[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 204 (Monday, October 21, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 54579]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-26847]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 951116270-5308-02; I.D. 101096C]


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

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 Connecticut has 
been harvested. Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit 
for the summer flounder fishery may not land summer flounder in 
Connecticut 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 Connecticut 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 Connecticut.

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, 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 is 
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 lb (5,040,000 kg) (January 4, 1996, 61 FR 291). The 
percent allocated to vessels landing summer flounder in Connecticut is 
2.25708 percent, or 250,791 lb (113,756 kg).
    Section 625.101(b) requires the Regional Administrator, Northeast 
Region (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 notification 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. After reviewing 
dealer reports and other available information, the Regional 
Administrator has determined that Connecticut no longer has commercial 
quota available because the State's commercial quota for 1996 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 Connecticut 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 Connecticut 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. 96-26847 Filed 10-15-96; 4:33 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F