[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 13, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 10285-10286]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-5891]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 625

[Docket No. 951116270-5038-02; I.D. 030196D]


Summer Flounder Fishery; Commercial Quota Harvested for Maine

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 Maine has been 
harvested. Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit for the 
summer flounder fishery may not land summer flounder in Maine for the 
remainder of calendar year 1996, unless additional quota becomes 
available through a transfer from another state that has not reached 
its annual quota. Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery 
require publication of this notification to advise the State of Maine 
that the quota has been harvested and to advise vessel and dealer 
permit holders that no

[[Page 10286]]
commercial quota is available for landing summer flounder in Maine.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 7, 1996, through December 31, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lucy Helvenston, 508-281-9347.

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 1996 
calendar year is set equal to 11,111,298 lb (5,040,000 kg) (January 4, 
1996, 61 FR 291). The percent allocated to vessels landing summer 
flounder in Maine is 0.04756 percent, or 5,284 lb (2,397 kg).
    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 an announcement 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 the State of Maine has attained 
its quota for 1996, the Regional Director has determined, based on 
dealer reports and other available information, that the State's 
commercial quota has 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 on March 7, 
1996, further landings of summer flounder in Maine 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 from another state that has not reached its annual 
quota, and is announced in the Federal Register. Federally permitted 
dealers are also advised that, effective the date above, they may not 
purchase summer flounder from federally permitted vessels that land in 
Maine for the remainder of the calendar year, or until additional quota 
becomes available through another state.

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: March 6, 1996.
Donald J. Leedy,
Acting Director, Office of Fisheries Conservation and Management, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 96-5891 Filed 3-7-96; 5:07 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F