[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 215 (Tuesday, November 5, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 56902]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-28362]



[[Page 56902]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 951116270-530802; I.D. 102896C]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder 
Fishery

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

ACTION: Commercial quota harvest.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the summer flounder commercial quota 
available to the Commonwealth of Virginia (Virginia) has been 
harvested. Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit for the 
summer flounder fishery may not land summer flounder in Virginia 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 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: October 31, 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 percentage allocated to each state 
is 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 was adopted to ensure achievement of the 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 percentage allocated 
to vessels landing summer flounder in Virginia is 21.31676 percent or 
2,368,569 lb (1,074,365 kg). On March 13, 1996 (61 FR 10286), the State 
of North Carolina transferred 5,773 lb (2,619 kg) of summer flounder 
quota to Virginia. The resulting quota for Virginia was 2,374,342 lb 
(1,076,983 kg).
    Section 648.100(d) provides that any overages of the commercial 
quota landed in any state be deducted from that state's annual quota 
for the following year. In calendar year 1995, a total of 3,355,838 lb 
(1,522,183 kg) were landed in Virginia. The amount allocated for 
Virginia landings in 1995 was 3,182,177 lb (1,443,411 kg), creating an 
overage of 173,661 lb (78,771 kg) that was deducted from the amount 
allocated for landings in that state during 1996 (April 5, 1996, 61 FR 
15199). The resulting 1996 quota for Virginia is 2,200,681 lb (998,212 
kg).
    Section 648.101(b) requires the Regional Administrator, Northeast 
Region (Regional Administrator) to monitor state commercial quotas and 
to determine when a state commercial quota has been 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. The Regional 
Administrator has determined that the 1996 summer flounder quota 
allocation for vessels landing in Virginia 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 31, 
1996, through December 31, 1996, further landings of summer flounder in 
Virginia 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 effective on October 31, 1996, through December 31, 1996, they may 
not purchase summer flounder from federally permitted vessels that land 
in Virginia for the remainder of the calendar year, or until additional 
quota becomes available.

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 30, 1996.
Gary C. Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 96-28362 Filed 10-31-96; 10:28 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F