[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 238 (Tuesday, December 10, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 64999-65000]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-31352]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 951116270-5308-02; I.D. 100296I]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder 
Fishery; Adjustments to the 1996 North Carolina State Quota

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

ACTION: Commercial quota adjustment.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces an adjustment to the commercial quota for the 
North Carolina 1996 summer flounder fishery. This action complies with 
regulations implementing the Fishery Management Plan for the Summer 
Flounder Fishery (FMP), which require that annual quota overages landed 
in any state be deducted from that state's quota for the following 
year. The public is advised that a quota adjustment has been made and 
is informed of the revised quota for the State of North Carolina.

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 5, 1996, through December 31, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lucy Helvenston, 508-281-9347.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations implementing Amendment 2 to the 
FMP 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 Atlantic coastal states from North Carolina through Maine. 
The process to set the annual commercial quota and the percentage 
allocated to each state are described in Sec. 648.100. The commercial 
summer flounder quota for the 1996 calendar year, adopted to ensure 
achievement of the appropriate fishing mortality rate of 0.41 for 1996, 
was set to equal 11,111,298 lb (5.0 million kg) (January 4, 1996, 61 FR 
291). The notification of a commercial quota

[[Page 65000]]

transfer from North Carolina to Virginia was published on March 13, 
1996 (61 FR 10286). This quota transfer is reflected in Table 1.
    Section 648.100(d)(2) provides that all landings for sale in a 
state shall be applied against that state's annual commercial quota. 
Any landings in excess of the state's quota will be deducted from that 
state's annual quota for the following year. Based on dealer reports 
and other available information, NMFS published final landings for 1995 
and associated quota adjustments on April 5, 1996 (61 FR 15199). At 
that time, available data indicated that North Carolina had landings 
for 1995 that were actually 6,727 lb (3,051 kg) less than its 1995 
quota. Since that notification was published, additional landings of 
599,475 lb (271,917 kg) have been reported for 1995 for North Carolina, 
meaning that North Carolina now has an overage for 1995 of 592,748 lb 
(268,866 kg) (equals 599.475 lb less 6,727 lb). These landings data for 
North Carolina which were just recently obtained by NMFS, necessitate 
publication of an adjustment. This adjustment reduces the 1996 North 
Carolina quota allocation from 3,043,816 lb (1,380,652 kg) to 2,451,068 
lb (1,111,786 kg). Therefore, any overage in North Carolina's 1996 
commercial fishery will be calculated by deducting the total landings 
in 1996 from the adjusted quota of 2,451,068 lb (1,111,786 kg). This 
action does not affect a notification concerning the commercial quota 
harvest that prohibited further landing of summer flounder by federally 
permitted vessels in North Carolina made effective March 15, 1996 (61 
FR 11344).

                                        Table 1.--Adjusted 1996 Commercial Quota for the Summer Flounder Fishery                                        
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                                                                                                                              Adjusted 1996 quota       
                                              1995 Quota  (lb)    1995 Landings     1995 Overage      Initial 1996   -----------------------------------
                                                                      (lb)              (lb)           quota  (lb)          (lb)              (kg)      
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ME..........................................             6,987             5,318                 0             5,284             5,284             2,397
NH..........................................                67                 0                 0                51                51                23
MA..........................................         1,122,246         1,127,995             5,749           757,841           752,092           341,143
RI..........................................         2,243,224         2,365,465           122,241         1,742,583         1,620,342           734,975
CT..........................................           331,574           306,404                 0           250,791           250,791           113,757
NY..........................................         1,243,374         1,248,078             4,704           849,680           844,976           383,275
NJ..........................................         2,306,198         2,298,303                 0         1,858,363         1,858,363           842,939
DE..........................................             2,614             3,072               458             1,977             1,519               689
MD..........................................           199,551           136,167                 0           226,570           226,570           102,770
VA..........................................         3,182,177         3,355,838           173,661         2,374,342         2,200,681           998,212
NC..........................................         3,974,018         4,566,766           592,748         3,043,816         2,451,068         1,111,786
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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: December 5, 1996.
Gary C. Matlock,
Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 96-31352 Filed 12-5-96; 3:05 pm]
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