[Federal Register: November 25, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 227)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 70556-70557]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25no02-18]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 011109274-1301-02; I.D. 111902D]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Commercial Quota Harvested for Connecticut
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Closure; commercial quota harvested for Connecticut.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the summer flounder commercial quota
available to the State of Connecticut has been harvested. Vessels
issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit for the summer flounder
fishery may not land summer flounder in Connecticut for the remainder
of calendar year 2002,
[[Page 70557]]
unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer.
Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require publication
of this notification to advise the State of Connecticut 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 Connecticut.
DATES: Effective 0001 hours, November 20, 2002, through 2400 hours,
December 31, 2002.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jason Blackburn, Fishery Management
Specialist, (978) 281-9326.
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 on a percentage
basis among the coastal 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 2002
calendar year was set equal to 14,578,288 lb (6,612,600 kg)(66 FR
66348, December 26, 2001). The percent allocated to vessels landing
summer flounder in Connecticut is 2.25708 percent, resulting in a
commercial quota of 329,044 lb (149,258 kg). The 2002 allocation was
not adjusted because there was no overage of the 2001 quota, as of
October 31, 2001.
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. NMFS then
publishes a notification in the Federal Register to advise the state
and to notify 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. The Regional Administrator has determined, based upon
dealer reports and other available information, that the State of
Connecticut has attained its quota for 2002.
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,
November 20, 2002, further landings of summer flounder in Connecticut
by vessels holding summer flounder commercial Federal fisheries permits
are prohibited for the remainder of the 2002 calendar year, unless
additional quota becomes available through a transfer and is announced
in the Federal Register. Effective 0001 hours, November 20, 2002,
federally permitted dealers are also notified that they may not
purchase summer flounder from federally permitted vessels that land in
Connecticut 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 Executive Order 12866.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: November 20, 2002.
Richard W. Surdi,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 02-29892 Filed 11-20-02; 4:26 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S