50 C.F.R. § 660.320 Allocations.
Title 50 - Wildlife and Fisheries
(a) General. The commercial portion of the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery, excluding the treaty Indian fishery, is divided into limited entry and open access fisheries. Separate allocations for the limited entry and open access fisheries will be established biennially or annually for certain species and/or areas using the procedures described in this subpart or the PCGFMP. (1) Limited entry allocation. The allocation for the limited entry fishery is the allowable catch (harvest guideline or quota excluding set asides for recreational or tribal Indian fisheries) minus the allocation to the open access fishery. (2) Open access allocation. The allocation for the open access fishery is derived by applying the open access allocation percentage to the annual harvest guideline or quota after subtracting any set asides for recreational or tribal Indian fisheries. For management areas where quotas or harvest guidelines for a stock are not fully utilized, no separate allocation will be established for the open access fishery until it is projected that the allowable catch for a species will be reached. (b) Open access allocation percentage. For each species with a harvest guideline or quota, the initial open access allocation percentage is calculated by: (1) Computing the total catch for that species during the window period by any vessel that does not initially receive a limited entry permit. (2) Dividing that amount by the total catch during the window period by all gear. (3) The guidelines in this paragraph (b)(3) apply to recalculation of the open access allocation percentage. Any recalculated allocation percentage will be used in calculating the following biennial fishing period's open access allocation. (c) Catch accounting between the limited entry and open access fisheries. Any groundfish caught by a vessel with a limited entry permit will be counted against the limited entry allocation while the limited entry fishery for that vessel's limited entry gear is open. When the fishery for a vessel's limited entry gear has closed, groundfish caught by that vessel with open access gear will be counted against the open access allocation. All groundfish caught by vessels without limited entry permits will be counted against the open access allocation. (d) Additional guidelines. Additional guidelines governing determination of the limited entry and open access allocations are in the PCGFMP. (e) Treaty Indian fisheries. Certain amounts of groundfish may be set aside biennially or annually for tribal fisheries prior to dividing the balance of the allowable catch between the limited entry and open access fisheries. Tribal fisheries conducted under a set-aside are not subject to the regulations governing limited entry and open access fisheries. (f) Recreational fisheries. Recreational fishing for groundfish is outside the scope of, and not affected by, the regulations governing limited entry and open access fisheries. Certain amounts of groundfish may be specifically allocated to the recreational fishery, and will be set aside prior to dividing the commercial allocation between the commercial limited entry and open access fisheries. [61 FR 34572, July 2, 1996, as amended at 68 FR 52523, Sept. 4, 2003. Redesignated at 69 FR 42350, July 15, 2004]
Title 50: Wildlife and Fisheries
PART 660—FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES
Subpart G—West Coast Groundfish Fisheries
§ 660.320 Allocations.
