88266 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 244 / Thursday, December 21, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 

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. 

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 emily.keiley@

noaa.gov. 

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

Specifications million pounds 

(lb) 

metric tons 

(mt) 

OFL .................................................................................................................................................................... 22.98 (2024) 

24.97 (2025) 

10,422 (2024) 

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

State Final 2024 quotas 

(lb) 

Final 2024 quotas 

(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 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 244 / Thursday, December 21, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 88267 

TABLE 2—FINAL 2024 SUMMER FLOUNDER STATE-BY-STATE QUOTAS—Continued 

State Final 2024 quotas 

(lb) 

Final 2024 quotas 

(mt) 

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

Specifications 

2024 

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 * 

Specifications 

2024 2025 

million lb mt million lb mt 

OFL .................................................................................................................. 44.74 20,295 40.58 18,393 

ABC .................................................................................................................. 43.82 19,876 39.74 18,028 


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88268 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 244 / Thursday, December 21, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 

TABLE 4—2024–2025 SCUP CATCH AND LANDING LIMITS *—Continued 

Specifications 

2024 2025 

million lb mt million lb mt 

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 

* 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 

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

Quota period Percent share 

Federal possession limits 

(per trip) 

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 

Initial Winter II possession limit Rollover from Winter I to Winter II Increase ininitial Winter II 

possession limit 

Final Winter 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– 

1,499,999.

453,592– 

680,388.

3,000 ............... 1,361 ............... 15,000 ............. 6,804 

12,000 ............... 5,443 ............... 1,500,000– 

1,999,999.

680,389– 

907,184.

4,500 ............... 2,041 ............... 16,500 ............. 7,484 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 244 / Thursday, December 21, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 88269 

TABLE 7—POTENTIAL INCREASE IN WINTER II POSSESSION LIMITS BASED ON THE AMOUNT OF UNUSED SCUP ROLLED

OVER FROM WINTER I TO WINTER II—Continued 

Initial Winter II possession limit Rollover from Winter I to Winter II Increase ininitial Winter II 

possession limit 

Final Winter II possession limit 

after rollover from Winter I to 

Winter II 

lb kg lb kg lb kg lb kg 

12,000 ............... 5,443 ............... * 2,000,000– 

2,500,000.

907,185– 

1,133,981.

6,000 ............... 2,722 ............... 18,000 ............. 8,165 

* 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 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 648 

continues to read as follows: 

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

■ 2. Revise § 648.127 to read as follows: 

§ 648.127 Scup recreational fishing 

season. 


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88270 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 244 / Thursday, December 21, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 

Fishermen and vessels that are not 

eligible for a scup moratorium permit 

under § 648.4(a)(6), may possess scup 

from January 1 through December 31, 

subject to the possession limit specified 

in § 648.128(a). The recreational fishing 

season may be adjusted pursuant to the 

procedures in § 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 § 648.131. 

[FR Doc. 2023–28090 Filed 12–20–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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