[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 29 (Monday, February 12, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 9793-9794]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-02795]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 231215-0305; RTID 0648-XD718]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder 
Fishery; Quota Transfer From North Carolina to Virginia

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

ACTION: Temporary rule; quota transfer.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina is 
transferring a portion of its 2024 commercial summer flounder quota to 
the Commonwealth of Virginia. This adjustment to the 2024 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 2024 commercial quotas 
for North Carolina and Virginia.

DATES: Effective February 9, 2024, through December 31, 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 Sec.  648.102 and final 2024 allocations were 
published on December 21, 2023 (88 FR 88266).
    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

[[Page 9794]]

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 Sec.  
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 transfers or combinations would not preclude the 
overall annual quota from being fully harvested; (2) the transfers 
address an unforeseen variation or contingency in the fishery; and (3) 
the transfers are 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 14,280 pounds (lb; 6,477 kilograms 
(kg)) to Virginia through a mutual agreement between the states. This 
transfer was requested to repay landings made by an out-of-state 
permitted vessel under a safe harbor agreement. The revised summer 
flounder quotas for 2024 are North Carolina, 2,398,163 lb (1,087,788 
kg), and Virginia, 1,887,987 lb (856,376 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: February 6, 2024.
Everett Wayne Baxter,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-02795 Filed 2-9-24; 8:45 am]
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