[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 185 (Tuesday, September 26, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 65823-65824]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-20874]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 221223-0282; RTID 0648-XD393]


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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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 September 25, 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

[[Page 65824]]

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 20,441 lb (9,272 kg) to Virginia 
through a mutual agreement between the states. This transfer was 
requested to repay landings made by out-of-state permitted vessels 
under safe harbor agreements. The revised summer flounder quotas for 
2023 are North Carolina, 3,281,083 lb (1,488,274 kg), and Virginia, 
2,764,904 lb (1,254,139 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 20, 2023.
Kelly Denit,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-20874 Filed 9-25-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P