Final Regulatory Impact Review for Proposed Amendment 47 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs Exempt Custom Processing from the Chionoecetes bairdi Tanner Crab Individual Processing Quota Use Caps

This Regulatory Impact Review analyzes a proposal to add Bering Sea C. bairdi Tanner crab to the list of species targeted by crab fisheries in the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs for which custom processing arrangements do not accrue to a facility’s individual processing quota (IPQ) use. The action would modify Federal regulations to permit custom processing arrangements for C. bairdi Tanner crab deliveries that are not counted against the plant operator’s IPQ use caps. Due to the consolidation of processors, the few processors available in the Bering Sea region are constrained by IPQ use caps, resulting in more C. bairdi Tanner crab being available for harvest than can be legally processed. This could result in a substantial amount of C. bairdi crab remaining unharvested. Harvesters, shoreside processors, and communities that participate in these fisheries have limited alternatives to mitigate the resulting negative economic effects. The custom processing exemption would enable fishermen to harvest and deliver C. bairdi Tanner crab to any processor able to process that crab. 2016 NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) Submitted Public Domain 1862