SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On July 29, 2024, NMFS published a final rule to implement the Trawl EM Program for pelagic trawl pollock catcher vessels and tender vessels delivering to shoreside processors and stationary floating processors in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska (89 FR 60796). Under the Trawl EM Program regulations at 50 CFR 679.51(g), a vessel owner or operator of a catcher vessel or tender vessel can request to be placed in the Trawl EM Program each year and, therein, to use an EM system in place of an observer in most cases. Placement in the Trawl EM Program reduces overall monitoring costs for fishery participants and increases data quality necessary for fishery management. A vessel placed in the Trawl EM Program remains in the ( printed page 29464) Trawl EM Program for that calendar year. NMFS can choose to disallow participation in the Trawl EM Program for reasons such as compliance issues or non-payment of fees.

Vessels in the Trawl EM Program are either in the partial coverage category or the full coverage category based on their assigned level of observer coverage. Only participants in the full coverage category are subject to the trawl EM fee announced in this notice. Participants in the partial coverage category pay their fee through the North Pacific Observer Program fee as calculated from the standard prices published in the Federal Register on December 30, 2025 (90 FR 61117).

Pursuant to section 313 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, NMFS established a process for calculating and administering the trawl EM fee for the full coverage category as specified at § 679.56. Activities directly related to NMFS's administration of the trawl EM full coverage category are funded by the trawl EM fee. These activities include EM data collection, EM data review, vessel monitoring plan (VMP) approval, and trawl EM category data. The fee liability is based on the ex-vessel value of pollock harvested by vessels in the full coverage trawl EM category. This notice announces the fee percentage in the Federal Register . The Regional Administrator sends invoices to vessel owners and each vessel owner is responsible for the payment of the trawl EM fee no later than May 31 of the fishing year following the year in which pollock landings occurred. The total dollar amount of the fee due is determined by multiplying the trawl EM fee percentage by the annual ex-vessel value of pelagic trawl pollock landings under the full coverage category of the Trawl EM Program as described in this notice.

Standard Price

For purposes of calculating the trawl EM fee percentage, NMFS uses a standard ex-vessel price (standard price) for pollock. A standard price is determined under § 679.66(b) using information on landings purchased (volume) and ex-vessel value paid (value). NMFS annually receives information used to calculate the pollock standard price in the existing First Wholesale Volume and Value Report, which is submitted in early November of each year. NMFS published the standard price of $0.15 per pound for pollock for 2025 in the Federal Register on December 5, 2025 (90 FR 56134).

Fee Percentage

Annually, NMFS calculates the total costs directly related to the EM data collection, EM data review, VMP approval, and trawl EM category data maintenance (direct program costs). For 2025, direct program costs were tracked from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025. A more detailed explanation will be provided in the North Pacific Observer Program Annual report, which will be published in June of 2026.

NMFS calculates the applicable fee percentage according to the factors described at § 679.56(c)(2). NMFS determined the fee percentage which applies to full coverage trawl EM landings made in 2025 by dividing the direct program costs by the value of the catch subject to the trawl EM fee.

Under the fee percentage formula described generally above, the percentage of direct program costs to fishery value for the 2025 calendar year is 0.12 percent. For 2025, NMFS applied the calculated trawl EM fee percentage to all pollock landings in the full coverage trawl EM category made between January 1 and December 31 to calculate the trawl EM fee liability for each vessel owner in the full coverage trawl EM category. A Trawl EM Program vessel owner's 2025 fee payment must be submitted to NMFS on or before May 31, 2026. Payment must be made in accordance with the payment methods set forth at § 679.56(a)(4)(ii).

(Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.)

91 FR 29463