00-25776. Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Commercial Quota Harvested for New Jersey

AGENCY:

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION:

Commercial quota harvest.

SUMMARY:

NMFS announces that the summer flounder commercial quota available to the State of New Jersey has been harvested. Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit for the summer flounder fishery may not land summer flounder in New Jersey for the remainder of calendar year 2000, 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 Jersey 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 Jersey.

DATES:

Effective 0001 hours, October 10, 2000, through 2400 hours, December 31, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Paul H. Jones, Fishery Policy Analyst, [phone].

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 § 648.100.

The initial total commercial quota for summer flounder for the 2000 calendar year was set equal to 11,109,214 lb (5,039,055 kg)(65 FR 33486, May 24, 2000). The percent allocated to vessels landing summer flounder in New Jersey is 16.72499 percent, or 1,858,346 lb (842,931 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 1999, a total of 1,897,952 lb (860,897 kg) were landed in New Jersey, creating a 44,026 lb (19,970 kg) overage that was deducted from the amount allocated for landings in the State during 2000 (65 FR 33486, May 24, 2000). The resulting 2000 quota for New Jersey is 1,814,320 lb (822,962 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 a 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 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 Jersey has attained its quota for 2000.

The regulations at § 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, October 10, 2000, further landings of summer flounder in New Jersey by vessels holding summer flounder commercial Federal fisheries permits are prohibited for the remainder of the 2000 calendar year, unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer and is announced in the Federal Register. Effective 0001 hours, October 10, 2000, federally permitted dealers are also advised that they may not purchase summer flounder from federally permitted vessels that land in New Jersey for the remainder of the calendar year, or until additional quota becomes available through a transfer.

Classification

This action is required by 50 CFR part 648 and is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

Dated: October 2, 2000.

Richard W. Surdi,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.