[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 26 (Thursday, February 7, 2019)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 2463-2464]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-01515]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 170828822-70999-04]
RIN 0648-XG739


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder 
Fishery; Retroactive Quota Transfer

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

ACTION: Temporary rule; quota transfer.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces a retroactive commercial summer flounder quota 
transfer for the 2018 fishing year. The State of North Carolina is 
transferring quota to the Commonwealth of Virginia. This quota 
adjustment is necessary to comply with the Summer Flounder, Scup, and 
Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan quota transfer provisions. This 
announcement informs the public of the revised 2018 commercial quotas 
for North Carolina and Virginia.

DATES: Effective February 6, 2019, through December 31, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cynthia Ferrio, Fishery Management 
Specialist, (978) 281-9180.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations governing the summer flounder 
fishery are found in 50 CFR 648.100 through 648.110. These regulations 
require annual specification of a commercial quota that is apportioned 
among the coastal states from Maine through North Carolina. The process 
to set the annual commercial quota and the percent allocated to each 
state is described in Sec.  648.102, and the initial 2018 allocations 
were published on December 22, 2017 (82 FR 60682),

[[Page 2464]]

and corrected January 30, 2018 (83 FR 4165).
    The final rule implementing Amendment 5 to the Summer Flounder 
Fishery Management Plan, as published in the Federal Register on 
December 17, 1993 (58 FR 65936), provided a mechanism for transferring 
summer flounder commercial quota from one state to another. Two or more 
states, under mutual agreement and with the concurrence of the NMFS 
Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator, can transfer or combine summer 
flounder commercial quota under Sec.  648.102(c)(2). The Regional 
Administrator is required to consider the criteria in Sec.  
648.102(c)(2)(i)(A) through (C) in the evaluation of requests for quota 
transfers or combinations.
    North Carolina is transferring 5,000 lb (2,268 kg) of 2018 summer 
flounder commercial quota to Virginia through mutual agreement of the 
states. This transfer was requested to repay landings made by a North 
Carolina-permitted vessel in Virginia under a safe harbor agreement. 
Based on the initial quotas published in the 2018 Summer Flounder, 
Scup, and Black Sea Bass Specifications and subsequent adjustments and 
transfers, the revised summer flounder quotas for calendar year 2018 
are now: North Carolina, 1,747,145 lb (792,492 kg); and Virginia, 
1,356,972 lb (615,512 kg).
    The 2018 fishing year ended December 31, 2018. The revised 2018 
quotas will be used by NMFS in the ongoing quota accounting that is 
finalized in late 2019. These transfers were requested as a result of 
unforeseeable late-season events. Specifically, a landing event where a 
vessel were granted safe harbor too late in the year to publish notice 
in 2018.

Classification

    This action is taken under 50 CFR part 648 and is exempt from 
review under Executive Order 12866.

    Authority:  16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: February 4, 2019.
Karen H. Abrams,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-01515 Filed 2-6-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P