[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 204 (Monday, October 21, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 54579-54580]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-26846]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 951116270-530802; I.D. 101196B]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Commercial Quota Harvested for Rhode Island
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Commercial quota harvest.
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SUMMARY: NMFS issues this notification to announce that the summer
flounder commercial quota available to the State of Rhode Island has
been harvested. Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit
for the summer flounder fishery may not land summer flounder in Rhode
Island for the remainder of calendar year 1996, unless additional quota
becomes available through a transfer. Regulations governing the summer
flounder fishery require publication of this notice to advise the State
of Rhode Island that the quota has been harvested and to advise vessel
and dealer permit holders that no commercial quota is available for
landing summer flounder in Rhode Island.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 15, 1996, through December 31, 1996.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lucy Helvenston, 508-281-9347.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations governing the summer flounder
fishery are found at 50 CFR part 648. The regulations require annual
specification of a commercial quota that is apportioned among the
states from North Carolina through Maine. The process to set the annual
commercial quota and the percent allocated to each state are described
in Sec. 648.100. Amendment 7 to the Fishery Management Plan for the
Summer Flounder Fishery (November 24, 1995, 60 FR 57955) revised the
fishing mortality rate reduction schedule for summer flounder, and the
revised schedule was the basis for establishing the 1996 quota. The
total commercial quota for summer flounder for the 1996 calendar year
is set equal to 11,111,298 lb (5,040,000 kg) (January 4, 1996, 61 FR
291). The percent allocated to vessels landing summer flounder in Rhode
Island is 15.68298 percent, or 1,742,583 lb (790,422 kg).
Section 648.100(d)(2) provides that any overages of the commercial
quota landed in any state well be deducted from that state's annual
quota for the following year. In the calendar year
[[Page 54580]]
1995, a total of 2,365,465 pounds (1,072,956 kg) were landed in Rhode
Island. The amount allocated for Rhode Island landings in 1995 was
2,243,224 lb (1,017,509 kg), creating a 122,241 lb (55,446 kg) overage
that was deducted from the amount allocated for landings in that state
during 1996 (April 5, 1996, 61 FR 15199). The resulting quota for Rhode
Island is 1,620,342 lb (734,974 kg).
Section 625.101(b) requires the Regional Administrator, Northeast
Region, NMFS (Regional Administrator), to monitor state commercial
quotas and to determine when a state commercial quota is harvested. The
Regional Administrator is further required to publish a document in the
Federal Register advising a state and notifying Federal vessel and
dealer permit holders that, effective upon a specific date, the state's
commercial quota has been harvested and no commercial quota is
available for landing summer flounder in that state. Because the
available information indicates that the State of Rhode Island has
attained its quota for 1996, the Regional Administrator has determined
based on dealer reports and other available information, that the
State's commercial quota has been harvested.
The regulations at Sec. 648.4(b) provide that Federal permit
holders agree as a condition of the permit not to land summer flounder
in any state that the Regional Administrator has determined no longer
has commercial quota available. Therefore, effective October 15, 1996
further landings of summer flounder in Rhode Island by vessels holding
commercial Federal fisheries permits are prohibited for the remainder
of the 1996 calendar year, unless additional quota becomes available
through a transfer and is announced in the Federal Register. Federally
permitted dealers are also advised that they may not purchase summer
flounder from Federally permitted vessels that land in Rhode Island for
the remainder of the calendar year, or until additional quota becomes
available, effective on October 15, 1996.
Classification
This action is required by 50 CFR part 648 and is exempt from
review under E.O. 12866.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: October 15, 1996.
Bruce Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 96-26846 Filed 10-15-96; 4:33 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
