[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 43 (Monday, March 4, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 15484]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-04524]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 231215-0305; RTID 0648-XD770]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Quota Transfer From Virginia to Massachusetts
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Temporary rule; quota transfer.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Commonwealth of Virginia is
transferring a portion of its 2024 commercial summer flounder quota to
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This adjustment to the 2024 fishing
year quota is necessary to comply with the Summer Flounder, Scup, and
Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP) quota transfer provisions.
This announcement informs the public of the revised 2024 commercial
quotas for Virginia and Massachusetts.
DATES: Effective March 1, 2024, through December 31, 2024.
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 2024 allocations were
published on December 21, 2023 (88 FR 88266).
The final rule implementing amendment 5 to the Summer Flounder 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: (1) the transfers or combinations
would not preclude the overall annual quota from being fully harvested;
(2) the transfers address an unforeseen variation or contingency in the
fishery; and (3) the transfers are 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.
Virginia is transferring 8,186 pounds (lb; 3,713 kilograms (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 2024 are: Virginia, 1,879,801 lb (852,663 kg); and
Massachusetts, 607,693 lb (275,645 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: February 28, 2024.
Everett Wayne Baxter,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-04524 Filed 3-1-24; 8:45 am]
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