[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 125 (Wednesday, June 28, 2000)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 39823]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-16349]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 000119014-0137-02; I.D. 061900G]


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

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 Maine has been harvested. Vessels issued a 
commercial Federal fisheries permit for the summer flounder fishery may 
not land summer flounder in Maine 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 Maine 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 Maine.

DATES: Effective 0001 hours, June 28, 2000, through 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 among the 
coastal states from North Carolina through Maine. The process to set 
the annual commercial quota and the percent allocated to each state are 
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 Maine is 0.04756 percent, or 5,284 lb (2,397 kg). This 
allocation was adjusted due to an overage in 1999, as provided in 
Sec. 648.100(e)(4), for a final allocation of 3,956 lb (1,794 kg).
    Section 648.101(b) requires the Regional 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 that, effective 
upon a specific date, its commercial quota has been harvested and 
notifying Federal vessel and dealer permit holders 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 Maine 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 after NMFS has published a notification in the 
Federal Register stating that the commercial quota for that state has 
been harvested and that no commercial quota is available. Therefore, 
effective 0001 hours, June 28, 2000, further landings of summer 
flounder in Maine by vessels holding 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, June 28, 2000, 
federally permitted dealers are also advised that they may not purchase 
summer flounder from federally permitted vessels that land in Maine 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: June 22, 2000.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 00-16349 Filed 6-27-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F