[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 206 (Tuesday, October 26, 1999)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 57586-57587]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-27923]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 981014259-8312-02; I.D. 101999A]
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 announces 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
1999, unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer.
Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require the
publication of this notification to advise the State of New York that
the quota has been harvested and to advise vessel permit holders and
dealer permit holders that no commercial quota is available for landing
summer flounder in New York.
DATES: Effective from 0001 hours, November 1, 1999, through 2400 hours,
December 31, 1999.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul H. Jones, Fishery Policy Analyst,
(978) 281-9273.
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 on a percentage
basis among the coastal states from North Carolina through Maine. The
process to set the annual commercial quota and the percent allocated to
each state is described in Sec. 648.100.
The initial total commercial quota for summer flounder for the 1999
calendar year was set equal to 11,110,300 lb (5,039,547 kg)(64 FR 9088,
February 24, 1999). The percent allocated to vessels landing summer
flounder in New York is 7.64699 percent, or 790,948 lb (358,768 kg).
Section 648.100(e)(4) stipulates that any overages of commercial
quota landed in any state be deducted from that state's annual quota
for the following year. In the calendar year 1998, a total of 823,093
lb (373,349 kg) were landed in New York, creating a 59,674 lb (27,068
kg) overage that was deducted from the amount allocated for landings in
the State during 1999 (64 FR 46596, August 26, 1999). The resulting
1999 quota for New York is 790,006 lb (358,341 kg).
Section 648.101(b) requires the Administrator, Northeast Region,
NMFS (Regional Administrator), to monitor state commercial quotas and
to determine when a state's commercial quota is harvested. The Regional
Administrator is further required to publish notification 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 that no commercial quota is
available for landing summer flounder in that state. The Regional
Administrator has determined, based upon dealer reports and other
available information, that the State of New York will have attained
its quota for 1999 as of November 1, 1999.
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 0001 hours,
November 1, 1999, further landings of summer flounder in New York by
vessels holding commercial Federal fisheries permits are prohibited for
the remainder of the 1999 calendar year, unless additional quota
becomes available through a transfer and is announced in the Federal
Register. Effective the same date, 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 through a
transfer.
[[Page 57587]]
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 21, 1999.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 99-27923 Filed 10-25-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
