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

AGENCY:

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

ACTION:

Commercial quota harvest.

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 2000, unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer. Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require publication of this notification to advise the State of Maine that the quota has been harvested and to advise vessel permit holders and dealer permit holders that no commercial quota is available for landing summer flounder in Maine.

DATES:

Effective 0001 hours, June 28, 2000, through December 31, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

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

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 coastal states from North Carolina through Maine. The process to set the annual commercial quota and the percent allocated to each state are described in § 648.100.

The initial total commercial quota for summer flounder for the 2000 calendar year was set equal to 11,109,214 lb (5,039,555 kg)(65 FR 33486, May 24, 2000). The percent allocated to vessels landing summer flounder in Maine is 0.04756 percent, or 5,284 lb (2,397 kg). This allocation was adjusted due to an overage in 1999, as provided in § 648.100(e)(4), for a final allocation of 3,956 lb (1,794 kg).

Section 648.101(b) requires the Regional 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 notification in the Federal Register advising a state that, effective upon a specific date, its commercial quota has been harvested and notifying Federal vessel and dealer permit holders that no commercial quota is available for landing summer flounder in that state. The Regional Administrator has determined, based upon dealer reports and other available information, that the State of Maine has attained its quota for 2000.

The regulations at § 648.4(b) provide that Federal permit holders agree, as a condition of the permit, not to land summer flounder in any state after NMFS has published a notification in the Federal Register stating that the commercial quota for that state has been harvested and that no commercial quota is available. Therefore, effective 0001 hours, June 28, 2000, further landings of summer flounder in Maine by vessels holding commercial Federal fisheries permits are prohibited for the remainder of the 2000 calendar year, unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer and is announced in the Federal Register. Effective 0001 hours, June 28, 2000, 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.