88540 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 245 / Friday, December 22, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 

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. 

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 


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