Billing Code 3510-22-P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RTID 0648-XD994
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska; Bering Sea and Aleutian
Islands Crab Rationalization Cost Recovery Program
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notification of fee percentage.
SUMMARY: NMFS publishes notification of a 3 percent fee for cost recovery under the
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Program (Program). This action is
intended to provide holders of crab allocations notice of the 2024/2025 crab fishing year
fee percentage so they can calculate the required cost recovery fee payment, which must
be submitted to NMFS by July 31, 2025.
DATES: The Crab Rationalization Program Registered Crab Receiver permit holder is
responsible for submitting the fee liability payment to NMFS by July 31, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amy Hadfield, (907) 586-7228.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
NMFS Alaska Region administers the Program in the North Pacific. Fishing
under the Program began on August 15, 2005. Regulations implementing the Program
can be found at 50 CFR part 680.
The Program is a limited access privilege program authorized by section 313(j) of
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens
Act). The Program includes a cost recovery provision to collect fees to recover the actual
costs directly related to the management, data collection, and enforcement of the

Program. The Program is consistent with the cost recovery provisions included under
section 304(d)(2)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. NMFS developed the cost recovery
regulations to conform to statutory requirements and to reimburse the agency for the
actual costs directly related to the management, data collection, and enforcement of the
Program. The cost recovery provision allows collection of 133 percent of the actual
management, data collection, and enforcement costs not to exceed 3 percent of the exvessel value of crab harvested under the Program. The Program provides that a
proportional share of fees charged will be forwarded to the State of Alaska for
reimbursement of its share of management and data collection costs for the Program.
A crab allocation holder generally incurs a cost recovery fee liability for every
pound of crab landed. Catcher vessel and processor quota shareholders split the cost
recovery fees equally with each paying half, while catcher/processor quota shareholders
pay the full fee percentage for crab processed at sea. The crab allocations subject to cost
recovery include Individual Fishing Quota, Crew Individual Fishing Quota, Individual
Processing Quota, Community Development Quota, and the Adak community allocation.
The Registered Crab Receiver (RCR) permit holder must collect the fee liability from the
crab allocation holder who is landing crab. Additionally, the RCR permit holder must
collect their own fee liability for all crab delivered to the RCR. The RCR permit holder is
responsible for submitting this payment to NMFS on or before July 31, in the year
following the crab fishing year in which landings of crab were made.
The dollar amount of the fee due is determined by multiplying the fee percentage
(not to exceed 3 percent) by the ex-vessel value of crab debited from the allocation.
Program details may be found in the implementing regulations at §680.44.
Fee Percentage
Each year, NMFS calculates and publishes in the Federal Register the fee
percentage according to the factors and methodology described at § 680.44(c)(2). The

formula for determining the fee percentage is the “direct program costs” divided by
“value of the fishery,” where “direct program costs” are the direct program costs for the
Program for the previous fiscal year, and “value of the fishery” is the ex-vessel value of
the catch subject to the crab cost recovery fee liability for the current year. Fee
collections for any given year may be less than or greater than the actual costs and fishery
value for that year, as regulations establish the fee percentage in the first quarter of the
crab fishing year based on the fishery value and costs in the prior year.
According to the fee percentage formula described above, the estimated
percentage of costs to value for the 2023/2024 fishery is higher than the maximum fee
percentage of 3 percent. As the actual fee percentage is higher than the maximum fee
percentage, the effective fee percentage will be 3 percent for the 2024/2025 crab fishing
year. This is equal to the effective fee percentage for the 2023/2024 crab fishing year of 3
percent (88 FR 51301, August 3, 2023). While the fishery value increased by
approximately 75 percent from last year, the current year fishery value is the second
lowest value recorded for this fishery since 2013. Therefore, the overall low fishery value
and the direct program costs result in a fee percentage higher than 3 percent. A more
detailed explanation will be provided in the annual Crab Cost Recovery Report, which
will be published in the first quarter of 2025. Similar to previous years, the largest direct
Program costs were incurred by the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement and the State of
Alaska Department of Fish and Game, respectively.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1862; Pub. L. 109–241; Pub. L. 109–479.
Dated: June 26, 2024.

Lindsay Fullenkamp,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries,
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-14503 Filed: 6/28/2024 8:45 am; Publication Date: 7/2/2024]