86838 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 240 / Friday, December 15, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 

provisions. This announcement informs 

the public of the revised 2023 

commercial quotas for North Carolina 

and Virginia. 

DATES: Effective December 12, 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 § 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 

§ 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 

transfer approved in this notification. 

North Carolina is transferring 23,319 

pounds (lb; 10,577 kilograms (kg)) to 

Virginia through a mutual agreement 

between the states. This transfer was 

requested to repay landings made by 

out-of-state permitted vessels under safe 

harbor agreements. The revised summer 

flounder quotas for 2023 are North 

Carolina, 3,257,764 lb (1,477,697 kg), 

and Virginia, 2,788,223 lb (1,264,717 

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 12, 2023. 

Everett Wayne Baxter, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–27625 Filed 12–12–23; 4:15 pm] 

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 660 

[Docket No. 231211–0299] 

RIN 0648–BM44 

Fisheries Off West Coast States; 

Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; 

Biennial Specifications; 2023–2024 and 

2024–2025 Specifications for Pacific 

Mackerel 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: NMFS is implementing 

allowable harvest levels and harvest 

reference points, including the 

overfishing limit, acceptable biological 

catch, and annual catch limit, for Pacific 

mackerel in the exclusive economic 

zone off the U.S. West Coast (California, 

Oregon, and Washington) for the fishing 

seasons 2023–2024 and 2024–2025. The 

allowable harvest levels include a 

harvest guideline and annual catch 

target for the 2023–2024 fishing season 

of 7,871 metric tons (mt) and 6,871 mt, 

respectively and a harvest guideline and 

annual catch target for the 2024–2025 

fishing season of 8,943 mt and 7,943 mt, 

respectively. If the fishery attains the 

annual catch target in either fishing 

season, the directed fishery will close, 

reserving the 1,000-mt difference 

between the harvest guideline and 

annual catch target as a set-aside for 

incidental landings in other Coastal 

Pelagic Species fisheries and other 

sources of mortality. This final rule is 

made pursuant to the Coastal Pelagic 

Species Fishery Management Plan and 

is intended to conserve and manage the 

Pacific mackerel stock off the U.S. West 

Coast. 

DATES: Effective December 15, 2023. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Heather Fitch, West Coast Region, 

NMFS, (360) 302–6549, Heather.Fitch@

noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act), 16 U.S.C. 1801 

et seq., NMFS manages the Pacific 

mackerel fishery in the U.S. exclusive 

economic zone (EEZ) off the West Coast 

in accordance with the Coastal Pelagic 

Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan 

(FMP). The CPS FMP and its 

implementing regulations require NMFS 

to set annual harvest specifications for 

the Pacific mackerel fishery based on 

the annual specification framework and 

control rules in the FMP. The Pacific 

mackerel fishing season runs from July 

1 to June 30. This final rule implements 

these harvest specifications, which 

include allowable harvest levels (i.e., 

annual catch target (ACT) and harvest 

guideline (HG)), an annual catch limit 

(ACL), and annual catch reference 

points (i.e., overfishing limit (OFL) and 

acceptable biological catch (ABC)). This 

final rule adopts, without changes, the 

harvest specifications that NMFS 

proposed in the rule published on 

September 29, 2023 (88 FR 67222). The 

proposed rule for this action included 

additional background on the 

specifications and details on how the 

Pacific Fishery Management Council 

(Council) derived its recommended 

specifications for Pacific mackerel. 

Those details are not repeated here. 

The uncertainty surrounding the 

current biomass estimates for Pacific 

mackerel for the 2023–2024 and 2024– 

2025 fishing seasons was taken into 

consideration in the development of 

these harvest specifications. Any Pacific 

mackerel harvested between July 1, 

2023, and the effective date of the final 

rule will count toward the 2023–2024 

ACT and HG. 

The Council recommended, and 

NMFS is implementing, Pacific 

mackerel harvest specifications for both 

the 2023–2024 and 2024–2025 fishing 

seasons. For the 2023–2024 Pacific 

mackerel fishing season these include 

an OFL of 11,693 mt, an ABC and ACL 

of 9,754 mt, a HG of 7,871 mt, and an 

ACT of 6,871 mt. For the 2024–2025 

Pacific mackerel fishing season these 

include an OFL of 12,765 mt, an ABC 

and ACL of 10,073 mt, a HG of 8,943 mt, 

and an ACT of 7,943 mt. These catch 

specifications are based on the OFL and 

ABC control rules established in the 

CPS FMP, recommendations from the 

Council’s SSC and other advisory 

bodies, and biomass estimates of 55,681 

mt (2023–2024) and 60,785 mt (2024– 

2025). The biomass estimates are the 

result of a benchmark stock assessment 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 240 / Friday, December 15, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 86839 

1Stock Assessment Review (STAR) Panel 

meetings are formal, public, multiple-day meetings 

of stock assessment experts who conduct a detailed 

technical evaluation of full (e.g., benchmark) stock 

assessments. The 2023 Pacific Mackerel STAR 

Panel meeting was held April 11–13, 2023. 

2 Directed fishing for live bait and minor directed 

fishing is allowed to continue during a closure of 

the directed fishery. 

the NMFS Southwest Fishery Science 

Center completed in June 2023, which 

was reviewed by a Stock Assessment 

Review Panel.1 At the June 2023 

Council meeting, the Council’s 

Scientific and Statistical Committee 

(SSC) reviewed and approved, and the 

Council adopted, the 2023 benchmark 

stock assessment and resulting biomass 

estimates as the best scientific 

information available for setting harvest 

specifications for the 2023–2024 and 

2024–2025 Pacific mackerel fishing 

seasons. 

Under this action, in the unlikely 

event that catch reaches the ACT in 

either fishing season, directed fishing 

will close, reserving the difference 

between the HG and ACT (1,000 mt) as 

a set-aside for incidental landings in 

other fisheries and other sources of 

mortality.2 For the remainder of the 

fishing season, incidental landings in 

CPS fisheries will be constrained to a 45 

percent incidental catch allowance (in 

other words, no more than 45 percent by 

weight of the CPS landed per trip may 

be Pacific mackerel); and in non-CPS 

fisheries, up to 3 mt of Pacific mackerel 

may be landed incidentally per fishing 

trip. The incidental set-aside is intended 

to allow continued operation of fisheries 

for other stocks, particularly other CPS 

stocks that may school with Pacific 

mackerel. 

The NMFS West Coast Regional 

Administrator will publish a notice in 

the Federal Register announcing the 

date of any closure of directed fishing 

(when harvest levels are expected to 

reach or exceed the ACT). Additionally, 

to ensure the regulated community is 

informed of any closure, NMFS will also 

make announcements through other 

means available, including email to 

fishermen, processors, and state fishery 

management agencies. 

NMFS published a proposed rule on 

September 29, 2023 (88 FR 67222) and 

received no public comments. 

Classification 

Pursuant to section 304(b)(3) of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act, the NMFS 

Assistant Administrator has determined 

that this final rule is consistent with the 

CPS FMP, other provisions of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other 

applicable law. 

This final rule has been determined to 

be not significant for purposes of 

Executive Order 12866. 

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 contains no 

information collection requirements 

under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660 

Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

Dated: December 11, 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 

660 as follows: 

PART 660—FISHERIES OFF WEST 

COAST STATES 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 660 

continues to read as follows: 

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

U.S.C. 773 et seq., and 16 U.S.C. 7001 et seq. 

■ 2. In § 660.511, revise paragraphs 

(i)(1) and (2) to read as follows: 

§ 660.511 Catch restrictions. 

* * * * * 

(i) * * * 

(1) For the Pacific mackerel fishing 

season July 1, 2023, through June 30, 

2024, the harvest guideline is 7,871 mt 

and the ACT is 6,871 mt; and 

(2) For the Pacific mackerel fishing 

season July 1, 2024, through June 30, 

2025, the harvest guideline is 8,943 mt 

and the ACT is 7,943 mt. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2023–27532 Filed 12–14–23; 8:45 am] 

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