[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 238 (Friday, December 11, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 68404-68405]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-32996]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 971015246-7293-02; I.D. 120798A]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Commercial Quota Harvested for Virginia
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 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 1998, unless additional quota becomes available through a
transfer. Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require
publication of this notification to advise the Commonwealth of Virginia
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 Virginia.
DATES: Effective 0001 hours, December 9, 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 Virginia is 21.31676 percent, or 2,368,569 lb
(1,074,365 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 2,305,985
lb (1,045,977 kg) were landed in Virginia, creating a 11,192 lb (5,077
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 Virginia is 2,357,377 lb (1,069,288 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 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 Virginia 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,
December 9, 1998, further landings of summer flounder in Virginia by
vessels holding commercial Federal
[[Page 68405]]
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 December 9, 1998,
federally permitted dealers are also advised that 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 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: December 8, 1998.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 98-32996 Filed 12-8-98; 2:56 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
