[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 20, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 11344-11345]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-6700]



-----------------------------------------------------------------------


DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
50 CFR Part 625

[Docket No. 951116270-5038-02; I.D. 031396C]


Summer Flounder Fishery; Commercial Quota Harvested for North 
Carolina

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

ACTION: Commercial quota harvest.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: NMFS issues this notification to announce that the summer 
flounder commercial quota available to the State of North Carolina has 
been harvested. Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit 
for the summer flounder fishery may not land summer flounder in North 
Carolina 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 
North Carolina 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 North Carolina.


[[Page 11345]]


EFFECTIVE DATE: March 15, 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 North Carolina is 27.44584 percent, or 3,049,589 lb 
(1,383,270 kg).
    Section 625.21(c) requires the Regional 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 the State of North Carolina 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 
15, 1996, further landings of summer flounder in North Carolina 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 they may not purchase 
summer flounder from federally permitted vessels that land in North 
Carolina 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. 12286.

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

    Dated: March 15, 1996.
Richard W. Surdi,
Acting Director, Office of Fisheries Conservation and Management, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 96-6700 Filed 3-15-96; 2:22 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F