[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 143 (Wednesday, July 24, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 38403-38404]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-18790]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 951116270-5308-02; I.D. 071796A]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Commercial Quota Harvested for Delaware
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 Delaware has been
harvested. Vessels
[[Page 38404]]
issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit for the summer flounder
fishery may not land summer flounder in Delaware 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 Delaware 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: July 19, 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 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 pounds (5,040,000 kg) (January 4, 1996, 61 FR 291).
The percent allocated to vessels landing summer flounder in Delaware is
0.01779 percent or 1,977 pounds (897 kg).
Section 648.100(d)(2) provides that any overages of the commercial
quota landed in any state will be deducted from that state's annual
quota for the following year. In calendar year 1995, a total of 3,072
pounds (1,393 kg) were landed in Delaware. The amount allocated for
Delaware landings in 1995 was 2,614 pounds (1,186 kg), creating an
overage of 458 pounds (208 kg) that was deducted from the amount
allocated for landings in that state during 1996 (April 05, 1996, 61 FR
15199). The resulting quota for Delaware is 1,519 pounds (689 kg).
Section 648.101(b) requires the Regional Director, Northeast Region
(Regional Director) to monitor state commercial quotas and to determine
when a state commercial quota is harvested. The Regional Director 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. Because the available information indicates
that Delaware has exceeded its quota for 1996, the Regional Director
has determined that the 1996 summer flounder quota allocations for
vessels landing in Delaware 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 Director has determined no longer has
commercial quota available. Therefore, effective 0001 hours July 19,
1996, further landings of summer flounder in Delaware 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 Delaware
for the remainder of the calendar year, or until additional quota
becomes available, effective the date above.
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: July 18, 1996.
Richard W. Surdi,
Acting Director, Office of Conservation and Management, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 96-18790 Filed 7-19-96; 12:26 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
