Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Crab FMP, Amendment __ ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Main Authors: Bering Sea, Aleutian Isl, S King, Tanner Crabs
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Bering Sea; Aleutian Island; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.161.2623; http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/current_issues/crab/ROFRmods909.pdf

In August of 2005, fishing in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Island crab fisheries began under a new sharebased management program (the “rationalization program”). The program is unique in several ways, including the allocation of processing shares corresponding to a portion of the harvest share pool. These processor shares were allocated to processors based on their respective processing histories. To protect community interests, holders of most processor shares were required to enter agreements granting community designated entities a right of first refusal on certain transfers of those shares. Since implementation, community representatives and fishery participants have suggested that some aspects of the rights of first refusal may inhibit their effectiveness in protecting community interests. This amendment package considers actions intended to address the following three of the concerns: 1) the lapse of the right after three consecutive years of use of the individual processing quota (IPQ) outside the community or if a community entity elects not to exercise the right on a transaction to which it applies; 2) the relatively short period of time allowed for exercising and performing under the right; and 3) the requirement that the right apply to all assets involved in a transaction, which could include assets outside the community.