[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 54 (Friday, March 20, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 13563]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-7345]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 971015246-7293-02; I.D. 031398D]


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

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

ACTION: Commercial quota harvest.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the summer flounder commercial quota available 
to the State of Maine has been harvested. Vessels issued a commercial 
Federal fisheries permit for the summer flounder fishery may not land 
summer flounder in Maine for the remainder of calendar year 1998, 
unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer. 
Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require publication 
of this announcement to advise the State of Maine that the quota has 
been harvested and to advise vessel permit holders and dealer permit 
holders that no commercial quota is available for landing summer 
flounder in Maine.

DATES: Effective 0001 hours, March 20, 1998, through December 31, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Warren, telephone (978) 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 
coastal 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 1998 
calendar year was set equal to 11,105,636 lb (5,037,432 kg) (62 FR 
66304, December 18, 1997). The percent allocated to vessels landing 
summer flounder in Maine is 0.04756 percent, or 5,284 lb (2,397 kg).
    Section 648.100(e)(4) stipulates that any overages of commercial 
quota landed in any state be deducted from that state's annual quota 
for the following year. In calendar year 1997, a total of 2,835 lb 
(1,286 kg) were landed in Maine, creating a 493 lb (224 kg) overage 
that was deducted from the amount allocated for landings in the State 
during 1998 (63 FR 3478, January 23, 1998). The resulting commercial 
quota for Maine in 1998 is 4,791 lb (2,173 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. The Regional 
Administrator has determined, based upon dealer reports and other 
available information, that the State of Maine has attained its quota 
for 1998.
    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 March 
20, 1998, further landings of summer flounder in Maine by vessels 
holding commercial Federal fisheries permits are prohibited for the 
remainder of the 1998 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 Maine 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. 12866.

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

    Dated: March 16, 1998.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 98-7345 Filed 3-17-98; 2:45 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F