[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 179 (Monday, September 18, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 63861]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-20064]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 221223-0282; RTID 0648-XD368]


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

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 Massachusetts. 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 Massachusetts.

DATES: Effective September 15, 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 648.111. 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 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 529 lb (240 kg) to Massachusetts 
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, 3,301,524 lb (1,497,546 kg), and 
Massachusetts, 1,359,363 lb (616,597 kg).

Classification

    NMFS issues this action pursuant to section 305(d) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act. This action is required by 50 CFR 648.102(c)(2)(i) through 
(iv), 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: September 12, 2023.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-20064 Filed 9-15-23; 8:45 am]
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