[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 222 (Wednesday, November 18, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 64006-64007]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-30794]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 971015246-7293-02; I.D. 110998G]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Commercial Quota Harvested for Maryland
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 Maryland has been harvested. Vessels issued a
commercial Federal fisheries permit for the summer flounder fishery may
not land summer flounder in Maryland for the remainder of calendar year
1998, unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer.
Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require publication
of this notification
[[Page 64007]]
to advise the State of Maryland 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 Maryland.
DATES: Effective 0001 hours November 13, 1998, through December 31,
1998.
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 among the
coastal 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.
The initial total commercial quota for summer flounder for the 1998
calendar year was set equal to 11,105,636 lb (5,037,432 kg) (62 FR
66304, December 18, 1997). The percent allocated to vessels landing
summer flounder in Maryland is 2.03910 percent, or 226,570 lb (102,770
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 1997, a total of 214,948
lb (97,499 kg) were landed in Maryland, creating a 26,694 lb (12,108
kg) overage that was deducted from the amount allocated for landings in
the state during 1998 (63 FR 23227, April 28, 1998). The resulting
quota for Maryland was 199,876 lb (90,662 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 notice 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 Maryland has attained its
quota for 1998.
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 13, 1998, further landings of summer flounder in Maryland by
vessels holding commercial Federal fisheries permits are prohibited for
the remainder of the 1998 calendar year, unless additional quota
becomes available through a transfer and is announced in the Federal
Register. Effective November 13, 1998, federally permitted dealers are
also advised that they may not purchase summer flounder from federally
permitted vessels that land in Maryland 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 E.O. 12866.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: November 12, 1998.
Gary C. Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 98-30794 Filed 11-13-98; 11:42 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
