[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 204 (Monday, October 21, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 54579-54580]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-26846]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 951116270-530802; I.D. 101196B]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder 
Fishery; Commercial Quota Harvested for Rhode Island

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 to announce that the summer 
flounder commercial quota available to the State of Rhode Island has 
been harvested. Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit 
for the summer flounder fishery may not land summer flounder in Rhode 
Island 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 notice to advise the State 
of Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 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 648. 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 Fishery Management Plan for the 
Summer Flounder Fishery (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 
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 Rhode 
Island is 15.68298 percent, or 1,742,583 lb (790,422 kg).
    Section 648.100(d)(2) provides that any overages of the commercial 
quota landed in any state well be deducted from that state's annual 
quota for the following year. In the calendar year

[[Page 54580]]

1995, a total of 2,365,465 pounds (1,072,956 kg) were landed in Rhode 
Island. The amount allocated for Rhode Island landings in 1995 was 
2,243,224 lb (1,017,509 kg), creating a 122,241 lb (55,446 kg) overage 
that was deducted from the amount allocated for landings in that state 
during 1996 (April 5, 1996, 61 FR 15199). The resulting quota for Rhode 
Island is 1,620,342 lb (734,974 kg).
    Section 625.101(b) requires the Regional Administrator, Northeast 
Region, NMFS (Regional Administrator), to monitor state commercial 
quotas and to determine when a state commercial quota is harvested. The 
Regional Administrator is further required to publish a document 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 Rhode Island has 
attained its quota for 1996, the Regional Administrator has determined 
based on dealer reports and other available information, that the 
State's commercial quota 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 Administrator has determined no longer 
has commercial quota available. Therefore, effective October 15, 1996 
further landings of summer flounder in Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island for 
the remainder of the calendar year, or until additional quota becomes 
available, effective on October 15, 1996.

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: October 15, 1996.
Bruce Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 96-26846 Filed 10-15-96; 4:33 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F