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: 2008
• Subjects: Bering Sea; Aleutian Island
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.161.3626; http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/current_issues/crab/StGeorgeCool408.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. Processor shares were allocated to processors based on their respective processing histories. To protect community interests, most processing shares were required to be used in the community in which the processing history occurred during the first two years of the program (the ‘cooling off period’). In addition, 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. The agreements also specify that under certain conditions, the right of first refusal will lapse. Due in part to intervening circumstances, and notwithstanding these protections, no shares designated for processing in the City of St. George were processed in that community during the first two years of the rationalization program. This action considers extending the ‘cooling off period ’ for the City of St. George and revising the conditions under which the right of first refusal will lapse with respect to those shares. Purpose and Need Statement The intent of community protection measures in the crab rationalization program may not have been met