[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 158 (Tuesday, August 17, 1999)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 44661-44662]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-21299]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 981014259-8312-02; I.D. 081099A]


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

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 Massachusetts has been harvested. 
Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit for the summer 
flounder fishery may not land summer flounder in Massachusetts for the 
remainder of calendar year 1999, unless additional quota becomes 
available through a transfer. Regulations

[[Page 44662]]

governing the summer flounder fishery require publication of this 
notification to advise the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts.

DATES: Effective from 0001 hours, August 16, 1999, through 2400 hours, 
December 31, 1999.

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 on a percentage 
basis among the 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 initial total commercial quota for summer flounder for the 1999 
calendar year was set equal to 11,110,300 lb (5,039,547 kg)(64 FR 5196, 
February 3, 1999, corrected at 64 FR 9088, February 24, 1999). The 
percent allocated to vessels landing summer flounder in Massachusetts 
is 6.82046 percent, or 757,842 lb (343,751 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 Commonwealth of Massachusetts has 
attained its quota for 1999.
    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 August 
16, 1999, further landings of summer flounder in Massachusetts by 
vessels holding commercial Federal fisheries permits are prohibited for 
the remainder of the 1999 calendar year, unless additional quota 
becomes available through a transfer and is announced in the Federal 
Register. Effective the same date, federally permitted dealers are also 
advised that they may not purchase summer flounder from federally 
permitted vessels that land in Massachusetts 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: August 12, 1999.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 99-21299 Filed 8-12-99; 3:18 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F