Crab Harvesting Cooperatives Part 1

Greetings Fishies!

One of the ways that the crab fishermen are dealing with the processor stranglehold is by forming cooperatives. There are boats that began with a large amount of quota share, and some purchased, leased or sold shares. Having been restricted (unlawfully most feel) to where and when the crab can be sold, and time and vessel constraints, the industry needed some help to make this mess work. Thus the crab co-op was born.

In a co-op the members pool all of their crab quota poundage, and different boats harvest different levels and areas.

Here are some of the government regulations:

A Crab Harvesting Cooperative IFQ Permit is an annual permit that authorizes the cooperative to harvest a defined annual amount of crab during a crab fishing year (July 1 through June 30). The amount of crab authorized by the permit is derived from the aggregate IFQ amounts that would otherwise have been issued to the members of the cooperative. Each cooperative will be issued a separate IFQ permit for each type of QS held by its members.

Formation of crab harvesting cooperatives:

The following requirements apply to the formation of crab harvesting cooperatives:

A crab harvesting cooperative is limited to QS holders that hold any amount of CPO, CVO, CPC, or CVC QS, and that NMFS has determined are eligible to receive crab IFQ.

Each crab harvesting cooperative must include at least four unique QS holding entities. A unique QS holding entity is a QS holder or group of affiliated QS holders that are not affiliated with any other QS holders or QS holding entities in the crab harvesting cooperative.

Membership in a crab harvesting cooperative is voluntary. No person may be required to join a crab harvesting cooperative, and no crab harvesting cooperative may be required to accept a member who the crab harvesting cooperative chooses not to accept.

A QS holder may join one crab harvesting cooperative per CR fishery.

Upon joining a crab harvesting cooperative for a CR fishery, NMFS will convert all of a QS holder's QS holdings for that CR fishery to crab harvesting cooperative IFQ, except that after June 30, 2008, a CVC QS holder that joins a crab harvesting cooperative may retain his or her Class B IFQ from use by the crab harvesting cooperative.

A crab harvesting cooperative must meet the following legal and organizational requirements before it is eligible to apply for a crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permit:

(i) Each crab harvesting cooperative must be formed as a partnership, corporation, or other legal business entity that is registered under the laws of one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia.

(ii) Each crab harvesting cooperative must appoint an individual as designated representative to act on the crab harvesting cooperative's behalf and serve as contact point for NMFS for questions regarding the operation of the crab harvesting cooperative. The designated representative may be a member of the crab harvesting cooperative or some other individual authorized by the crab harvesting cooperative to act on its behalf.

A crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permit is an annual permit issued to a crab harvesting cooperative that establishes an annual catch limit of crab that is based on the collective QS holdings of the members of the crab harvesting cooperative that have been contributed by the members. A crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permit will list the IFQ amount, by fishery, held by the crab harvesting cooperative and identify the members of the crab harvesting cooperative. Each crab harvesting cooperative will be issued a separate IFQ permit for each type of QS held by a member (or members) of the crab harvesting cooperative.

A completed application for an annual crab harvesting cooperative IFQ permit must be submitted annually by each crab harvesting cooperative and received by NMFS no later than August 1, together with the signed annual application for crab IFQ/IPQ permit forms of all the members of the crab harvesting cooperative.

A completed application also must contain the following information:

Enter the crab harvesting cooperative's legal name; type of business entity under which the crab harvesting cooperative is organized; state in which the crab harvesting cooperative is legally registered as a business entity; printed name of the crab harvesting cooperative's designated representative; the permanent business address, telephone number, facsimile number, and e-mail address (if available) of the crab harvesting cooperative or its designated representative; and the signature of the crab harvesting cooperative's designated representative and date signed.

Full name and NMFS Person ID of each member of the crab harvesting cooperative.

For the application to be considered complete, the following documents must be attached to the application:

the completed and signed annual application for crab IFQ/IPQ permit for all members of the crab harvesting cooperative, a copy of the business license issued by the state in which the crab harvesting cooperative is registered as a business entity, a copy of the articles of incorporation or partnership agreement of the crab harvesting cooperative, and a copy of the crab harvesting cooperative agreement signed by the members of the crab harvesting cooperative (if different from the articles of incorporation or partnership agreement of the crab harvesting cooperative).

Stay tuned for part 2!

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