83440 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 200 / Wednesday, October 16, 2024 / Proposed Rules 

this AD installed, unless the check and as 

applicable, corrective action, required by 

paragraphs (g)(1) and (2) of this AD have 

been done or the collective pitch handle is 

new (zero total hours TIS). 

(i) Alternative Methods of Compliance 

(AMOCs) 

(1) The Manager, International Validation 

Branch, FAA, has the authority to approve 

AMOCs for this AD, if requested using the 

procedures found in 14 CFR 39.19. In 

accordance with 14 CFR 39.19, send your 

request to your principal inspector or local 

Flight Standards District Office, as 

appropriate. If sending information directly 

to the manager of the International Validation 

Branch, send it to the attention of the person 

identified in paragraph (j) of this AD. 

Information may be emailed to: AMOC@

faa.gov. 

(2) Before using any approved AMOC, 

notify your appropriate principal inspector, 

or lacking a principal inspector, the manager 

of the local flight standards district office/ 

certificate holding district office. 

(j) Related Information 

For more information about this AD, 

contact Dan McCully, Aviation Safety 

Engineer, FAA, 1600 Stewart Avenue, Suite 

410, Westbury, NY 11590; phone: (404) 474– 

5548; email: william.mccully@faa.gov. 

(k) Material Incorporated by Reference 

None. 

Issued on October 9, 2024. 

Steven W. Thompson, 

Acting Deputy Director, Compliance & 

Airworthiness Division, Aircraft Certification 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–23796 Filed 10–15–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 241009–0267] 

RTID 0648–XE226 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; 2025 Specifications for the 

Summer Flounder, Scup, Black Sea 

Bass, and Bluefish Fisheries 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes 2025 

specifications for the summer flounder, 

scup, black sea bass, and bluefish 

fisheries. The implementing regulations 

for the Summer Flounder, Scup, and 

Black Sea Bass Fishery Management 

Plan and the Bluefish Fishery 

Management Plan require us to publish 

specifications for the upcoming fishing 

year for each of these species and to 

provide an opportunity for public 

comment. The proposed specifications 

establish allowable harvest levels for 

these species that will prevent 

overfishing, consistent with the most 

recent scientific information. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before October 31, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: A plain language summary 

of this proposed rule is available at 

https://www.regulations.gov/docket/ 

NOAA-NMFS-2024-0117. You may 

submit comments on this document, 

identified by NOAA–NMFS–2024–0117, 

by the following method: 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Visit 

https://www.regulations.gov and type 

NOAA–NMFS–2024–0117 in the Search 

box. Click on the ‘‘Comment’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments. 

Instructions: Comments sent by any 

other method, to any other address or 

individual, or received after the end of 

the comment period, may not be 

considered by NMFS. All comments 

received are a part of the public record 

and will generally be posted for public 

viewing on https://www.regulations.gov 

without change. All personal identifying 

information (e.g., name, address, etc.), 

confidential business information, or 

otherwise sensitive information 

submitted voluntarily by the sender will 

be publicly accessible. NMFS will 

accept anonymous comments (enter ‘‘N/ 

A’’ in the required fields if you wish to 

remain anonymous). 

A Supplemental Information Report 

(SIR) was prepared for the 2025 black 

sea bass specifications. Environmental 

Assessments (EA) were prepared for the 

2024 and projected 2025 summer 

flounder and scup specifications and 

2024 and projected 2025 bluefish 

specifications. Copies of the EAs are 

available on request from Dr. 

Christopher M. Moore, Executive 

Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council, Suite 201, 800 

North State Street, Dover, DE 19901. 

The EAs are also accessible via the 

internet at https://www.mafmc.org/ 

supporting-documents. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Emily Keiley, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

(978) 281–9116, or emily.keiley@

noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

General Background 

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council (Council) and the 

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries 

Commission (Commission) 

cooperatively develop management 

measures for the summer flounder, 

scup, black sea bass, and bluefish 

fisheries. The Council, pursuant to the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act) develops 

recommendations regarding fisheries in 

Federal waters seaward of New York, 

New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, 

Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. 

The Commission, pursuant to the 

Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative 

Management Act, addresses fisheries in 

state waters from Florida to Maine. 

These bodies work together in the 

development of complementary fishery 

management plans (FMP) for species 

like summer flounder, scup, black sea 

bass, and bluefish that are harvested in 

both Federal and state waters, and each 

year these bodies work together to 

develop specifications for these 

fisheries. The Council provides its 

recommendations to NMFS, and NMFS 

engages in a Federal rulemaking process 

by which the agency adopts 

specifications that become binding on 

the Federal fisheries. Specifications in 

these fisheries include various catch 

and landing subdivisions, such as the 

commercial and recreational sector 

annual catch limits (ACL), annual catch 

targets (ACT), and sector-specific 

landing limits (i.e., the commercial 

fishery quota and recreational harvest 

limit (RHL)) established for 1 to 3 years 

at a time. Adjustments to commercial 

management measures are also 

considered in the specifications process. 

The process for measures used to 

manage the recreational fisheries (i.e., 

minimum fish sizes, seasonal closures, 

and possession restrictions) for these 

four species occurs separately and is not 

discussed further in this proposed rule. 

The Summer Flounder, Scup, and 

Black Sea Bass FMP and the Bluefish 

FMP and their implementing 

regulations establish the process for 

establishing specifications for each of 

those four species. All requirements of 

the Magnuson-Stevens Act, including 

the 10 national standards, also apply to 

specifications. The FMPs also contain 

formulas to divide the catch limits into 

commercial and recreational fishery 

allocations, state-by-state quotas, and 

quota periods, depending on the species 

in question. This proposed rule outlines 

the application of the existing allocation 

provisions for each species and provides 


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the resulting allocations by state and 

sector, as appropriate, for each species. 

The Council’s Scientific and 

Statistical Committee (SSC) met on July 

23–25, 2024, to recommend acceptable 

biological catches (ABC) for the summer 

flounder, scup, black sea bass, and 

bluefish fisheries. The FMPs’ 

implementing regulations require the 

involvement of a monitoring committee 

in the specification process for each 

species. The Monitoring Committees 

recommend any reduction in catch 

limits from the SSC-recommended 

ABCs to offset management uncertainty 

and other commercial management 

measures (e.g., mesh requirements, 

minimum commercial fish sizes, gear 

restrictions, possession restrictions, and 

area restrictions) needed for these four 

fisheries. The Monitoring Committees 

met on August 1 and 2, 2024, to develop 

specification-related recommendations 

for each fishery. 

Following the SSC and Monitoring 

Committee meetings, the Council and 

the Commission’s Summer Flounder, 

Scup, Black Sea Bass, and Bluefish 

Management Boards considered the 

recommendations of the SSC, the 

Monitoring Committees, and public 

comments and made their specification 

recommendations at a meeting held on 

August 12–15, 2024. While the Boards’ 

actions were finalized at the August 

meeting, the Council’s 

recommendations must be reviewed by 

NMFS to ensure that they comply with 

the FMPs, implementing regulations, 

and applicable law. NMFS also must 

conduct notice-and-comment 

rulemaking to propose and implement 

the final specifications. 

Proposed 2025 Specifications 

Summer Flounder Specifications 

Consistent with the statutory scheme 

described above, NMFS is proposing the 

Council and Board-recommended 2025 

summer flounder catch and landings 

limits shown in table 1. 

TABLE 1—SUMMARY OF 2025 SUMMER FLOUNDER FISHERY SPECIFICATIONS

Specifications Million pounds 

(lb) 

Metric ton 

(mt) 

Overfishing Limit (OFL) ....................................................................................................................................... 24.97 11,325 

ABC ...................................................................................................................................................................... 19.32 8,761 

Commercial ACL = ACT ...................................................................................................................................... 10.62 4,819 

Commercial Quota ............................................................................................................................................... 8.79 3,987 

Recreational ACL = ACT ..................................................................................................................................... 8.69 3,942 

Recreational Harvest Limit .................................................................................................................................. 6.35 2,879 

The proposed initial 2025 state-bystate summer flounder quotas are 

provided in table 2. As required in 

Amendment 21 to the Summer 

Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass 

FMP (85 FR 80661), if the commercial 

quota in any year is higher than 9.55 

million lb (4,332 mt), the first 9.55 

million lb (4,322 mt) is distributed 

according to the baseline formula, and 

any additional quota beyond this 

threshold will be distributed in equal 

shares to all states except Maine, 

Delaware, and New Hampshire, which 

would split 1 percent of the additional 

quota. Because this year’s quota is 

below the threshold, the state-by-state 

allocations below are based on the 

baseline allocations that were 

established through Amendment 2 (57 

FR 57358) and modified by Amendment 

4 (58 FR 49937) to the Summer 

Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass 

FMP. Any long-standing overages or 

potential 2024 overages may result in 

adjustments to these proposed quotas in 

the final rule. 

TABLE 2—INITIAL 2025 SUMMER FLOUNDER STATE-BY-STATE QUOTAS

State Percent share 

Initial 2025 

Quotas * 

(lb) 

Initial 2025 

Quotas * 

(mt) 

ME ................................................................................................................................................ 0.04756 4,180 1.90 

NH ................................................................................................................................................ 0.00046 40 0.02 

MA ................................................................................................................................................ 6.82046 599,507 271.93 

RI ................................................................................................................................................. 15.68298 1,378,507 625.28 

CT ................................................................................................................................................ 2.25708 198,394 89.99 

NY ................................................................................................................................................ 7.64699 672,157 304.89 

NJ ................................................................................................................................................. 16.72499 1,470,098 666.83 

DE ................................................................................................................................................ 0.01779 1,564 0.71 

MD ............................................................................................................................................... 2.03910 179,233 81.30 

VA ................................................................................................................................................ 21.31676 1,873,707 849.90 

NC ................................................................................................................................................ 27.44584 2,412,443 1,094.27 

Total ...................................................................................................................................... 100 8,789,830 3,987.02 

* Initial quotas do not account for any previous overages. 

This action makes no changes to the 

current commercial management 

measures, including the minimum fish 

size (14-inch (36-centimeters (cm)) total 

length), gear requirements, and 

possession limits. This action also 

proposes no changes to the recreational 

management measures. Any such 

changes would take place through a 

separate action. 

Black Sea Bass Specifications 

At the August 2024, meeting, the 

Council and the Commission’s Black 

Sea Bass Board were unable to agree on 

the 2025 black sea bass specifications. 

The Black Sea Bass Board adopted a 

coastwide quota for black sea bass that 

is the same as the 2024 quota, while the 

Council adopted a quota that represents 

a 20-percent reduction from 2024. If 

implemented, the differing quotas 


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would likely have significant negative 

socioeconomic impacts on Federal black 

sea bass permit holders. The regulations 

at 50 CFR 648.143(e) require that, in the 

case of different specifications, the 

Regional Administrator will take 

administrative action to align measures 

to prevent these differential effects on 

Federal permit holders. Given the 

current status of the black sea bass 

stock, which is well above the FMP’s 

definition of the biomass capable of 

producing maximum sustainable yield, 

and the potentially significant social 

and economic harm to Federal permit 

holders that would result from divergent 

state and Federal quotas, we are 

proposing to implement 2025 black sea 

bass specifications consistent with those 

adopted by the Commission. 

The proposed 2025 black sea bass 

catch and landings limits are shown in 

table 3. 

TABLE 3—2025 BLACK SEA BASS CATCH AND LANDINGS LIMITS

Specifications Million lb mt 

OFL .......................................................................................................................................................................... 17.01 7,716 

ABC .......................................................................................................................................................................... 16.66 7,557 

Expected Commercial Discards .............................................................................................................................. 1.50 680 

Expected Recreational Discards ............................................................................................................................. 2.89 1,311 

Commercial ACL = ACT .......................................................................................................................................... 7.50 3,401 

Commercial Quota ................................................................................................................................................... 6.00 2,721 

Recreational ACL = ACT ......................................................................................................................................... 9.16 4,156 

RHL .......................................................................................................................................................................... 6.27 2,845 

This action proposes no changes to 

the other commercial management 

measures for black sea bass, including 

the commercial minimum fish size (11- 

inch (27.94-cm) total length) and gear 

requirements. This action also proposes 

no changes to the recreational 

management measures. Any such 

changes to recreational management 

measures for black sea bass would occur 

through a separate action. 

On October 1, 2024 (89 FR 79778), we 

implemented Amendment 23 to the 

Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea 

Bass FMP, which changes the Federal 

coastwide commercial in-season 

accountability measure such that the 

black sea bass commercial fishery will 

now close when the quota plus an 

additional buffer of up to 5 percent is 

projected to be landed. The intent of 

this buffer is to minimize negative 

economic impacts when the coastwide 

quota is reached before all states have 

fully harvested their allocations due to 

overages in individual states. 

Pursuant to Amendment 23, each 

year, through the specification process, 

the Council and Board will recommend 

and NMFS will establish a buffer from 

0 to 5 percent. For 2025, the Council 

and Board have recommended a 5- 

percent commercial in-season closure 

buffer, and this action proposes this 

buffer. Given recent patterns in the 

fishery, an in-season closure is not 

expected for 2025; however, in the 

unlikely event it is needed, a 5-percent 

buffer could have socioeconomic 

benefits with little risk to stock status. 

Scup Specifications 

The Council and Board-recommended 

2025 scup catch and landings limits are 

shown in table 4. 

TABLE 4—2025 SCUP CATCH AND LANDING LIMITS

Specifications Million lb mt 

OFL .......................................................................................................................................................................... 42.19 19,135 

ABC .......................................................................................................................................................................... 41.31 18,740 

Expected Commercial Discards .............................................................................................................................. 7.38 3,318 

Expected Recreational Discards ............................................................................................................................. 2.08 944 

Commercial ACL = ACT .......................................................................................................................................... 26.85 12,181 

Commercial Quota ................................................................................................................................................... 19.54 8,863 

Recreational ACL = ACT ......................................................................................................................................... 14.46 6,559 

RHL .......................................................................................................................................................................... 12.31 5,585 

The Summer Flounder, Scup and 

Black Sea Bass FMP established three 

commercial fishery quota periods with 

corresponding percentages of the total 

quota for each period. Applying those 

percentages, which NMFS does not 

propose to change via this action, to the 

quota provided in Table 4 results in the 

allocations to quota periods outlined in 

table 5. 

TABLE 5—COMMERCIAL SCUP QUOTA ALLOCATIONS FOR 2025 BY QUOTA PERIOD

Quota period Percent share lb mt 

Winter I ...................................................................................................................................... 45.11 8,814,300 3,998 

Summer ..................................................................................................................................... 38.95 7,610,663 3,452 

Winter II ..................................................................................................................................... 15.94 3,114,608 1,413 

Total .................................................................................................................................... 100.00 19,539,570 8,863 


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The current quota period possession 

limits are not changed by this action 

and are outlined in table 6. 

TABLE 6—COMMERCIAL SCUP POSSESSION LIMITS BY QUOTA PERIOD

Quota period Percent share 

Federal possession limits 

(per trip) 

lb kg 

Winter I ...................................................................................................................................... 45.11 50,000 22,680 

Summer ..................................................................................................................................... 38.95 N/A N/A 

Winter II ..................................................................................................................................... 15.94 12,000 5,443 

Total .................................................................................................................................... 100.0 N/A N/A 

The Winter I scup commercial 

possession limit is proposed to drop to 

1,000 lb (454 kg) when 80 percent of 

that period’s allocation is landed. If the 

Winter I quota is not fully harvested, the 

remaining quota would be transferred to 

Winter II. The Winter II possession limit 

may be adjusted (in association with a 

transfer of unused Winter I quota to the 

Winter II period) via announcement in 

the Federal Register. The regulations 

specify that the Winter II possession 

limit would increase to different levels 

consistent with any increase in the 

quota as described in table 7. 

TABLE 7—POTENTIAL INCREASE IN WINTER II POSSESSION LIMITS BASED ON THE AMOUNT OF UNUSED SCUP ROLLED

OVER FROM WINTER I TO WINTER II 

Initial Winter II 

possession limit 

Rollover from 

Winter I to Winter II 

Increase in 

initial Winter II 

possession 

limit 

Final Winter II 

possession limit 

after rollover 

from Winter I to 

Winter II lb kg lb kg 

lb kg lb kg 

12,000 ............... 5,443 ............... 0–499,999 ....... 0–226,796 ....... 0 ...................... 0 ...................... 12,000 ............. 5,443 

12,000 ............... 5,443 ............... 500,000– 

999,999.

226,796– 

453,592.

1,500 ............... 680 .................. 13,500 ............. 6,123 

12,000 ............... 5,443 ............... 1,000,000– 

1,499,999.

453,592– 

680,388.

3,000 ............... 1,361 ............... 15,000 ............. 6,804 

12,000 ............... 5,443 ............... 1,500,000– 

1,999,999.

680,389– 

907,184.

4,500 ............... 2,041 ............... 16,500 ............. 7,484 

12,000 ............... 5,443 ............... 2,000,000– 

* 2,500,000.

907,185– 

1,133,981.

6,000 ............... 2,722 ............... 18,000 ............. 8,165 

* This process of increasing the possession limit in 1,500 lb (680 kg) increments would continue past 2,500,000 lb (1,122,981 kg), but we end 

here for the purpose of this example. 

This action proposes no changes to 

the 2025 commercial management 

measures for scup, including the 

minimum fish size (9-inch (22.9-cm) 

total length), gear requirements, and 

quota period possession limits. This 

action also proposes no changes to the 

2025 recreational management 

measures. Any such changes would take 

place through a separate action. 

Bluefish Specifications 

The Council and Board-recommended 

2025 bluefish catch and landings limits 

are shown in table 8. 

TABLE 8—SUMMARY OF 2025 BLUEFISH FISHERY SPECIFICATIONS

Specifications Million lb mt 

OFL .......................................................................................................................................................................... 27.49 12,467 

ABC .......................................................................................................................................................................... 21.83 9,903 

Commercial ACL = ACT .......................................................................................................................................... 3.06 1,386 

Commercial Quota ................................................................................................................................................... 3.03 1,375 

Recreational ACL = ACT ......................................................................................................................................... 18.78 8,517 

Recreational Harvest Limit ...................................................................................................................................... 15.70 7,121 

The coastwide commercial quota is 

allocated to coastal states from Maine to 

Florida based on percent shares 

specified in the Bluefish FMP. Table 9 

provides the proposed commercial state 

allocations based on the Councilrecommended coastwide commercial 

quota for 2025 and the phased-in 

changes to the percent share allocations 

to the states specified in Amendment 7. 

No states exceeded their allocated quota 

in 2023, or are projected to do so in 

2024; therefore, no accountability 

measures for the commercial fishery are 

required for the 2025 fishing year based 

on the data available at this time. 


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TABLE 9—2025 BLUEFISH STATE COMMERCIAL QUOTA ALLOCATIONS

State Percent share Quota 

(lb) 

Quota 

(kg) 

Maine ......................................................................................................................................... 0.35 10,582 4,800 

New Hampshire ......................................................................................................................... 0.30 9,123 4,138 

Massachusetts ........................................................................................................................... 8.66 262,663 119,142 

Rhode Island .............................................................................................................................. 8.41 255,061 115,694 

Connecticut ................................................................................................................................ 1.16 35,309 16,016 

New York ................................................................................................................................... 15.74 477,518 216,598 

New Jersey ................................................................................................................................ 14.26 432,630 196,238 

Delaware .................................................................................................................................... 1.09 32,990 14,964 

Maryland .................................................................................................................................... 2.38 72,265 32,779 

Virginia ....................................................................................................................................... 8.44 256,125 116,176 

North Carolina ............................................................................................................................ 32.04 972,012 440,897 

South Carolina ........................................................................................................................... 0.07 2,250 1,021 

Georgia ...................................................................................................................................... 0.06 1,897 860 

Florida ........................................................................................................................................ 7.04 213,625 96,899 

Total .................................................................................................................................... 100 3,033,561 1,376,000 

This action proposes no changes to 

the 2025 commercial or recreational 

management measures for bluefish. 

Classification 

Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act, the NMFS 

Assistant Administrator has determined 

that this proposed rule is consistent 

with the Summer Flounder, Scup, and 

Black Sea Bass FMP, the Bluefish FMP, 

other provisions of the MagnusonStevens Act, and other applicable law, 

subject to further consideration after 

public comment. 

This action is exempt from review 

under Executive Order 12866. 

The Chief Counsel for Regulation of 

the Department of Commerce certified 

to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration that this 

proposed rule, if adopted, would not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

The basis for the certification follows. 

We conducted an evaluation of the 

potential socioeconomic impacts of the 

proposed measures in conjunction with 

the EAs and a SIR. The proposed action 

would set the 2025 catch and landings 

limits for summer flounder, scup, black 

sea bass, and bluefish. 

Vessel ownership data were used to 

identify all individuals who own fishing 

vessels. Vessels were then grouped 

according to common owners. The 

resulting groupings were then treated as 

entities, or affiliates for purposes of 

identifying small and large businesses 

that may be affected by this action. 

Affiliates were identified as primarily 

commercial fishing affiliates if the 

majority of their revenues in 2023 came 

from commercial fishing. Some of these 

affiliates may have also held party/ 

charter permits. Affiliates were 

identified as primarily for-hire fishing 

affiliates if the majority of their 

revenues in 2023 came from for-hire 

fishing. Some of these affiliates may 

have also held commercial permits. 

Affiliates were identified as small or 

large businesses based on their average 

revenues during 2019–2023. 

A total of 915 affiliates derive the 

majority of their revenue from 

commercial fishing operations. Of these 

affiliates, 905 are classified as small 

businesses, and 10 are classified as large 

businesses. A total of 362 primarily forhire affiliates were identified as 

potentially impacted by this action. All 

362 of these for-hire affiliates were 

categorized as small businesses. 

Expected Impacts on Commercial 

Entities 

The 10 potentially impacted primarily 

commercial large business affiliates had 

average total annual revenues of $19.1 

million and $303,600 on average in 

annual revenues from summer flounder, 

scup, black sea bass, and/or bluefish 

during 2019–2023. On average, summer 

flounder, scup, black sea bass, and/or 

bluefish accounted for about 2 percent 

of total annual revenues for these ten 

large businesses. 

The 905 potentially impacted 

primarily commercial small business 

affiliates had average total annual 

revenues of $719,300 and $37,500 on 

average in annual revenues from 

commercial landings of summer 

flounder, scup, black sea bass, and/or 

bluefish during 2019–2023. Summer 

flounder, scup, and/or black sea bass 

accounted for an average of 5 percent of 

the total revenues for these 905 small 

businesses. 

The proposed 2025 quotas for black 

sea bass and summer flounder are 

constant compared to 2024. The 

proposed 2025 bluefish quota is 

approximately 25 percent higher than 

the 2024 quota. The proposed 2025 

quota for scup would decrease by 

approximately 7 percent compared to 

2024. This decrease in the scup quota is 

the only plausible pathway for the 

proposed rule to have an adverse impact 

on small entities. However, the 

proposed 2025 scup commercial quotas 

are expected to result in similar levels 

of commercial scup landings and 

revenues as the past several years. 

Commercial scup landings appear to be 

influenced more by market factors than 

the annual commercial quota. The 

proposed 2025 scup quota is higher than 

recent commercial landings which have 

ranged between 12 and 13 million lb 

since 2018. It is unlikely that 

commercial effort or landings would 

change given recent trends. 

Expected Impacts on Recreational 

Entities 

As previously stated, 362 for-hire 

fishing affiliates were identified as 

potentially impacted by this action 

based on the definition above. All these 

affiliates were categorized as small 

businesses based on their average 2019– 

2023 revenues. These 362 small 

businesses had average total annual 

revenues of $133,500 during 2019–2023. 

Their average revenues from 

recreational for hire fishing (for a variety 

of species) was $132,500. On average, 

recreational fishing accounted for 99 

percent of the total revenues for these 

362 small businesses. 

It is not possible to derive what 

proportion of the for-hire revenues came 

from fishing activities for an individual 

species. Nevertheless, given the 

popularity of summer flounder, scup, 

black sea bass, and bluefish as 

recreational species, revenues generated 

from these species are likely important 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 200 / Wednesday, October 16, 2024 / Proposed Rules 83445 

to many of these businesses, at least at 

certain times of the year. 

For-hire revenues are impacted by a 

variety of factors, including demand for 

for-hire trips for summer flounder, scup, 

black sea bass, bluefish, and other 

potential target species, as well as 

weather, the economy, and other factors. 

Recreational measures (possession, 

season and size limits) for 2025 will 

remain the same as measures 

implemented in 2024 for summer 

flounder, scup, and bluefish. Potential 

changes for black sea bass recreational 

measures will be considered in a 

separate action, but with an unchanged 

recreational quota it is unlikely that any 

changes would significantly affect 

revenues. In any event, any changes to 

the black sea bass recreational measures 

will be evaluated when they are 

developed. 

This action is not expected to 

adversely impact revenues for 

commercial and recreational vessels that 

fish for summer flounder, scup, black 

sea bass, and bluefish. Because this 

proposed rule, if adopted, will not have 

a significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities, an 

initial regulatory flexibility analysis is 

not required and none has been 

prepared. 

This proposed rule contains no 

information collection requirements 

under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648 

Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

Dated: October 10, 2024. 

Jennifer Leigh Quan, 

Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–23841 Filed 10–15–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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