[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 59 (Tuesday, March 26, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 20877]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-06422]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 231215-0305; RTID 0648-XD831]


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

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 State of North Carolina. 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 North Carolina.

DATES: Effective March 25, 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 the 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 11,004 pounds (lb; 4,991 kilograms (kg)) 
to North Carolina 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, 1,865,937 lb (846,375 kg); and 
North Carolina, 2,409,167 lb (1,092,780 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: March 21, 2024.
Everett Wayne Baxter,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-06422 Filed 3-25-24; 8:45 am]
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