[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 244 (Tuesday, December 21, 1999)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 71320-71321]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-33012]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 981014259-8312-02; I.D. 121499B]
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 1999, 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.
[[Page 71321]]
DATES: Effective 0001 hours December 22, 1999 through 2400 hours
December 31, 1999.
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 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 are described in Sec. 648.100.
The final total commercial quota for summer flounder for the 1999
calendar year was set equal to 10,729,274 lb (4,866,717 kg) (64 FR
46596, August 26, 1999). The percent allocated to vessels landing
summer flounder in New Jersey is 16.72499 percent, or 1,853,926 lb
(840,927 kg).
Section 648.101(b) requires the Regional Administrator, Northeast
Region (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 New Jersey has attained its
quota for 1999 as of December 22, 1999.
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 22, 1999, further landings of summer flounder in New Jersey by
vessels holding commercial Federal fisheries permits are prohibited for
the remainder of the 1999 calendar year, unless additional quota
becomes available through a transfer and is announced in the Federal
Register. Effective the same date, 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 E.O. 12866.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: December 15, 1999.
Gary C. Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 99-33012 Filed 12-16-99; 4:48 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
