it is important to provide maximum flexibility to the IFQ
fishery.
As noted previously, existing hired master and medical transfer provisions are only available under specific conditions e.g., an individual may not receive a medical transfer unless a health care provider attests that their medical condition precludes their participation in IFQ fisheries. Due to these limitations, and the recent and unforeseen limitations on the IFQ
fisheries, an emergency action is required to provide individual CV QS
holders the ability to transfer IFQ during the 2021 fishing season. Sections 3.2
and 3.3 of the Analysis provides additional detail on medical transfer and hired master provisions, respectively.
Criterion 2Presents Serious Conservation or Management Problems in the Fishery Ongoing health advisories and travel policies present serious management problems in the IFQ fisheries. If there is not additional flexibility to transfer IFQ, some fishery participants may forego
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harvesting catch due to additional costs and logistical challenges.
If harvesters forego catch, this could result in the under-harvest of IFQ
accounts. Under existing IFQ
regulations, harvesters may roll over up to 10 percent of an IFQ permits remaining balance to the following year 679.40 c. However, anyone unable to harvest at least 90 percent of their allocation of IFQ would be at risk of foregoing harvests. This occurred during the first two months of the IFQ season in 2020; from March 14 to May 7, there were 54 percent less halibut harvested and 11 percent less sablefish harvested than in 2019 over the same period see Section 3 of the Analysis.
Given ongoing health advisories, travel policies and other related logistical challenges facing the IFQ
fisheries, additional flexibility in IFQ
transfer provisions will increase the ability for harvesters to harvest, and processors to process, a larger proportion of the overall TACs. This will directly address a serious management concern: Foregone harvest due to recent, unforeseen, and recently discovered events.
NMFS notes that this emergency rule will not cause a conservation concern by increasing the risk of overharvest of IFQ. This emergency rule will not increase the halibut catch limits or the sablefish TACs. The total amount of IFQ
issued will not increase. This emergency rule will not modify existing requirements on the types of vessels and gear that may be used, monitoring requirements, record keeping regulations, or other aspects of the IFQ
Program.
Criterion 3Can Be Addressed Through Emergency Rulemaking for Which the Immediate Benefits Outweigh the Value of Notice and Comment Rulemaking Ongoing health advisories and travel policies impacting the IFQ fisheries can be addressed through emergency regulations for which the immediate benefits outweigh the value of our normal rulemaking process. As explained previously, not all QS holders are able to use existing regulatory provisions to transfer IFQ. Providing for a temporary transfer of IFQ for all CV
QS holders for the 2021 IFQ fishing year will not create conservation or management concerns and is consistent with the overall goals of the IFQ
Programnamely, to provide for the complete and efficient harvest of the halibut and sablefish resource and promote an owner-operated IFQ fishery see Section 5 of the Analysis for additional detail.

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To address the emergency, NMFS
must implement an emergency rule that waives the prior notice-and-comment rulemaking period. The benefits of waiving prior notice-and-comment rulemaking will serve the industry and public by providing flexibility for IFQ
participants. Any delay in implementing rulemaking may reduce opportunities to harvest halibut and sablefish. see Section 4.2 of the Analysis.
Without immediate implementation, many IFQ Program participants may not have the flexibility in place to plan for the upcoming season, which may limit their ability to prosecute these fisheries as intended. The halibut and sablefish IFQ fisheries are harvested from numerous ports from hundreds of vessels that must be coordinated with other harvesting and processing activities. Increasing the flexibility for QS holders to transfer IFQ expeditiously provides additional opportunity for halibut and sablefish to be harvested in the 2021 fishing season. Vessel owners need time to secure crew, which may shift into other groundfish fisheries, non-groundfish fisheries, or other activities if they are unable to secure adequate IFQ to support their fishing operations. In addition, vessel owners need sufficient lead time to revise fishing plans, restock vessels, change gear, and have the vessel travel to and from the fishing grounds to prosecute the IFQ fisheries.
This emergency rule will not impose additional restrictions on the IFQ
halibut and sablefish fisheries, but will alleviate one limitation relating to transfers. This emergency rule will not increase the amount of available harvests, increase any risk of overharvest, or otherwise modify conservation measures. This emergency rule is needed to allow for the complete and efficient harvest of the IFQ fisheries and to temporarily alleviate the unforeseen economic, social, and public health impacts on the IFQ fisheries that are detailed in this preamble.
The emergency rule considerations discussed herein also warrant instituting these IFQ temporary transfer measures in the halibut fisheries under the Halibut Act. The Halibut Act authorizes the Council to develop limited access program regulations for the halibut fisheries that, in another step, must then be approved by the Secretary. As discussed further below, emergency-based halibut fishery regulations that waive prior notice and comment and a 30-day delay in effectiveness period must be consistent with the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act APA.

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