[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 160 (Thursday, August 17, 2000)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 50164]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-20993]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 000119014-0137-02; I.D. 081100A]


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 State 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 2000, unless additional quota becomes available 
through a transfer. Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery 
require publication of this notification to advise the State 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 0001 hours, August 17, 2000, through 2400 hours, 
December 31, 2000.

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 2000 
calendar year was set equal to 11,109,214 lb (5,039,555 kg)(65 FR 
33486, May 24, 2000). The percent allocated to vessels landing summer 
flounder in Massachusetts is 6.82046 percent, or 757,834 lb (343,748 
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 1999, a total of 804,964 
lb (365,126 kg) were landed in Massachusetts, creating a 47,122 lb 
(21,374 kg) overage that was deducted from the amount allocated for 
landings in the State during 2000 (65 FR 33486, May 24, 2000). The 
resulting 2000 quota for Massachusetts is 710,712 lb (322,374 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 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 Massachusetts has attained its 
quota for 2000.
    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 
17, 2000, further landings of summer flounder in Massachusetts by 
vessels holding summer flounder commercial Federal fisheries permits 
are prohibited for the remainder of the 2000 calendar year, unless 
additional quota becomes available through a transfer and is announced 
in the Federal Register. Effective 0001 hours, August 17, 2000, 
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 Executive Order 12866.

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

    Dated: August 11, 2000.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 00-20993 Filed 8-16-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F