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###### Department of Commerce

###### National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

          - 50 CFR Part 648
          - [Docket No. 221223-0282; RTID 0648-XD599]

# AGENCY:

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

# ACTION:

Notification of quota transfers.

# 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 § 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 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]

BILLING CODE 3510-22-P