[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 176 (Thursday, September 11, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 47767]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-24161]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 961210346-7035-02; I.D. 090897B]


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 announces 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 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 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.
DATES: Effective September 9, 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 percentage 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 Connecticut is 2.25708 percent, or 250,791 lb (113,767 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 278,776 
lb (126,451 kg) were landed in Connecticut. The amount allocated for 
Connecticut landings in 1996 was 250,791 lb (113,757 kg), creating a 
27,985 lb (12,694 kg) overage that was deducted from the amount 
allocated for landings in that state during 1997 (March 7, 1997, 62 FR 
10474). The resulting 1997 quota for Connecticut is 222,806 lb (101,063 
kg).
    Section 648.101(b) requires the Administrator, Northeast Region, 
NMFS (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 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 Connecticut has 
attained its quota for 1997, the Regional Administrator has determined 
based on dealer reports and other available 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, September 9, 1997, further 
landings of summer flounder in Connecticut 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 Connecticut 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: September 9, 1997.
Bruce Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
[FR Doc. 97-24161 Filed 9-8-97; 4:34 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F