[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 238 (Friday, December 11, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 68404-68405]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-32996]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 971015246-7293-02; I.D. 120798A]


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 1998, unless additional quota becomes available through a 
transfer. Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require 
publication of this notification to advise the Commonwealth of Virginia 
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 Virginia.

DATES: Effective 0001 hours, December 9, 1998, through December 31, 
1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul H. Jones, Fishery Policy Analyst, 
(978) 281-9273.

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 Virginia is 21.31676 percent, or 2,368,569 lb 
(1,074,365 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 the calendar year 1997, a total of 2,305,985 
lb (1,045,977 kg) were landed in Virginia, creating a 11,192 lb (5,077 
kg) overage that was deducted from the amount allocated for landings in 
the state during 1998 (63 FR 23227, April 28, 1998). The resulting 
quota for Virginia is 2,357,377 lb (1,069,288 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 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 summer flounder in that state. The Regional 
Administrator has determined, based upon dealer reports and other 
available information, that the State of Virginia 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, 
December 9, 1998, further landings of summer flounder in Virginia by 
vessels holding commercial Federal

[[Page 68405]]

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 December 9, 1998, 
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. 12866.

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

    Dated: December 8, 1998.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 98-32996 Filed 12-8-98; 2:56 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F