70682 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 234 / Wednesday, December 6, 2006 / Rules and Regulations 

ADDRESSES) and by e-mail to 

David_Rostker@omb.eop.gov, or fax to 

202–395–7285. 

Notwithstanding any other provision 

of law, no person is required to respond 

to, and no person shall be subject to 

penalty for failure to comply with, a 

collection of information subject to the 

requirements of the PRA, unless that 

collection of information displays a 

currently valid OMB control number. 

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

Dated: December 1, 2006. 

Samuel D. Rauch III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 06–9570 Filed 12–4–06; 1:11 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 051128313–6029–02; I.D. 

112006F] 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Atlantic Bluefish Fishery; 

Commercial Quota Harvested for 

Rhode Island 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Closure of commercial fishery. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the 

Atlantic bluefish commercial quota 

available to Rhode Island has been 

harvested. Vessels issued a commercial 

Federal fisheries permit for the Atlantic 

bluefish fishery may not land bluefish 

in Rhode Island for the remainder of 

calendar year 2006, unless additional 

quota becomes available through a 

transfer. Regulations governing the 

Atlantic bluefish fishery require 

publication of this notification to advise 

Rhode Island that the quota has been 

harvested and to advise vessel permit 

holders and dealer permit holders that 

no commercial quota is available for 

landing bluefish in Rhode Island. 

DATES: Effective 0001 hours, December 

6, 2006 through 2400 hours, December 

31, 2006. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Douglas Potts, Fishery Management 

Specialist, (978) 281–9341 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Regulations governing the Atlantic 

bluefish 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 Florida 

through Maine. The process to set the 

annual commercial quota and the 

percent allocated to each state is 

described in § 648.160. 

The initial total commercial quota for 

Atlantic bluefish for the 2006 calendar 

year was set equal to 4,215,802 lb (1,912 

mt) (71 FR 9472, February 24, 2006). 

The initial commercial quota was 

adjusted by transferring 3,865,294 lb 

(1,753 mt) from the recreation 

allocation, resulting in a total 

commercial quota of 8,081,096 lb (3,666 

mt). The percent allocated to vessels 

landing bluefish in Rhode Island is 

6.8081 percent, resulting in a 

commercial quota of 550,169 lb (249,555 

kg). The 2006 allocation was reduced to 

542,101 (245,893 kg) (71 FR 13777, 

March 17, 2006) due to research setaside. 

Section 648.161(b) requires the 

Administrator, Northeast Region, NMFS 

(Regional Administrator) to monitor 

state commercial quotas and to 

determine when a state’s commercial 

quota has been harvested. NMFS then 

publishes a notification in the Federal 

Register to advise the state and to notify 

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 bluefish in that 

state. The Regional Administrator has 

determined, based upon dealer reports 

and other available information, that 

Rhode Island has harvested its quota for 

2006. 

The regulations at § 648.4(b) provide 

that Federal permit holders agree, as a 

condition of the permit, not to land 

bluefish in any state that the Regional 

Administrator has determined no longer 

has commercial quota available. 

Therefore, effective 0001 hours, 

December 6, 2006, further landings of 

bluefish in Rhode Island by vessels 

holding Atlantic bluefish commercial 

Federal fisheries permits are prohibited 

for the remainder of the 2006 calendar 

year, unless additional quota becomes 

available through a transfer and is 

announced in the Federal Register. 

Effective 0001 hours, December 6, 2006, 

federally permitted dealers are also 

notified that they may not purchase 

bluefish from federally permitted 

vessels that land in Rhode Island 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: November 30, 2006. 

James P. Burgess, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 06–9553 Filed 12–1–06; 2:50 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

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