Regulatory Flexibility Analysis of a Regulatory Amendment to Revise Regulations Regarding Tagged Halibut and Tagged Sablefish for the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Fisheries and Western Alaska CDQ Fisheries off the Coast of Alaska
June 21, 2006
This Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (FRFA) evaluates the adverse economic impacts on directly regulated small entities of a regulatory amendment to exclude tagged halibut and tagged sablefish catches from deduction from fishermen’s Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) and from Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) accounts.
This action is a regulatory change to clarify that only halibut and sablefish that are tagged with an external research tag may be excluded from Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) deduction. It would also expand the exemption from quota deduction for halibut of sablefish tagged with an external research tag to the Community Development Quota (CDQ) program.
This regulation appears to impose no costs on directly regulated small entities. IFQ fishermen currently voluntarily bear the small burden of collecting and returning tags. Fishermen in the IFQ halibut and IFQ sablefish fisheries are accustomed to exemptions for delivery of externally tagged fish, and may choose to continue to enjoy this benefit. CDQ groups harvesting CDQ halibut and CDQ sablefish will now also have the opportunity to benefit from this exemption. CDQ groups will not be required to return tags, so no costs will be imposed on them.
This Regulatory Flexibility Analysis addresses the requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.