[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 198 (Friday, October 13, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 53281-53282]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-25317]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 625

[Docket No. 950206038-5038; I.D. 100595C]


Summer Flounder Fishery; Closure of Commercial Fisheries for 
Massachusetts and Delaware

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notification of commercial quota harvest.

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SUMMARY: NMFS issues this notification announcing that the summer 
flounder commercial quotas for 1995 available to the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts and the State of Delaware have been harvested. Vessels 
that have been issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit for the 
summer flounder fishery may not land summer flounder in Massachusetts 
or Delaware for the remainder of this year, unless additional quota 
becomes available through a transfer from another State not having 
reached its annual quota. The intent of this action is to notify vessel 
and dealer Federal permit holders that no commercial quota is available 
for landing summer flounder in Massachusetts and Delaware so that stock 
abundance of summer flounder is rebuilt.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 6, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Regina Spallone, 508-281-9221.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations governing the summer flounder 
fishery are found at 50 CFR part 625. 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. 625.20.
    The total commercial quota for summer flounder for the 1995 
calendar year is set equal to 14,690,407 lb (6,663,569 kg) (February 
16, 1995, 60 FR 8958). This amount includes the 3.05 million lb (1.4 
million kg) allocated to the fishery in order to comply with an Order 
issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. 
The percent allocated to vessels landing summer flounder in 
Massachusetts is 6.82046 percent, or 1,001,953 lb (454,478 kg) and in 
Delaware is 0.01779 percent or 2,614 lb (1186 kg).
    Section 625.20(d) provides that any overages of the commercial 
quota 

[[Page 53282]]
landed in any state will be deducted from that State's annual quota for 
the following year. In calendar year 1994, a total of 1,048,901 lb 
(475,781 kg) were landed in Massachusetts, and 3,635 lb (1,649 kg) were 
landed in Delaware. The amount allocated for Massachusetts landings in 
1994 was 1,031,194 lb (467,750 kg), creating an overage of 17,707 lb 
(8,032 kg) that was deducted from the amount allocated for landings in 
that State during 1995. The resulting quota for Massachusetts is 
984,246 lb (446,454 kg). Delaware did not exceed its 1994 quota, and 
thus had no deductions in 1995.
    Section 625.21(c) requires the Director, Northeast Region, NMFS 
(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 both States have exceeded their quotas for 1995, the Regional 
Director has determined that the 1995 summer flounder quota allocations 
for vessels landing in Massachusetts and Delaware have been harvested.
    The regulations at Sec. 625.4(a)(3) 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 October 6, 
1995, further landings of summer flounder in Massachusetts or Delaware 
by vessels holding commercial Federal fisheries permits are prohibited 
for the remainder of the 1995 calendar year, unless additional quota 
becomes available through a transfer effected pursuant to 
Sec. 625.20(f) 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 Massachusetts or 
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 625 and is exempt from 
review under E.O. 12866.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: October 6, 1995.
Richard W. Surdi,
Acting Director, Office of Fisheries Conservation and Management, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 95-25317 Filed 10-6-95; 5:09 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F