Document Headings

                    Document headings vary by document type but may contain                    the following:                  
                -                       the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document                    
                -                       the number of the CFR title and the number of each part                      the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly                      related to                    
                -                       the agency docket number / agency internal file number                    
                -                       the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in                      the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory                      Actions                    

                    See the                                          Document Drafting Handbook                                        for more details.                  

###### Department of Commerce

###### National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

          - 50 CFR Part 648
          - [Docket No. 221223-0282; RTID 0648-XD631]

# AGENCY:

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

# ACTION:

Temporary rule; quota transfer.

# SUMMARY:

NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina is transferring a portion of its 2023 commercial summer flounder quota to the State of Connecticut. This adjustment to the 2023 fishing year quota is necessary to comply with the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP) quota transfer provisions. This announcement informs the public of the revised 2023 commercial quotas for North Carolina and Connecticut.

# DATES:

Effective January 5, 2024.

# 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 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: (1) the transfer or combinations would not preclude the overall annual quota from being fully harvested; (2) the transfer addresses an unforeseen variation or contingency in the fishery; and (3) 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 30,000 pounds (lb; 13,608 kilograms (kg)) to Connecticut through a mutual agreement between the states. This transfer was requested to ensure Connecticut would not exceed its 2023 quota. The revised summer flounder quotas for 2023 are North Carolina, 3,001,074 lb (1,361,264 kg), and Connecticut, 953,031 lb (432,288 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: January 3, 2024.

Everett Wayne Baxter,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 2024-00149 Filed 1-5-24; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-22-P