[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 196 (Tuesday, October 8, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 52715-52716]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-25792]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 951116270-5308-02; I.D. 100196A]
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.
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SUMMARY: NMFS issues this notification announcing 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 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 Jersey 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 that state.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 3, 1996 through December 31, 1996.
[[Page 52716]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Regina Spallone, Fishery Policy
Analyst, 508-281-9221.
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 was adopted to ensure achievement of the appropriate
fishing mortality rate of 0.41 for 1996, and 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 Jersey is 16.724 percent or
1,858,363 lb (842,939 kg).
Section 648.101(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 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. Because the
available information indicates that New Jersey 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 0001 hours October
3, 1996 further landings of summer flounder in New Jersey 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
Jersey for the remainder of the calendar year, or until additional
quota becomes available, effective on October 3, 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 3, 1996.
Bruce Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 96-25792 Filed 10-3-96; 4:20 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
