[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 225 (Friday, November 26, 2021)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 67360-67361]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-25839]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[RTID 0648-XB608]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder 
Fishery; Quota Transfers From VA to CT and NC to RI

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

ACTION: Notification of quota transfer.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State 
of North Carolina are transferring a portion of their 2021 commercial 
summer flounder quota to the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island, 
respectively. This adjustment to the 2021 fishing year quota 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 2021 commercial quotas for Virginia, 
North Carolina, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

DATES: Effective November 22, 2021 through December 31, 2021.

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 2021 allocations were 
published on December 21, 2020 (85 FR 82946).
    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 Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act. The Regional Administrator has determined these three 
criteria have been met for the transfers approved in this notification.
    Virginia is transferring 30,000 lb (13,608 kg) of summer flounder 
to Connecticut through mutual agreement of the states. This transfer 
was requested so that Connecticut would not exceed its 2021 commercial 
quota. North Carolina is transferring 22,158 lb (10,051 kg) to Rhode 
Island to repay landings made by a North Carolina-permitted vessel 
under a safe harbor agreement. The revised summer flounder quotas for 
2021 are: Virginia, 2,359,776 lb (1,070,376 kg); Connecticut, 629,376 
lb (285,480 kg); North Carolina, 2,952,765 lb (1,339,352 kg); and Rhode 
Island, 1,883,708 lb (854,436 kg).

Classification

    NMFS issues this action pursuant to section 305(d) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act. This action is required by 50 CFR 648.162(e)(1)(i) through 
(iii), which was issued pursuant to section 304(b), and is

[[Page 67361]]

exempted from review under Executive Order 12866.

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

    Dated: November 22, 2021.
Ngagne Jafnar Gueye,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries,National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-25839 Filed 11-22-21; 4:15 pm]
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