[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 3, 1999)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 5196-5198]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-2465]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 981014259-8312-02; I.D. 012299B]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder, 
Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fisheries; Adjustments to the 1999 Summer 
Flounder Commercial Quota; Commercial Quota Harvested for Delaware

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

ACTION: Commercial quota adjustment, notice of commercial quota 
harvest.

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SUMMARY: NMFS issues this notification announcing preliminary 
adjustments to the 1999 summer flounder commercial quotas. This action 
complies with the regulations that implement the Fishery Management 
Plan for the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fisheries (FMP) 
and that require that landings in excess of a state's individual quota 
be deducted from a state's respective quota for the following year. The 
public is advised that preliminary adjustments have been made and is 
informed of the revised quotas for the affected states. This action 
also notifies the public that there is no 1999 commercial summer 
flounder quota available to the State of Delaware.

DATES: This rule is effective January 28, 1999, through December 31, 
1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary M. Grim, Fisheries Management 
Specialist, (978) 281-9326.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations implementing summer flounder 
management measures are found at 50 CFR part 648, Subparts A and G. The 
regulations require annual specification of a quota that is apportioned 
among the Atlantic coastal states from North Carolina through Maine. 
The process to set the annual commercial quota and the percent 
allocated to each state is described in Sec. 648.100. The final 
specifications for the 1999 summer flounder fishery, adopted to ensure 
achievement of a fishing mortality rate (F) of 0.24 for 1999, set a 
commercial quota equal to 11.11 million lb (5.04 million kg) (63 FR 
72203, December 31, 1998).
    Section 648.100(d)(2) provides that all landings for sale in a 
state shall be applied against that state's annual commercial quota. 
Any landings in excess of the state's quota must be deducted from that 
state's annual quota for the following year. NMFS published final 
specifications and noted that it would adjust each state's 1999 quota 
as a result of 1998 overages. The adjustment in this notification is 
preliminary because it is likely that additional data will be received 
from the states that would alter the figures, including late landings 
reported from either federally permitted dealers or state statistical 
agencies reporting landings by non-federally permitted dealers.
    Based on dealer reports and other information available through 
December 31, 1998, NMFS has determined that the States of Delaware, 
Maine, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia exceeded their 1998 
quotas. The remaining States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, Connecticut, and North Carolina have not exceeded their 1998 
quotas. The preliminary 1998 landings and resulting overages for all 
states are given in Table 1 to the preamble of this document. The 
resulting adjusted 1999 commercial quota for each state is given in 
Table 2 to the preamble of this document. In Table 3 to the preamble of 
this document, the adjustment has been made to maintain the incidental 
component of the commercial quota at 32.7 percent of the total (as 
recommended in the final specifications).
    This notification also corrects errors for Rhode Island's 
commercial summer flounder allocation specified in the preamble to 
Table 1.--1999 State Commercial Quotas published on December 31, 1998 
(63 FR 72203).
    In FR Doc. 98-34511, on page 72204, in Table 1.--1999 State 
Commercial Quotas, the commercial state allocation for Rhode Island is 
corrected to read as follows:
    In the third column of the table, under the heading Directed, and 
under the subheading Lb, in the fourth line, ``1,171,379'' is corrected 
to read ``1,172,758''; in the last line, the total ``7,468,107'' is 
corrected to read ``1,742,583'' and in the fourth column of the table, 
under the same heading, and under the subheading KG, ``53,133'' is 
corrected to read ``531,954''; in the last line, the total 
``3,387,476'' is corrected to read ``790,422.''
    In the fifth column of the table, under the heading Incidental 
catch, under the subheading Lb, in the fourth line, ``571,204'' is 
corrected to read ``569,825'' and in the sixth column, under the same 
heading, under the subheading KG, ``259,094'' is corrected to read 
``258,468.''
    In the seventh column, under the heading Total, under the 
subheading Lb, in the fourth line, ``1,741,583'' is corrected to read 
``1,742,583''; and under the same heading, under the same subheading, 
in the last line, ``11,111,191'' is corrected to read ``11,110,300.'' 
These corrections are reflected in Tables 2 and 3 of this document. In 
addition, Tables 2 and 3 reflect a quota transfer of 5,000 lb (2,268 
kg) from North Carolina to Virginia (64 FR 2600, January 15, 1999).

                                              Table 1.--Summer Flounder Preliminary 1998 Landings by State
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                                                                    1998 quota               Preliminary 1998 landings             1998 overage
                          State                          -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Lb            Kg \1\            Lb            Kg \1\            Lb            Kg \1\
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ME......................................................           4,791           2,173           5,168           2,344             377             171
NH......................................................              51              23               0               0               0               0
MA......................................................         721,899         327,448         695,994         315,698               0               0
RI......................................................       1,742,583         790,422       1,729,643         784,553               0               0
CT......................................................         250,457         113,605         246,642         111,875               0               0
NY......................................................         763,419         346,281         819,351         371,651          55,932          25,370
NJ......................................................       1,858,363         842,939       1,864,089         845,537           5,726           2,597

[[Page 5197]]

 
DE......................................................     \2\(14,534)      \2\(6,593)          10,637           4,825          25,171          11,417
MD......................................................         199,876          90,662         203,322          92,225           3,446           1,563
VA......................................................       2,362,877       1,071,783       2,526,177       1,145,855         163,300          74,072
NC......................................................       3,049,589       1,383,270       2,936,623       1,332,030               0               0
                                                         -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total \3\...........................................      10,933,871       4,959,518      11,037,646       5,006,592         253,952         115,191
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\1\ Kilograms are as converted from pounds, and may not necessarily add due to rounding.
\2\ Parentheses indicate a negative number.
\3\ Total quota and total landings do not equal overage because they reflect positive quota balances in several states.


                           Table 2.--Summer Flounder Preliminary Adjusted 1999 Quotas
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                                                        1999 initial quota              1999 adjusted quota
                      State                      ---------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        Lb            Kg \1\            Lb            Kg \1\
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ME..............................................           5,285           2,397           4,908           2,226
NH..............................................              51              23              51              23
MA..............................................         757,842         343,751         757,842         343,751
RI..............................................       1,742,583         790,422       1,742,583         790,422
CT..............................................         250,791         113,757         250,791         113,757
NY..............................................         849,680         385,408         793,748         360,038
NJ..............................................       1,858,363         842,939       1,852,637         840,342
DE..............................................           1,977             897    \2\ (23,194)    \2\ (10,521)
MD..............................................         226,570         102,770         223,124         101,207
VA..............................................       2,373,569       1,076,633       2,210,269         935,561
NC..............................................       3,044,589       1,381,002       3,044,589       1,381,002
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................      11,111,300       5,040,001      10,857,348       4,924,810
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\1\ Kilograms are as converted from pounds, and may not necessarily add due to rounding.
\2\ Parentheses indicate a negative number.


                                      Table 3.--Summer Flounder 1999 State Quotas and Incidental Catch Allocations
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                                                                     Directed                    Incidental Catch                      Total
                  State                    Percent share -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Lb            Kg \1\            Lb              Kg              Lb              Kg
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ME......................................         0.04756           3,303           1,498           1,605             728           4,908           2,226
NH......................................         0.00046              34              16              17               8              51              23
MA......................................         6.82046         510,028         231,345         247,814         112,407         757,842         343,751
RI......................................        15.68298       1,172,758         531,954         569,825         258,468       1,742,583         790,422
CT......................................         2.25708         168,782          76,558          82,009          37,199         250,791         113,757
NY......................................         7.64699         534,192         242,305         259,556         117,733         793,748         360,075
NJ......................................        16.72499       1,246,825         565,550         605,812         274,792       1,852,637         840,342
DE......................................         0.01779    \2\ (15,610)     \2\ (7,080)     \2\ (7,584)     \2\ (3,440)    \2\ (23,194)    \2\ (10,521)
MD......................................         2.03910         150,162          68,113          72,962          33,095         223,124         101,207
VA......................................        21.31676       1,487,511         674,724         722,758         327,837       2,210,269         935,561
NC......................................        27.44584       2,049,008         929,415         995,581         451,588       3,044,589       1,381,002
                                         ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total...............................       100.00000       7,306,993       3,314,396       3,550,355       1,610,414      10,857,348       4,924,810
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\1\ Kilograms are as converted from pounds, and may not necessarily add due to rounding.
\2\ Parentheses indicate a negative number.

    In 1998, the State of Delaware was closed to the landing of summer 
flounder by Federal permit holders as a result of deductions to the 
1998 quota for overages in 1997 (62 FR 66304, December 18, 1997). As a 
result of those deductions and further quota reductions as published in 
the Federal Register on April 28, 1998 (63 FR 23227, April 28, 1998), 
the 1998 quota allocation to the State of Delaware was -14,534 lb (-
6,593 kg). Further, an additional 10,591 lb of summer flounder were 
landed in Delaware in 1998. The 1999 quota for Delaware is not 
sufficient to offset this negative 1998 allocation and the additional 
landings in 1998. Consequently, Delaware will have no commercial quota 
for 1999. To prevent landings in Delaware by Federal permit holders, 
the State is closed to the landing of summer flounder by Federal permit 
holders for 1999. The regulations at Sec. 648.4(b) provide that Federal 
permit holders agree, as a condition of their permit, not to land 
summer flounder in any state that, according to the Regional 
Administrator, no longer has commercial quota available for harvest. 
Therefore, effective January 28, 1999, through December 31, 1999, 
landings of summer flounder in Delaware by vessels holding commercial 
Federal fisheries permits are prohibited for the remainder of the 1999 
calender year, unless additional quota becomes available

[[Page 5198]]

through a quota transfer and is announced in the Federal Register. 
Federally permitted dealers are also advised that they may not purchase 
summer flounder from federally permitted vessels that land in Delaware 
for the remainder of the 1999 calender year, or until additional quota 
becomes available through a transfer. If additional landings should be 
reported for 1998, the commercial quota for the State of Delaware will 
be re-adjusted pursuant to Sec. 648.100(d)(2).

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: January 28, 1999.
Gary C. Matlock,
Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 99-2465 Filed 1-28-99; 4:44 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P