[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 131 (Wednesday, July 9, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 36738-36739]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-17783]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 960805216-7111-06; I.D. 063097C]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Scup Fishery;
Commercial Quota Harvested for Massachusetts
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Commercial quota harvest.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the scup commercial quota for the 1997
Summer period (May 1, 1997 - October 31, 1997) available to the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts has been harvested. Vessels issued a
commercial Federal fisheries permit for the scup fishery may not land
scup in Massachusetts for the remainder of the 1997 Summer period,
unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer.
Regulations governing the scup fishery require publication of this
notification to advise the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that the quota
allocated for the 1997 Summer period has been harvested and to advise
vessel and dealer permit holders that no commercial quota is available
for landing scup in Massachusetts for the remainder of the 1997 Summer
period.
DATES: Effective 0001 hrs, local time (l.t.) July 2, 1997, through 2400
hrs, l.t., October 31, 1997.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lucy Helvenston, 508-281-9347.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations governing the scup fishery are
found at 50 CFR part 648. Section 648.120(d) requires annual
specification of a commercial quota that is allocated into two Winter
periods: January-April (Winter I) and November-December (Winter II);
and one Summer period: May-October (Summer)(62 FR 27978, May 22, 1997).
The Winter periods are allocated coastwide among the states from Maine
to North Carolina and the Summer period is allocated on a state-by-
state basis from Maine to North Carolina. The process to set the annual
commercial quota and the percent allocated to each state for the Summer
period are described in Sec. 648.120.
The total commercial quota for scup for the 1997 Summer period is
2,337,000 lb (1,060,045 kg) (62 FR 27978, May 22, 1997). The percent of
the Summer period quota allocated to vessels landing scup in
Massachusetts is
[[Page 36739]]
15.49120 percent, or 362,029 lb (164,214 kg). Section 648.120(d)(6)
provides that any overages of the commercial quota for a Summer period
landed in any state will be deducted from that state's quota for the
following Summer period. Section 648.121(b) requires the Administrator,
Northeast Region, NMFS (Regional Administrator), to monitor states'
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 scup in that state for the
remainder of the Summer period. The Regional Administrator has
determined, based on dealer reports and other available information,
that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts's commercial quota for the 1997
Summer period has been harvested.
The regulations at Sec. 648.4(b) provide that Federal permit
holders must agree as a condition of the permit not to land scup in any
state that the Regional Administrator has determined no longer has
commercial quota available. Therefore, effective 0001 hrs, l.t., July
2, 1997, through 2400 hrs, l.t., October 31, 1997, further landings of
scup in Massachusetts by vessels holding commercial Federal fisheries
permits are prohibited for the remainder of the 1997 Summer period,
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 scup from federally permitted
vessels that land in Massachusetts for the remainder of the 1997 Summer
period, or until additional quota becomes available.
Classification
This action is required by 50 CFR part 648 and is exempt from
review under E.O. 12286.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: July 2, 1997.
Gary Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 97-17783 Filed 7-2-97; 3:51 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
