Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Scup Fishery; Commercial Quota Harvested for Summer Period

AGENCY:

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION:

Commercial quota harvested for summer period.

SUMMARY:

NMFS announces that the scup commercial quota available in the summer period to the coastal states from Maine to North Carolina has been harvested. Federally-permitted commercial vessels may not land scup in these states for the remainder of the 2000 summer quota period (through October 31, 2000). Regulations governing the scup fishery require publication of this notification to advise the coastal states from Maine through North Carolina that the quota has been harvested and to advise Federal vessel permit holders and Federal dealer permit holders that no commercial quota is available for landing for the remainder of the summer period.

DATES:

Effective 0001 hours, August 1, 2000 through 2400 hours, October 31, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Paul H. Jones, Fishery Policy Analyst, (978) 281-9273.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Regulations governing the scup fishery are found at 50 CFR part 648. The regulations require annual specification of a commercial quota that is allocated into three quota periods. The summer commercial quota (May through October) is distributed to the coastal states from Maine through North Carolina on a coastwide basis. The process to set the annual commercial quota and the seasonal allocation is described in § 648.120.

The total commercial quota for scup for the 2000 calendar year was set at 2,534,160 lb (1,149,476 kg)(65 FR 33486; May 24, 2000). The summer period quota was initially set at 987,055 lb (447,721 kg). As specified in § 648.120, landings in excess of the commercial quota in the 1999 summer period were deducted from the summer period allocation this year, resulting in a final summer quota allocation of 685,628 lb (310,996 kg).

Section 648.121 requires the Administrator, Northeast Region, NMFS (Regional Administrator) to monitor the commercial scup quota for each quota period and, based upon dealer reports, state data, and other available information, to determine when the commercial quota for a period has been harvested. NMFS is required to publish notification in the Federal Register advising that, effective upon a specific date, the scup commercial quota has been harvested, and notifying vessel and dealer permit holders that no commercial quota is available for landing scup for the remainder of the period. The Regional Administrator has determined, based upon dealer reports and other available information, that the scup commercial quota for the 2000 summer period has been harvested and no further quota is available through October 31, 2000.

The regulations at § 648.4(b) provide that Federal scup moratorium permit holders agree as a condition of the permit not to land scup in any state after NMFS has published a notification in the Federal Register stating that the commercial quota for the period has been harvested and that no commercial quota for scup is available. Therefore, effective 0001 hours, August 1, 2000, further landings of scup by vessels holding Federal scup moratorium permits are prohibited through October 31, 2000. The Winter II period for commercial scup harvest will open on November 1, 2000. Effective 0001 hours, August 1, 2000, federally-permitted dealers are also advised that they may not purchase scup from federally-permitted vessels that land in coastal states from Maine through North Carolina for the remainder of the summer period (through October 31, 2000).

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.