[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 162 (Thursday, August 21, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 44424-44425]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-22259]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 961210346-7035-02; I.D. 081597C]


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

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 State of Maryland has been harvested. Vessels issued a 
commercial Federal fisheries permit for the summer flounder fishery may 
not land summer flounder in Maryland for the remainder of calendar year 
1997, unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer. 
Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require publication 
of this notice to advise the State of Maryland 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 Maryland.

DATES: Effective August 20, 1997, through December 31, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lucille L. Helvenston, Fishery 
Management Specialist, 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.
    The initial total commercial quota for summer flounder for the 1997 
calendar year was set equal to 11,111,298 lb (5,040,000 kg) (March 7, 
1997, 62 FR 10473). The percentage allocated to vessels landing summer 
flounder in Maryland is 2.03910 percent, or 226,570 lb (102,770 kg).
    Section 648.100(d)(2) stipulates that any overages of commercial 
quota landed in any state be deducted from that state's annual quota 
for the following year. In the calendar year 1996, a total of 264,886 
lb (120,150 kg) were landed in Maryland. The amount allocated for 
Maryland landings in 1996 was 226,570 lb (102,770 kg), creating a 
38,316 lb (17,380 kg) overage that was deducted from the amount 
allocated for landings in that state during 1997 (July 15, 1997, 62 FR 
37741 and as corrected on August 12, 1997, 62 FR 43127). The resulting 
quota for Maryland is 188,254 lb (85,391 kg).
    Section 648.101(b) requires the Administrator, Northeast Region, 
NMFS (Regional Administrator), to monitor commercial quotas and to 
determine when a state's commercial quota is harvested. The Regional 
Administrator is further required to publish a notice 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 Maryland has attained 
its quota for 1997, the Regional Administrator has determined based on 
dealer reports and other available

[[Page 44425]]

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 0001 hours August 
20, 1997, further landings of summer flounder in Maryland by vessels 
holding commercial Federal fisheries permits are prohibited for the 
remainder of the 1997 calendar year, unless additional quota becomes 
available through a transfer and is announced in the Federal Register. 
Effective the date above, federally permitted dealers are also advised 
that they may not purchase summer flounder from Federally permitted 
vessels that land in Maryland for the remainder of the calendar year, 
or until additional quota becomes available through a transfer.

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: August 18, 1997.
Gary C. Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 97-22259 Filed 8-18-97; 2:48 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F