[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 245 (Friday, December 22, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 88540]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-28225]



[[Page 88540]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 221223-0282; RTID 0648-XD599]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder 
Fishery; Quota Transfers From NC and VA to NJ

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

ACTION: Notification of quota transfers.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina and the 
Commonwealth of Virginia are transferring a portion of their 2023 
commercial summer flounder quotas to the State of New Jersey. These 
adjustments to the 2023 fishing year quota are 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, Virginia, and New 
Jersey.

DATES: Effective December 19, 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 transfers 
approved in this notification.
    North Carolina is transferring 110,000 pounds (lb; 49,895 kilograms 
(kg)) and Virginia is transferring 50,000 lb (22,680 kg) to New Jersey 
through mutual agreements between the states. These transfers were 
requested to ensure New Jersey would not exceed its 2023 quota. The 
revised summer flounder quotas for 2023 are North Carolina, 3,147,764 
lb (1,427,802 kg), Virginia, 2,738,223 lb (1,242,037 kg), and New 
Jersey, 2,470,420 (1,120,564 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: December 18, 2023.
Everett Wayne Baxter,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-28225 Filed 12-19-23; 4:15 pm]
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