[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 244 (Thursday, December 21, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 88266-88270]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-28090]



[[Page 88266]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 231215-0305]
RIN 0648-BM59


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; 2024 and Projected 
2025 Specifications for the Summer Flounder and Scup Fisheries, and 
2024 Specifications for the Black Sea Bass Fishery

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

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces 2024 specifications for the summer flounder, 
scup, and black sea bass fisheries, and projected 2025 specifications 
for summer flounder and scup. The implementing regulations for the 
Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan 
require us to publish specifications for the upcoming fishing year for 
each of these species and to respond to public comments received during 
the public comment period. This action is intended to inform the public 
of the specifications for the start of the 2024 fishing year for summer 
flounder, scup, and black sea bass. A Supplemental Information Report 
(SIR) was prepared for the 2024 black sea bass specifications. An 
Environmental Assessment (EA) was prepared for the 2024 and projected 
2025 summer flounder and scup specifications.

DATES: This rule is effective January 1, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the SIR and EA are available on request from Dr. 
Christopher M. Moore, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery 
Management Council, Suite 201, 800 North State Street, Dover, DE 19901. 
The SIR and EA are also accessible via the internet at https://www.mafmc.org/supporting-documents.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Emily Keiley, Fishery Policy Analyst, 
(978) 281-9116, or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

General Background

    The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and the 
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) cooperatively 
manage the summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass fisheries. The 
Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP) 
outlines the Council's process for establishing specifications. The FMP 
requires NMFS to set an acceptable biological catch (ABC), annual catch 
limit (ACL), annual catch targets (ACT), commercial quotas, 
recreational harvest limits (RHL), and other management measures, for 1 
to 3 years at a time. This action establishes the 2024 ABCs, as well as 
the recreational and commercial ACLs, ACTs, commercial quotas, and RHLs 
for all three species, consistent with the recommendations made by the 
Commission's Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board (Board) 
and the Council at their joint August 2023 meeting. This action also 
sets projected 2025 ABCs and corresponding specifications for summer 
flounder and scup.

Final 2024 and Projected 2025 Specifications

Summer Flounder Specifications

    This action approves the Council- and Board-recommended 2024 and 
projected 2025 summer flounder specifications as shown in table 1. The 
recommendations are based on the averaged 2024-2025 ABCs recommended by 
the Council's Science and Statistical Committee (SSC). This approach 
allows for constant catch and landings limits across both years. The 
ABCs are based on the overfishing limit (OFL) and the Council's risk 
policy, resulting in a 32- to 38-percent probability of overfishing. 
For summer flounder, this results in a 42-percent decrease in the 
recommended 2024 and 2025 ABC relative to the 2023 ABC. The 2024-2025 
commercial quota represents a 42-percent decrease compared to the 2023 
quota, and an approximately 30-percent reduction compared to 2022 
reported landings. The 2024-2025 RHL is a 40-percent decrease compared 
to the 2023 RHL.

    Table 1--Summary of Final 2024 and Projected 2025 Summer Flounder
                         Fishery Specifications
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        million pounds     metric tons
            Specifications                   (lb)              (mt)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFL..................................      22.98 (2024)    10,422 (2024)
                                           24.97 (2025)    11,325 (2025)
ABC..................................             19.32            8,761
Commercial ACL = ACT.................             10.62            4,819
Commercial Quota.....................              8.79            3,987
Recreational ACL = ACT...............              8.69            3,942
Recreational Harvest Limit...........              6.35            2,879
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The final state summer flounder commercial quotas take into account 
any overages that occurred during the 2022 fishing year and the current 
fishing year, through October 31, 2023, as described at 50 CFR 
648.103(b)(2). The final 2024 state-by-state summer flounder commercial 
quotas are provided in table 2.

        Table 2--Final 2024 Summer Flounder State-by-State Quotas
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 Final 2024 quotas    Final 2024 quotas
             State                      (lb)                 (mt)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ME............................                4,180                 1.90
NH............................                   40                 0.02
MA............................              599,507               271.93
RI............................            1,378,507               625.28
CT............................              198,394                89.99
NY............................              672,157               304.89

[[Page 88267]]

 
NJ............................            1,470,098               666.83
DE............................                1,564                 0.71
MD............................              179,233                81.30
VA............................            1,873,707               849.90
NC............................            2,412,443             1,094.27
                               -----------------------------------------
    Total.....................            8,789,830             3,987.02
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This action makes no changes to the current commercial management 
measures, including the minimum fish size (14-inch (36-centimeter (cm)) 
total length), gear requirements, and possession limits. Changes to 
2024 recreational management measures (bag limits, size limits, and 
seasons) will be considered through a separate action.

Black Sea Bass Specifications

    This action approves the Council- and Board-recommended 2024 black 
sea bass specifications as shown in table 3. No updated stock 
assessment information is available for black sea bass this year; 
therefore, the SSC decided to set the 2024 ABC equal to the 2023 ABC. 
The Council and Board made no changes to the ACLs or ACTs compared to 
2023. They approved a 2024 commercial quota of 6 million lb (2,721 mt) 
(25-percent increase from 2023) and a 2024 RHL of 6.27 million lb 
(2,845 mt) (5-percent decrease from 2023). While these values are based 
on the same methodology used to set the 2023 measures, updated dead-
discard projections for each sector led to a change in the quota and 
RHL. An updated management track stock assessment is anticipated to be 
available in 2024 for setting future specifications.

      Table 3--Final 2024 Black Sea Bass Catch and Landings Limits
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                       2024
             Specifications              -------------------------------
                                            million lb          mt
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFL.....................................           17.01           7,716
ABC.....................................           16.66           7,557
Expected Commercial Discards............            1.50             680
Expected Recreational Discards..........            2.89           1,311
Commercial ACL = ACT....................            7.50           3,401
Commercial Quota........................            6.00           2,721
Recreational ACL = ACT..................            9.16           4,156
RHL.....................................            6.27           2,845
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This action implements no changes to the 2024 commercial management 
measures for black sea bass, including the commercial minimum fish size 
(11-inch (27.94-cm) total length) and gear requirements.
    On August 2, 2023, NMFS partially approved Amendment 23 to the 
Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass FMP. The approved measures 
change the Federal coastwide commercial in-season accountability 
measure such that the commercial fishery will now close when the quota 
plus an additional buffer of up to 5-percent is projected to be landed. 
The intent of this buffer is to minimize negative economic impacts when 
the coastwide quota is reached before all states have fully harvested 
their allocations due to overages in individual states. Each year, 
through the specification process, the Council and Board will recommend 
a buffer from 0- to 5-percent. For 2024, the Council and Board have 
recommended a 5-percent commercial in-season closure buffer. The final 
rule implementing Amendment 23 has not been published, so the buffer 
cannot be implemented through this action. Implementation of the 5-
percent buffer recommended for 2024 will be considered through the 
Amendment 23 final rule.

Scup Specifications

    This action approves the Council- and Board-recommended 2024 scup 
specifications as shown in table 4. The SSC-recommended 2024-2025 ABCs 
are based on the OFL and the Council's risk policy for a stock above 
1.5 times the biomass target, with an associated 49-percent probability 
of overfishing. To ensure that the probability of overfishing remained 
below 50-percent in each year, the SSC recommended annually varying 
ABCs for 2024 and 2025. This results in a 2024 ABC that is 49-percent 
higher than the 2023 ABC; and a projected 2025 ABC that is 35-percent 
higher than the 2023 ABC. The scup commercial quota for 2024 is 52-
percent higher than the 2023 commercial quota. The 2024 RHL is 43-
percent higher than the 2023 RHL.

                               Table 4--2024-2025 Scup Catch and Landing Limits *
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               2024                            2025
                 Specifications                  ---------------------------------------------------------------
                                                    million lb          mt          million lb          mt
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFL.............................................           44.74          20,295           40.58          18,393
ABC.............................................           43.82          19,876           39.74          18,028

[[Page 88268]]

 
Expected Commercial Discards....................            7.33           3,327            7.04           3,192
Expected Recreational Discards..................            2.15             977            2.07             937
Commercial ACL = ACT............................           28.48          12,919           25.83          11,718
Commercial Quota................................           21.15           9,592           18.80           8,526
Recreational ACL = ACT..........................           15.34           6,957           13.91           6,310
RHL.............................................           13.18           5,980           11.84           5,373
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* Some of the values in table 4 have been updated since the proposed rule (88 FR 80263, November 17, 2023) due
  to a minor calculation error.

    The commercial scup quota is divided into three commercial fishery 
quota periods, as outlined in table 5.

                       Table 5--Commercial Scup Quota Allocations for 2024 by Quota Period
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          Quota period                            Percent Share         lb              mt
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Winter I.......................................................            45.11       9,539,294           4,327
Summer.........................................................            38.95       8,236,655           3,736
Winter II......................................................            15.94       3,370,790           1,529
                                                                ------------------------------------------------
    Total......................................................            100.0      21,146,740           9,592
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    The current quota period possession limits are not changed by this 
action and are outlined in table 6.

                           Table 6--Commercial Scup Possession Limits by Quota Period
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                  Federal possession limits (per
                                                                                               trip)
                          Quota period                            Percent share  -------------------------------
                                                                                        lb              kg
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Winter I.......................................................            45.11          50,000          22,680
Summer.........................................................            38.95             N/A             N/A
Winter II......................................................            15.94          12,000           5,443
                                                                ------------------------------------------------
    Total......................................................            100.0             N/A             N/A
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Winter I scup commercial possession limit will drop to 1,000 lb 
(454 kg) when 80-percent of that period's allocation is landed. If the 
Winter I quota is not fully harvested, the remaining quota is 
transferred to Winter II. The Winter II possession limit may be 
adjusted (in association with a transfer of unused Winter I quota to 
the Winter II period) via notification in the Federal Register. The 
regulations specify that the Winter II possession limit increases 
consistent with the increase in the quota, as described in table 7.

          Table 7--Potential Increase in Winter II Possession Limits Based on the Amount of Unused Scup Rolled Over From Winter I to Winter II
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       Initial Winter II possession limit         Rollover from Winter I to Winter      Increase ininitial Winter II    Final Winter II possession limit
------------------------------------------------                 II                           possession limit           after rollover from Winter I to
                                                -----------------------------------------------------------------------             Winter II
              lb                      kg                                                                               ---------------------------------
                                                        lb                kg                lb                kg               lb               kg
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12,000.......................  5,443...........  0-499,999.......  0-226,796.......  0...............  0..............  12,000.........  5,443
12,000.......................  5,443...........  500,000-999,999.  226,796-453,592.  1,500...........  680............  13,500.........  6,123
12,000.......................  5,443...........  1,000,000-1,499,  453,592-680,388.  3,000...........  1,361..........  15,000.........  6,804
                                                  999.
12,000.......................  5,443...........  1,500,000-1,999,  680,389-907,184.  4,500...........  2,041..........  16,500.........  7,484
                                                  999.

[[Page 88269]]

 
12,000.......................  5,443...........  * 2,000,000-      907,185-1,133,98  6,000...........  2,722..........  18,000.........  8,165
                                                  2,500,000.        1.
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* This process of increasing the possession limit in 1,500 lb (680 kg) increments would continue past 2,500,000 lb (1,122,981 kg), but we end here for
  the purpose of this example.

    This action makes no changes to the 2024 commercial management 
measures for scup, including the minimum fish size (9-inch (22.9-cm) 
total length), gear requirements, and quota period possession limits.

Federal Recreational Scup Closure

    Through this action, we are removing the January 1-April 30 Federal 
recreational scup closure. Because of the timing of the recreational 
management measures discussions and rulemaking, it would not be 
possible to remove this closure prior to the January 1, 2024, start 
date of the closure outside of this rulemaking. At the December 2023 
meeting, the Council and Board approved a 10-percent reduction in 
recreational scup harvest in 2024 and 2025. State waters measures, in 
addition to the 40-fish possession limit and 10-inch minimum size in 
Federal waters, will be developed to achieve the full reduction 
required. The Federal closure will not be needed to achieve the 
required reduction. Additionally, preliminary data on recreational scup 
harvest indicate that 2023 harvest is trending lower than 2022. 
Estimated scup harvest in waves 1 to 4 is 9.46 million lb (4,291 mt), 
which is 31-percent lower than scup harvest during the same time period 
in 2022. For these reasons, we have determined that the January 1-April 
30 Federal recreational fishery closure can be removed through this 
action.

Comments and Responses

    We received two comments on the proposed rule (88 FR 80263, 
November 17, 2023). One comment was not applicable to the proposed 
measures.
    Comment 1: One comment supported the removal of the January-April 
30 Federal recreational scup closure, citing a preference for changes 
in the possession limit or size limit instead of closed seasons.
    Response: This action removes the Federal recreational scup 
closure.

Changes From the Proposed Rule

    Table 4 in the proposed rule has been updated as several of the 
values were incorrect. The corrected numbers are shown in table 4 of 
this rule.

Classification

    Pursuant to section 304(b)(3) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the NMFS 
Assistant Administrator has determined that this final rule is 
consistent with the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass FMP, 
other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other applicable law.
    The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries finds that the need to 
implement these measures in a timely manner constitutes good cause, 
under the authority contained in 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), to waive the 30-
day delay in effective date of this action. This action implements 2024 
specifications for the summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass 
fisheries. These specifications should be effective by the start of the 
fishing year on January 1, 2024, and must be published on or before 
December 31, 2023.
    This rule is being issued at the earliest possible date. 
Preparation of the final rule is dependent on the analysis of 
commercial summer flounder landings for the prior fishing year (2022) 
and the current fishing year through October 31, 2023, to determine 
whether any overages have occurred and adjustments are needed to the 
final state quotas. This process is codified in the summer flounder 
regulations and, therefore, cannot be performed earlier. A proposed 
rule was published on November 17, 2023, with a public comment period 
through December 2, 2023. This final rule is being published as soon as 
possible. Annual publication of the summer flounder quotas prior to the 
start of the fishing year, by December 31, is required by Court Order 
in North Carolina Fisheries Association v. Daley.
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration during the proposed rule stage that this action would 
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities. The factual basis for the certification was published in the 
proposed rule and is not repeated here. No comments were received 
regarding this certification. As a result, a regulatory flexibility 
analysis was not required and none was prepared.
    This final rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
    This final rule contains no information collection requirements 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

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

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648

    Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: December 15, 2023.
Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, NMFS amends 50 CFR part 
648 as follows:

PART 648--FISHERIES OF THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

0
1. The authority citation for part 648 continues to read as follows:

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


0
2. Revise Sec.  648.127 to read as follows:


Sec.  648.127  Scup recreational fishing season.

[[Page 88270]]

    Fishermen and vessels that are not eligible for a scup moratorium 
permit under Sec.  648.4(a)(6), may possess scup from January 1 through 
December 31, subject to the possession limit specified in Sec.  
648.128(a). The recreational fishing season may be adjusted pursuant to 
the procedures in Sec.  648.122. Should the recreational fishing season 
be modified, non-federally permitted scup vessels abiding by state 
regulations may transit with scup harvested from state waters on board 
through the Block Island Sound Transit Area following the provisions 
outlined in Sec.  648.131.

[FR Doc. 2023-28090 Filed 12-20-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P