[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 206 (Tuesday, October 26, 1999)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 57586-57587]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-27923]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 981014259-8312-02; I.D. 101999A]


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

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 State of New York has been harvested. Vessels issued a 
commercial Federal fisheries permit for the summer flounder fishery may 
not land summer flounder in New York for the remainder of calendar year 
1999, unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer. 
Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require the 
publication of this notification to advise the State of New York 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 New York.

DATES: Effective from 0001 hours, November 1, 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 9088, 
February 24, 1999). The percent allocated to vessels landing summer 
flounder in New York is 7.64699 percent, or 790,948 lb (358,768 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 1998, a total of 823,093 
lb (373,349 kg) were landed in New York, creating a 59,674 lb (27,068 
kg) overage that was deducted from the amount allocated for landings in 
the State during 1999 (64 FR 46596, August 26, 1999). The resulting 
1999 quota for New York is 790,006 lb (358,341 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 that 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 New York will have attained 
its quota for 1999 as of November 1, 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, 
November 1, 1999, further landings of summer flounder in New York 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 New York for the remainder of the 
calendar year, or until additional quota becomes available through a 
transfer.

[[Page 57587]]

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: October 21, 1999.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 99-27923 Filed 10-25-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F