Justification for Change

JUSTIFICATION
ALASKA ROCKFISH PROGRAM
OMB CONTROL NO. 0648-0545

JUSTIFICATION FOR CHANGE: Adjustment to Rockfish Program vessel checkin/check-out report to allow online submittal to NMFS.
In Section 802 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 108–199; Section 802),
the United States Congress directed the Secretary of Commerce to establish, in consultation with
the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council), a pilot program for management of
the rockfish fisheries in the Central Gulf of Alaska (CGOA). Following this directive, in 2005
the Council adopted a share-based management program. The National Marine Fisheries
Service’s (NMFS) Rockfish Pilot Program (Program) under which the total allowable catch is
apportioned as exclusive shares to cooperatives based on the catch history of the members of
those cooperatives. The Program provides exclusive harvesting and processing privileges for a
specific set of rockfish species, associated species, and Pacific halibut harvested incidentally to
those CGOA rockfish in an area from 140º W. long. to 168º W. long. The Program was
originally established as a two-year program, but was extended to a five-year program. The
current termination date for the Program is December 31, 2011.
The Program allocation is divided between the catcher vessel sector and the catcher/processor
sector, based on historic catches of the participants in the respective sectors. Participants in each
sector can fish as part of a cooperative; in a competitive, limited access fishery; or may opt-out
of the fishery.
In order to meet the Rockfish Pilot Program check-in requirements of 679.5(r)(10), NMFS
allowed cooperatives to submit Rockfish vessel check-in/check-out forms via email, in addition
to fax and U.S. mail. At the request of industry, we have recently developed an online
application to allow cooperatives to check in and out in conjunction with their current online
account balance websites (initiated in 2008 when intercooperative transfer of cooperative quota
was approved by OMB (change request approved 10-24-08)).
The designated representative of a rockfish cooperative must designate any vessel that is fishing
under the rockfish cooperative’s Cooperative Quota (CQ) permit before that vessel may fish
under that CQ permit. This authorization allows the cooperative to determine how and when
vessels will fish under a CQ permit. The designated cooperative representative must “check-in”
a vessel when it is fishing under a CQ permit during the rockfish cooperative fishing year, and
“check-out” vessels no longer fishing under its CQ permit.
Vessel check-in report.
Rockfish cooperatives must designate at least one vessel to fish the CQ permit for that
cooperative effective on May 1. The representative must designate any vessel that is fishing
under a CQ permit at least 48 hours prior to the time the vessel begins a fishing trip under a CQ
permit. A check-in report is effective at the beginning of the first fishing trip after the

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designation has been submitted. This advance notice provides NMFS time to adjust catch
accounting procedures and accurately monitor catch.
Vessel check-out report.
If a vessel has completed fishing under a CQ permit for a rockfish cooperative, the designated
representative must submit a check-out report for that vessel to notify NMFS of that fact, within
6 hours after the effective date and time of the designation. This ensures that catch is properly
debited against a CQ account and reduces the risk that a subsequent trip would be misapplied as
occurring under a CQ permit and have to be corrected.
The affected cooperatives and vessels are already counted in this collection. Revision to this
collection-of-information does not require additional training of the users and does not impose a
significant impact on small entities. Costs and burden are not expected to change as a result of
this action. In fact, costs may be decreased by improved efficiency.
The Rockfish vessel check-in/check-out report may be completed online through the NMFS
Alaska Region website at http://elandings.alaska.gov.

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