[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 158 (Friday, August 15, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 43674]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-21669]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 961210346-7035-02; I.D. 081197A]


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 Commonwealth 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 1997, unless additional quota becomes 
available through a transfer. Regulations governing the summer flounder 
fishery require publication of this notice to advise the Commonwealth 
of Massachusetts that the quota has been harvested and to advise vessel 
and dealer permit holders that no commercial quota is available for 
landing summer flounder in Massachusetts.

DATES: Effective August 13, 1997, through December 31, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dana Hartley, Fishery Management 
Specialist, 508-281-9226.

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 
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 1997 
calendar year was set equal to 11,111,298 lb (5,040,000 kg) (March 7, 
1997, 62 FR 10473). The percent allocated to vessels landing summer 
flounder in Massachusetts is 6.82046 percent, or 757,841 lb (343,751 
kg).
    Section 648.100(d)(2) 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 1996, a total of 800,704 
lb (363,193 kg) were landed in Massachusetts. The amount allocated for 
Massachusetts landings in 1996 was 752,092 lb (328,350 kg), creating a 
48,612 lb (22,050 kg) overage that was deducted from the amount 
allocated for landings in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts during 1997 
(July 15, 1997, 62 FR 37741). The resulting 1997 quota for 
Massachusetts is 709,229 lb (321,701 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 notice 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. Because the 
available information indicates that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
has attained its quota for 1997, the Regional Administrator has 
determined based on dealer reports and other available information, 
that the Commonwealth's commercial quota has been harvested.
    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 August 13, 1997, 
further landings of summer flounder in Massachusetts by vessels holding 
commercial Federal fisheries permits are prohibited for the remainder 
of the 1997 calendar year, unless additional quota becomes available 
through a transfer and is announced in the Federal Register. Effective 
the date above, 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 E.O. 12286.

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

    Dated: August 11, 1997.
Gary C. Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 97-21669 Filed 8-12-97; 2:16 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F