Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fisheries; Emergency for the Summer Flounder Fishery; Extension of an Expiration Date

NMFS issues an extension of 180 days to an emergency interim rule that amended the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan and its implementing regulations. The emergency interim rule revised the objective to be achieved by the annual specifications for the 2001 summer flounder fishery from obtaining a fishing mortality rate (F) target to obtaining a biomass (B) target and to require that, if a 2000 state summer flounder commercial quota allocation is not fully harvested, the underage be added to that state's 2001 allocation. The intent of this action is to comply with a decision issued on April 25, 2000, by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (Court) and to protect the summer flounder stock from overfishing.