[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 177 (Wednesday, September 12, 2001)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 47413-47416]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-22920]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 001121328-1041-02; I.D. 111500C]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder, 
Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fisheries; Adjustments to the 2001 Summer 
Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Commercial Quotas

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

ACTION: Commercial quota adjustment; correction.

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SUMMARY: NMFS publishes corrected adjustments to the 2001 commercial 
quotas for summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass. This action is 
necessary to comply with the regulations that implement the Fishery 
Management Plan for the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass 
Fisheries (FMP), which specify that any summer flounder landings in 
excess of or less than a given state's individual 2000 commercial quota 
be deducted from or added to that state's quota for 2001. For scup and 
black sea bass, the FMP specifies that landings in excess of a quota 
for a given period or quarter be deducted from the quota for the same 
period or quarter in the following year. The intent of this

[[Page 47414]]

action is to use the most accurate landings data to make adjustments to 
a state's annual quota and to correct errors in previous quota 
adjustments to provide fishermen the opportunity to harvest the quota 
available without harvesting fish in excess of the quota and requiring 
reduced catches in future quotas.

DATES: Effective September 7, 2001, through December 31, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul H. Jones, Fisheries Policy 
Analyst, (978) 281-9273, fax (978) 281-9135, e-mail 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    At 66 FR 12902, March 1, 2001, and at 66 FR 16151, March 23, 2001, 
NMFS published final specifications for the 2001 scup and black sea 
bass; and summer flounder, fisheries, respectively, which included 
preliminary 2000 landings and 2001 quota adjustments. Further 
adjustments are made to the 2001 quotas through this notification, to 
account for audited 2000 summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass 
landings data from the states and for inadvertent errors in the 
preliminary 2000 quota adjustments.

Summer Flounder

    The 2000 quota, reported 2000 landings, and the resulting 2000 
overages and underages for all states for summer flounder are given in 
corrected summer flounder Table 2 in this document. The following 
states recorded 2000 landings of summer flounder that differ from those 
reported in the March 23, 2001, final rule, by the following amounts: 
MA, -1,506 lb (683 kg); RI, +9,310 lb (4,223 kg); CT, +5,520 lb (2,504 
kg); NY, -37,048 lb (16,805 kg); NJ, -305,513 lb (138,578 kg); MD, -
9,456 lb (4,289 kg); and VA, -19,477 lb (8,835 kg). While the State of 
NC reported additional landings, this action makes no quota adjustments 
because it is forbidden by a Court Order (North Carolina Fisheries 
Association v.Evans, July 30, 2001).
    The resulting corrected and adjusted 2001 commercial quota for each 
state is given in corrected summer flounder Table 3 of this document.

Scup

    The 2000 quotas (by period), reported 2000 landings (by period) and 
resulting overages for scup for all periods are given in corrected scup 
Table 2 of this document. Changes in 2000 landings from those reported 
in the March 1, 2001, final rule are as follows: Winter I, +17,661 lb 
(8,011 kg); Summer, +19,029 lb (8,631 kg); and Winter II, -357 lb (162 
kg). This information resulted in total overages and resulting 
decreases to the 2001 Winter I and Summer quotas by 346,999 lb (157,396 
kg) and 602,340 lb (273, 217 kg), respectively.
    The resulting adjusted 2001 quota for each period is given in 
corrected scup Table 3 of this document.

Black Sea Bass

    The 2000 quotas (by quarter), reported 2000 landings (by quarter) 
and resulting overages for black sea bass for all quarters are given in 
corrected black sea bass Table 5 of this document. Changes in 2000 
landings from those reported in the March 1, 2001, final rule are as 
follows: Quarter 1, -555 lb (252 kg); Quarter 2, +33,577 lb (15,230 
kg); Quarter 3, -35,027 lb (15,888 kg); and Quarter 4, -58,292 lb 
(26,441 kg). This information resulted in total overages and resulting 
decreases to the 2001 Quarter 2, 3, and 4 quotas by 239,098 lb (108,453 
kg), 61,049 lb (27,691 kg), and 22,760 lb (10,324 kg), respectively.
    The resulting adjusted 2001 quota for each quarter is given in 
corrected black sea bass Table 6 of this document.

Corrections

    1. In the document published at 66 FR 16151, March 23, 2001, the 
following corrections are made:
    On page 16153, Tables 2 and 3 are revised in their entirety as 
follows:

                                               Table 2. Summer Flounder Preliminary 2000 Landings by State
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                                                    2000 Quota\1\                   Preliminary 2000 landings          2000 Overages and Underages\3\
                 State                 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                lb               kg\2\                lb               kg\2\                lb               kg\2\
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ME                                                  3,956              1,794              6,922              3,140              2,966              1,345
NH                                                     51                 23                  0                  0            (51)\3\            (23)\3\
MA                                                703,136            318,937            788,998            357,883             85,862             38,946
RI                                              1,742,566            790,415          1,703,593            772,737        (38,973)\3\        (17,678)\3\
CT                                                244,085            110,715            245,148            111,197            (1,063)              (482)
NY                                                849,672            385,405            836,936            379,628        (12,736)\3\         (5,777)\3\
NJ                                              1,794,299            813,880          1,848,119            838,293             53,820             24,412
DE                                            (31,303)\4\        (14,199)\4\             12,317              5,587             43,620             19,786
MD                                                226,568            102,770            251,751            114,192             25,183             11,423
VA                                              2,293,410          1,040,273          2,206,715          1,000,949        (86,695)\3\        (39,324)\3\
NC                                              3,049,560          1,383,257       3,347,841\5\          1,518,555            298,281            135,298
ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½
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\1\Reflects quotas as published on December 29, 2000 (65 FR 82945).
\2\Kilograms as converted from pounds and may not add to the converted total due to rounding.
\3\Numbers in parentheses are underages.
\4\Parentheses indicate a negative number.
\5\State of NC reports that 3,386,578 lb were landed; further quota adjustment forbidden by Court Order


                                                   Table 3. Summer Flounder Final 2001 Adjusted Quotas
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                                                                     20001 Initial quota                               2001 Adjusted quota
                        State                        ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 lb                     kg\1\                      lb                     kg\1\
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ME                                                                      5,112                    2,319                    2,146                      973
NH                                                                         49                       22                      100                       45
MA                                                                    733,031                  332,497                  647,169                  293,551
RI                                                                  1,685,534                  764,545                1,724,507                  782,223

[[Page 47415]]

 
CT                                                                    242,580                  110,032                  241,517                  109,550
NY                                                                    821,863                  372,791                 834, 599                  378,568
NJ                                                                  1,797,524                  815,343                1,743,704                  790,931
DE                                                                      1,912                      867                 (41,708)                 (18,918)
MD                                                                    219,153                   99,406                  193,970                   87,983
VA                                                                  2,291,026                1,039,192                2,377,721                1,078,516
NC                                                                  2,949,751                1,337,985                2,651,470                1,202,687
ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½
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Note: Parentheses indicate a negative number.
\1\ Kilograms are as converted from pounds and may not add to the converted total due to rounding.
\2\ Total adjusted quota accounts for DE as zero.

    2. In the document published at 66 FR 12902, March 1, 2001, the 
following corrections are made:
    On pages 12904, 12905, and 12906, Tables 2, 3, 5, and 6 are revised 
in their entirety as follows:

                                                    Table 2. Scup Preliminary 2000 Landings by Period
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                                                    2000 Quota\1\                         2000 Landings                         2000 Overage
                Period                 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                lb               kg\2\                lb               kg\2\                lb               kg\2\
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Winter I                                        1,037,253            470,490          1,384,252            627,886            346,999            157,396
Summer                                            637,878            289,337          1,240,218            562,553            602,340            273,217
Winter II                                          70,356             31,913             34,582             15,686                  0                  0
Total                                           1,745,487            791,740          2,659,052          1,206,126            949,339            430,613
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\1\ Reflects quotas as published on August 18, 2000 (65 FR 50463).
\2\ Kilograms are as converted from pounds and may not add to the converted total due to rounding.


                                    Table 3. Scup Final 2001 Adjusted Quotas
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                                               2000 Initial Quota                  2000 Adjusted quota\1\
               Period                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              lb               kg\2\                lb               kg\2\
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Winter I                                      2,004,959            909,434          1,675,960            752,038
Summer                                        1,731,172            785,246          1,128,832            512,030
Winter II                                       708,469            321,356            708,469            321,356
Total                                         4,444,600          2,016,037          3,495,261          1,585,424
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\1\ Possession limits specified in Table 1.
\2\ Kilograms are as converted from pounds and may not add to the converted total due to rounding.

* * * * *

                                              Table 5. Black Sea Bass Preliminary 2000 Landings by Quarter
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                                                     2000 Quota                           2000 Landings                         2000 Overage
                Period                 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                lb               kg\1\                lb               kg\1\                lb               kg\1\
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1                                               1,168,760            530,141            847,463            384,403                  0                  0
2                                                 734,088            332,982            973,186            441,430            239,098            108,453
3                                                 238,795            108,317            299,844            136,007             61,049             27,691
4                                                 490,038            222,281            512,798            232,601             22,760             10,324
Total                                           2,631,681          1,193,721          2,633,291          1,194,441            322,907            146,468
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\1\ Kilograms are as converted from pounds and may not add to the converted total due to rounding.


                               Table 6. Black Sea Bass Final 2001 Adjusted Quotas
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                                               2001 Initial quota                  2001 Adjusted quota\1\
               Period                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              lb               kg\2\                lb               kg\2\
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1                                             1,168,760            530,141          1,168,760            530,141

[[Page 47416]]

 
2                                               885,040            401,447            645,942            292,994
3                                               372,951            169,168            311,902            141,476
4                                               597,991            271,244            575,231            260,920
Total                                         3,024,742          1,372,000          2,701,835          1,225,532
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\1\ Trip limits specified in Table 4.
\2\ Kilograms are as converted from pounds and may not add to the converted total due to rounding.

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: September 7 , 2001.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 01-22920 Filed 9-7-01; 3:17 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S - - - -