[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 131 (Wednesday, July 9, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 36738-36739]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-17783]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 960805216-7111-06; I.D. 063097C]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Scup Fishery; 
Commercial Quota Harvested for Massachusetts

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 scup commercial quota for the 1997 
Summer period (May 1, 1997 - October 31, 1997) available to the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts has been harvested. Vessels issued a 
commercial Federal fisheries permit for the scup fishery may not land 
scup in Massachusetts for the remainder of the 1997 Summer period, 
unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer. 
Regulations governing the scup fishery require publication of this 
notification to advise the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that the quota 
allocated for the 1997 Summer period has been harvested and to advise 
vessel and dealer permit holders that no commercial quota is available 
for landing scup in Massachusetts for the remainder of the 1997 Summer 
period.

DATES: Effective 0001 hrs, local time (l.t.) July 2, 1997, through 2400 
hrs, l.t., October 31, 1997.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations governing the scup fishery are 
found at 50 CFR part 648. Section 648.120(d) requires annual 
specification of a commercial quota that is allocated into two Winter 
periods: January-April (Winter I) and November-December (Winter II); 
and one Summer period: May-October (Summer)(62 FR 27978, May 22, 1997). 
The Winter periods are allocated coastwide among the states from Maine 
to North Carolina and the Summer period is allocated on a state-by-
state basis from Maine to North Carolina. The process to set the annual 
commercial quota and the percent allocated to each state for the Summer 
period are described in Sec. 648.120.
    The total commercial quota for scup for the 1997 Summer period is 
2,337,000 lb (1,060,045 kg) (62 FR 27978, May 22, 1997). The percent of 
the Summer period quota allocated to vessels landing scup in 
Massachusetts is

[[Page 36739]]

15.49120 percent, or 362,029 lb (164,214 kg). Section 648.120(d)(6) 
provides that any overages of the commercial quota for a Summer period 
landed in any state will be deducted from that state's quota for the 
following Summer period. Section 648.121(b) requires the Administrator, 
Northeast Region, NMFS (Regional Administrator), to monitor states' 
commercial quotas and to determine when a state's commercial quota is 
harvested. The Regional Administrator is further required to publish 
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 scup in that state for the 
remainder of the Summer period. The Regional Administrator has 
determined, based on dealer reports and other available information, 
that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts's commercial quota for the 1997 
Summer period has been harvested.
    The regulations at Sec. 648.4(b) provide that Federal permit 
holders must agree as a condition of the permit not to land scup in any 
state that the Regional Administrator has determined no longer has 
commercial quota available. Therefore, effective 0001 hrs, l.t., July 
2, 1997, through 2400 hrs, l.t., October 31, 1997, further landings of 
scup in Massachusetts by vessels holding commercial Federal fisheries 
permits are prohibited for the remainder of the 1997 Summer period, 
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 scup from federally permitted 
vessels that land in Massachusetts for the remainder of the 1997 Summer 
period, or until additional quota becomes available.

Classification

    This action is required by 50 CFR part 648 and is exempt from 
review under E.O. 12286.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: July 2, 1997.
Gary Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 97-17783 Filed 7-2-97; 3:51 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F