[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 204 (Monday, October 21, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 54578-54579]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-26848]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 951116270-5308-02; I.D. 101196C]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Commercial Quota Harvested for New York
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 New York has been
harvested. Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit for the
summer flounder fishery may not land summer flounder in New York 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 notification to advise the State of
New York 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 New York.
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 FMP (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 New York is 7.64699 percent, or 849,680 lb (385,408 kg).
Section 648.100(d)(2) provides that any overages of the commercial
quota landed in any state will be deducted from that state's annual
quota for the following year. In the calendar year 1995, a total of
1,248,078 lb (566,119 kg) were landed in New York. The amount allocated
for New York landings in 1995 was 1,243,374 lb (563,984 kg), creating a
4,704 lb (2,133 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 New York is 844,976 lb (383,275 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 New York 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 New York 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 New York for the
remainder of the calendar year, or until additional quota becomes
available, effective on October 15, 1996.
[[Page 54579]]
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. 96-26848 Filed 10-15-96; 4:33 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
