[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