Important: License Corrections for PCTC Initial Quota Share
 National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Alaska Region announces important license corrections related to the initial issuance of Quota Share (QS) in the Pacific Cod Trawl Cooperative Program (PCTC).
Summary
NMFS issued initial PCTC QS and applicable licenses for implementation of the PCTC Program on Oct. 19, 2023. We have received reports and verified errors in the new license issuance that included several previous license endorsements not appearing correctly. As such, we have reissued the licenses with the correct endorsements for each affected permit.
Please review your new licenses and contact us with any questions or concerns.
NOTE: PCTC QS was issued correctly, and these license corrections should not impact any initial PCTC QS amounts.
For qualified applicants that agreed with their PCTC Program Official Record Summary, your corrected licenses are being mailed to your last known physical address and are immediately available in eFish. We can also provide copies by email requests sent to RAM.alaska@noaa.gov.
What’s Next?
For any applicants that have disputed their initial PCTC Program Official Record Summary or requested additional consideration for PCTC QS, NMFS will be working through an administrative review and established evidentiary process to make an Initial Administrative Determination (IAD) and decision in the next few weeks.
NMFS is now accepting requests for transfers within the 90 day transfer window available to qualified PCTC participants. The initial allocation process has a one-time 90 day transfer window to allow transfers of QS between non-exempt American Fisheries Act (AFA) LLP licenses under certain conditions to honor private contracts and agreements associated with harvest of the AFA non-exempt BSAI Pacific cod sideboard limits. The deadline for the 90 day transfer window is Jan. 17, 2024.
Applications for Cooperative Quota are due November 1, 2023. All qualified PCTC QS issued or transferred prior to the November 1 deadline for cooperative applications will be available for the upcoming 2024 season, however, any unresolved QS claims or transfer requests received after November 1 will not be available to fish until the future 2025 season’s allocation. For the calendar year 2023, NMFS will allow each cooperative to submit the inter-cooperative agreement after the deadline for the annual cooperative application, however it must be submitted on or before December 31, 2023.
Where Can I Find More Information on the PCTC program?
Several helpful references, including the PCTC Small Entity Compliance Guide can be found here.
Reports on initial recipients of QS and the preliminary initial harvest pool can be found here.
For further information or additional assistance, please contact the RAM Division at 1-800-304-4846, Option #2 or RAM.alaska@noaa.gov.
Thanks!
|
