[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 46 (Monday, March 9, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 13552-13553]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-04567]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 191002-0052; RTID 0648-XX046]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder 
Fishery; Quota Transfer From NC to VA

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

[[Page 13553]]

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notification; quota transfer.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina is 
transferring a portion of its 2020 commercial summer flounder 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 2020 commercial quotas for North Carolina and 
Virginia.

DATES: Effective March 6, 2020, through December 31, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Hansen, Fishery Management 
Specialist, (978) 281-9225.

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 final 2020 allocations were 
published on October 9, 2019 (84 FR 54041).
    The final rule implementing Amendment 5 to the Summer Flounder 
Fishery Management Plan (FMP), 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 three criteria in the evaluation 
of requests for quota transfers or combinations: The transfer or 
combinations would not preclude the overall annual quota from being 
fully harvested; the transfer addresses an unforeseen variation or 
contingency in the fishery; and, the transfer is consistent with the 
objectives of the FMP and the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The Regional 
Administrator has determined these three criteria have been met for the 
transfer approved in this notice.
    North Carolina is transferring 10,276 (4,661 kg) of summer flounder 
commercial quota to Virginia. This transfer was requested to repay 
landings made by a North Carolina-permitted vessel in Virginia under a 
safe harbor agreement. Based on the revised summer flounder, scup, and 
black sea bass specifications, the summer flounder quotas for 2020 are 
now: North Carolina, 3,154,229 lb (1,430,734 kg); and, Virginia, 
2,468,098 lb (1,119,510 kg).

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

    Dated: March 2, 2020.
Karyl K. Brewster-Geisz,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-04567 Filed 3-6-20; 8:45 am]
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