284 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 2 / Wednesday, January 3, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

(9) No person who has been issued or 

should have been issued a permit under 

§ 635.4 of this part may retain, possess, 

or land scalloped, smooth, or great 

hammerhead sharks in or from the 

Caribbean, as defined at § 622.2 of this 

chapter. 

* * * * * 

■ 3. In § In 635.24, revise paragraphs 

(a)(4)(iv) and (a)(9), and add paragraph 

(a)(11) to read as follows: 

§ 635.24 Commercial retention limits for 

sharks, swordfish, and BAYS tunas. 

* * * * * 

(a) * * * 

(4) * * * 

(iv) A person who owns, operates, or 

is aboard a vessel that has been issued 

an HMS Commercial Caribbean Small 

Boat permit may retain, possess, land, or 

sell any blacktip, bull, lemon, nurse, 

spinner, tiger, Atlantic sharpnose, 

bonnethead, finetooth, and 

smoothhound shark, subject to the HMS 

Commercial Caribbean Small Boat 

permit shark retention limit. A person 

who owns, operates, or is aboard a 

vessel that has been issued an HMS 

Commercial Caribbean Small Boat 

permit may not retain, possess, land, or 

sell any hammerhead, blacknose, silky, 

sandbar, blue, thresher, shortfin mako, 

or prohibited shark, including parts or 

pieces of these sharks. The shark 

retention limit for a person who owns, 

operates, or is aboard a vessel issued an 

HMS Commercial Caribbean Small Boat 

permit will range from zero to three 

sharks per vessel per trip. At the start of 

each fishing year, the default shark trip 

limit will apply. During the fishing year, 

NMFS may adjust the default shark trip 

limit per the inseason trip limit 

adjustment criteria listed in paragraph 

(a)(8) of this section. The default shark 

retention limit for the HMS Commercial 

Caribbean Small Boat permit is three 

sharks per vessel per trip. 

* * * * * 

(9) Notwithstanding other provisions 

in this subsection, possession, retention, 

transshipment, landing, sale, or storage 

of silky sharks, and scalloped, smooth, 

and great hammerhead sharks is 

prohibited on vessels issued a permit 

under this part that have pelagic 

longline gear on board or on vessels 

issued both an HMS Charter/Headboat 

permit and a commercial shark permit 

when tuna, swordfish or billfish are on 

board the vessel, offloaded from the 

vessel, or being offloaded from the 

vessel. 

* * * * * 

(11) No person who has been issued 

or should have been issued a permit 

under § 635.4 of this part may retain, 

possess, or land scalloped, smooth, or 

great hammerhead sharks in or from the 

Caribbean, as defined at § 622.2 of this 

chapter. 

* * * * * 

■ 4. In Table 1 of Appendix A to Part 

635, remove the term ‘‘Oceanic 

whitetip, Carcharhinus longimanus’’ 

under heading C and add the term 

‘‘Oceanic whitetip, Carcharhinus 

longimanus’’ under heading D in 

alphabetical order. 

The addition reads as follows: 

Appendix A to Part 635—Species 

Tables 

TABLE 1 OF APPENDIX A TO PART

635—OCEANIC SHARKS

* * * * * 

D. Prohibited Sharks 

* * * * * 

Oceanic whitetip, Carcharhinus longimanus 

* * * * * 

* * * * * 

Appendix A to Part 635 [Amended] 

■ 5. In Table 2 of Appendix A to Part 

635, remove the entry for ‘‘Oceanic 

whitetip shark, Carcharhinus 

longimanus.’’ 

[FR Doc. 2023–28900 Filed 1–2–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 221223–0282; RTID 0648– 

XD611] 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Summer Flounder Fishery; 

Quota Transfer From MA to RI 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; quota transfer. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts is 

transferring a portion of its 2023 

commercial summer flounder quota to 

the State of Rhode Island. 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 

Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 

DATES: Effective December 28, 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 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. 

Massachusetts is transferring 25,000 

pounds (lb; 11,340 kilograms (kg)) to 

Rhode Island through a mutual 

agreement between the states. This 

transfer was requested to ensure Rhode 

Island would not exceed its 2023 quota. 

The revised summer flounder quotas for 

2023 are Massachusetts, 1,334,363 lb 

(605,257 kg), and Rhode Island, 

2,255,478 lb (1,023,068 kg). 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 2 / Wednesday, January 3, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 285 

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 27, 2023. 

Jon William Bell, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–28936 Filed 12–28–23; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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