AFA cooperative contract

Revised: 03/12/2015 OMB Control No. 0648-0401 Expiration Date 01/31/2018

American Fisheries Act (AFA) Annual Cooperative Contract

U.S. Dept. of Commerce/NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Restricted Access Management (RAM) P.O. Box 21668 Juneau, AK 99802-1668 (800) 304-484ll free / 586-7202 in Juneau (907) 586-7354 fax

Any fishery cooperative formed under section 1 of the Fisherman’s Collective Marketing Act 1934

(15 U.S.C. 521) for the purpose of cooperatively managing directed fishing for Bering Sea subarea pollock must submit to NMFS an annual cooperative contract. The owners and operators of all the member vessels that are signatories to a fishery cooperative are jointly and severally responsible for compliance with these requirements.

Each AFA cooperative must file on an annual basis, with the Council and NMFS, a signed copy of its fishery cooperative contract, and any material modifications to any such contract, together with a copy of a letter from a party to the contract requesting a business review letter on the fishery cooperative from the Department of Justice and any response to such request. The Council and NMFS will make this information available to the public upon request.

If the cooperative contract was previously filed with NMFS and the Council, a renewal letter may be submitted to NMFS and the Council by the filing deadline in lieu of the cooperative contract and business review letter. The renewal letter must provide notice that the previously filed cooperative contract will remain in effect for the subsequent fishing year. The renewal letter also must detail any material modifications to the cooperative contract that have been made since the last filing including, but not limited to, any changes in cooperative membership.

Send a signed copy of the cooperative contract or renewal letter and the required supporting materials to:

North Pacific Fishery Management Council

605 West 4th Ave, Suite 306

Anchorage, AK 99501

and

NMFS Alaska Region

P.O. Box 21668

Juneau, AK 99802

709 West 9th St., Suite 401

Juneau, AK 99801

Deadline: The contract or renewal letter and supporting materials must be received by NMFS and by the Council at least 30 days prior to the start of any fishing activity conducted under the terms of the contract. In addition, an inshore cooperative that is also applying for an allocation of Bering Sea subarea pollock under § 679.62 must file its contract, any amendments hereto, and supporting materials no later than December 1 of the year prior to the year in which fishing under the contract will occur.

The AFA Annual Cooperative Contract must contain the following information:

AFA Cooperative Contract

Obligations of AFA cooperative members to ensure full payment of cost recovery fees

List parties to the contract

List all vessels and processors that will harvest and process pollock harvested under the cooperative

Specify the amount or percentage of pollock allocated to each party to the contract

Specify a designated representative and agent for service of process

Contract clause under which the parties to the contract agree to make payments to the State of Alaska for any pollock harvested in the directed pollock fishery that are not landed in the State of Alaska, in amounts which would otherwise accrue had the pollock been landed in the State of Alaska subject to any landing taxes established under Alaska law. Failure to include such a contract clause or for such amounts to be paid will result in a revocation of the authority to form fishery cooperatives under section 1 of the Act of June 25, 1934 (15 U.S.C. 521 et seq.)

Additional required elements in all fishery cooperatives that include AFA catcher vessels

Adequate provisions to prevent each non-exempt member catcher vessel from exceeding an individual vessel sideboard limit for each BSAI or GOA sideboard species or species group that is issued to the vessel by the cooperative in accordance with the following formula:

Aggregate individual vessel sideboard limits issued to all member vessels in a cooperative must not exceed the aggregate contributions of each member vessel towards the overall groundfish sideboard amount as calculated by NMFS under § 679.64(b) and as announced to the cooperative by the Regional Administrator, or

In the case of two or more cooperatives that have entered into an inter-cooperative agreement, the aggregate individual vessel sideboard limits issued to all member vessels subject to the inter-cooperative agreement must not exceed the aggregate contributions of each member vessel towards the overall groundfish sideboard amount as calculated by NMFS under § 679.64(b) and as announced by the Regional Administrator.

AFA Annual Cooperative Report

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