[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 206 (Friday, October 24, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 55362-55363]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-28259]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 961210346-7035-02; I.D. 102097C]


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

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

[[Page 55363]]

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 State of New 
York 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 New York.

DATES: Effective 0001 hours, October 24, 1997, through December 31, 
1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Regina Spallone, Fishery Management 
Specialist, (978) 281-9347.

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 is 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 New York is 7.64699 percent, or 849,680 lb (385,408 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 940,313 
lb (426,519 kg) were landed in New York. The amount allocated for New 
York landings in 1996 was 844,976 lb (383,275 kg), creating a 95,337 lb 
(43,244 kg) overage that was deducted from the amount allocated for 
landings in that state during 1997 (March 7, 1997, 62 FR 10473 and July 
15, 1997, 62 FR 37741). The resulting quota for New York is 754,343 lb 
(342,164 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 State of New York has attained 
its quota for 1997, the Regional Administrator has determined based on 
dealer reports and other available information, that the state'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 000l hours, 
October 24, 1997, further landings of summer flounder in New York 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 New York 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: October 21, 1997.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 97-28259 Filed 10-21-97; 3:18 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F