[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 159 (Friday, August 18, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 56544-56545]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-17835]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 221223-0282; RTID 0648-XD195]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder 
Fishery; Quota Transfer From North Carolina to Virginia

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 State of North Carolina is 
transferring a portion of its 2023 commercial summer flounder quota to 
the Commonwealth of Virginia. This adjustment to the 2023 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 2023 commercial quotas 
for North Carolina and Virginia.

DATES: Effective August 17, 2023, through December 31, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Deighan, Fishery Management 
Specialist, (978) 281-9184.

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 2023 allocations were 
published on January 3, 2023 (88 FR 11).
    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

[[Page 56545]]

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 (Magnuson-Stevens Act). The 
Regional Administrator has determined these three criteria have been 
met for the transfer approved in this notification.
    North Carolina is transferring 1,232 lb (559 kg) to Virginia 
through a mutual agreement between the states. This transfer was 
requested to repay landings made by an out-of-state permitted vessel 
under a safe harbor agreement. The revised summer flounder quotas for 
2023 are North Carolina, 3,302,053 lb (1,497,786 kg), and Virginia, 
2,744,463 lb (1,244,867 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 exempted 
from review under Executive Order 12866.

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

    Dated: August 15, 2023.
Kelly Denit,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-17835 Filed 8-17-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P