[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 249 (Tuesday, December 30, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 67754]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-33889]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 961210346-7035-02; I.D. 122297F]


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

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 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 1997, unless additional quota becomes available through a 
transfer. Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require 
publication of this notice to advise the Commonwealth of Virginia 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 Virginia.

DATES: Effective December 23, 1997, through December 31, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Regina Spallone, Fishery Policy 
Analyst, 978-281-9221.

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 percent allocated to vessels landing summer 
flounder in Virginia is 21.31676 percent, or 2,368,569 lb (1,074,365 
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 2,274,457 
lb (1,031,676 kg) were landed in Virginia. The amount allocated for 
Virginia landings in 1996 was 2,200,681 lb (998,212 kg), creating a 
73,776 lb (33,464 kg) overage that was deducted from the amount 
allocated for landings in the Commonwealth during 1997 (July 15, 1997, 
62 FR 37742). The resulting quota for Virginia is 2,294,793 lb 
(1,040,901 kg).
    Section 648.101(b) requires the Administrator, Northeast Region, 
NMFS (Regional Administrator), to monitor state 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 Commonwealth of Virginia has 
attained its quota for 1997, the Regional Administrator has determined 
based on dealer reports and other available information, that the 
Commonwealth of Virginia'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 
December 23, 1997, further landings of summer flounder in Virginia 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 Virginia 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. 12886.

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

    Dated: December 22, 1997.
Gary C. Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 97-33889 Filed 12-23-97; 3:51 pm]
BILLING CODE 3210-22-P