[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 11, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 11108-11109]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-5876]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 961210346-7035-02; I.D. 030497A]


Summer Flounder Fishery

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 
1997, unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer. 
This announcement is in accordance with the regulations governing the 
summer flounder fishery.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 5, 1997 through December 31, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David M. Gouveia, Fishery Management 
Specialist, 508-281-9280.

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 percentage allocated to each state are 
described in Sec. 648.100.
    The total commercial quota for summer flounder for the 1997 
calendar year is set equal to 11,111,298 lb (5,040,000 kg), effective 
March 5, 1997. The percentage allocated to vessels landing summer 
flounder in Maine is 0.04756 percent, or 5,284 lb (2,397 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 calendar year 1996, a total of 8,226 lb 
(3,731 kg) were landed in Maine. The amount allocated for Maine 
landings in 1996 was 5,284 lb (2,397 kg), creating a 2,942 lb (1,334 
kg) overage that was deducted from the amount allocated for landings in 
that state during 1997, effective March 5, 1997. The resulting quota 
for Maine is 2,342 lb (1,062 kg).
    Section 648.101(b) requires the Regional Administrator to monitor 
state commercial quotas and to determine when a state commercial quota 
is harvested. The Regional Administrator is further required to publish 
an announcement 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 
Maine 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 0001 hours 
March 5, 1997, further landings of summer flounder in Maine 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. 
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.


[[Page 11109]]


    Dated: March 5, 1997.
Gary C. Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 97-5876 Filed 3-5-97; 4:30 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F