[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 215 (Tuesday, November 5, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 56902]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-28362]
[[Page 56902]]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 951116270-530802; I.D. 102896C]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery
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 Commonwealth of Virginia (Virginia) has been
harvested. Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit for the
summer flounder fishery may not land summer flounder in Virginia 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 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 31, 1996, through December 31, 1996.
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, subparts A and G. 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 percentage allocated to each state
is described in Sec. 648.100. Amendment 7 to the Fishery Management
Plan for the Summer Flounder Fishery (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 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 percentage allocated
to vessels landing summer flounder in Virginia is 21.31676 percent or
2,368,569 lb (1,074,365 kg). On March 13, 1996 (61 FR 10286), the State
of North Carolina transferred 5,773 lb (2,619 kg) of summer flounder
quota to Virginia. The resulting quota for Virginia was 2,374,342 lb
(1,076,983 kg).
Section 648.100(d) provides that any overages of the commercial
quota landed in any state be deducted from that state's annual quota
for the following year. In calendar year 1995, a total of 3,355,838 lb
(1,522,183 kg) were landed in Virginia. The amount allocated for
Virginia landings in 1995 was 3,182,177 lb (1,443,411 kg), creating an
overage of 173,661 lb (78,771 kg) that was deducted from the amount
allocated for landings in that state during 1996 (April 5, 1996, 61 FR
15199). The resulting 1996 quota for Virginia is 2,200,681 lb (998,212
kg).
Section 648.101(b) requires the Regional Administrator, Northeast
Region (Regional Administrator) to monitor state commercial quotas and
to determine when a state commercial quota has been 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 that the 1996 summer flounder quota
allocation for vessels landing in Virginia 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 31,
1996, through December 31, 1996, further landings of summer flounder in
Virginia 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 effective on October 31, 1996, through December 31, 1996, they may
not purchase summer flounder from federally permitted vessels that land
in Virginia for the remainder of the calendar year, or until additional
quota becomes available.
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 30, 1996.
Gary C. Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 96-28362 Filed 10-31-96; 10:28 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
