84106 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 203 / Monday, October 21, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

in affected area is available from the 

NMFS Fisheries Monitoring Branch at 

1–305–361–4581. 

SRHS program participants may delay 

electronic reporting of logbooks to 

NMFS during catastrophic conditions. 

SRHS participants are to report all 

logbooks to NMFS as soon as possible. 

South Atlantic Federal for-hire 

operators may delay electronic reporting 

of logbooks and ‘‘Did Not Fish’’ reports 

to NMFS during catastrophic 

conditions. South Atlantic Federal forhire operators are to report all landings 

or Did Not Fish reports to NMFS as soon 

as possible. Assistance for Federal forhire operators in the affected area is 

available from the NMFS Southeast ForHire Integrated Electronic Reporting 

Program at 1–833–707–1632, Monday 

through Friday, between 8 a.m. and 4:30 

p.m., Eastern Time. The electronic 

systems for submitting information to 

NMFS will continue to be available to 

all Federal for-hire operators, and forhire operators are encouraged to 

continue using these systems, if 

accessible. 

NMFS previously provided Federal 

IFQ dealers with the necessary paper 

forms and instructions for submission in 

the event of catastrophic conditions. 

Paper forms are also available from the 

RA upon request. The electronic 

systems for submitting information to 

NMFS will continue to be available to 

all dealers, and dealers in the affected 

area are encouraged to continue using 

these systems, if accessible. The 

administrative program functions 

available to IFQ participants in the area 

affected by catastrophic conditions will 

be limited under the paper-based 

system. There will be no mechanism for 

transfers of IFQ shares or allocation 

under the paper-based system in effect 

during catastrophic conditions. 

Assistance in complying with the 

requirements of the paper-based system 

will be available via the NMFS Catch 

Share Support line, 1–866–425–7627 

Monday through Friday, between 8 a.m. 

and 4:30 p.m., Eastern Time. 

Classification 

NMFS issues this action pursuant to 

section 305(d) of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act. This action is consistent with the 

regulations in 50 CFR 622.5(c)(1)(iii), 

622.21(a)(3)(iii), 622.22(a)(3)(iii), 

622.26(b)(3) (2020), 622.176(b)(3), 

622.271(b)(3), and 622.374(b)(3) (2020), 

which were issued pursuant to section 

304(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 

and is exempt from review under 

Executive Order 12866. 

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), there 

is good cause to waive prior notice and 

an opportunity for public comment on 

this action, as notice and comment are 

unnecessary and contrary to the public 

interest. Such procedures are 

unnecessary because the final rules 

implementing the Gulf IFQ programs, 

the Gulf and South Atlantic Federal 

dealer reporting requirements, and Gulf 

and South Atlantic for-hire vessel 

reporting requirements, and the SRHS 

reporting requirements have already 

been subject to notice and public 

comment. These rules authorize the RA 

to determine when catastrophic 

conditions exist, and which participants 

or geographic areas are deemed affected 

by catastrophic conditions. The final 

rules also authorize the RA to provide 

timely notice to affected participants via 

publication of notification in the 

Federal Register, NOAA Weather Radio, 

Fishery Bulletins, and other appropriate 

means. All that remains is to notify the 

public that catastrophic conditions 

exist, that Federal dealers and may use 

paper forms, and that Federal dealers, 

South Atlantic for-hire permit holders, 

and SRHS participants may submit 

delayed reports. Such procedures are 

also contrary to the public interest 

because of the need to immediately 

implement this action because affected 

dealers continue to receive these species 

in the affected area and fishermen 

continue to operate, and need a means 

of completing their landing transactions 

and logbook reports. With the power 

outages and damages to infrastructure 

that have occurred in the affected area 

due to Hurricane Milton, numerous 

businesses are unable to complete 

landings transactions, fishing reports, 

and dealer reports electronically. In 

order to continue with their businesses, 

IFQ dealers need to be aware they can 

report using the paper forms, and 

Federal dealers, South Atlantic for-hire 

permit holders, and SRHS participants 

need to be aware that they can delay 

reporting. 

For the aforementioned reasons, there 

is good cause to waive the 30-day delay 

in the effectiveness of this action under 

5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3). 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 

Dated: October 16, 2024. 

Karen H. Abrams, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–24276 Filed 10–16–24; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 231215–0305; RTID 0648– 

XE378] 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Summer Flounder Fishery; 

Quota Transfer From Maine to 

Massachusetts 

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 Maine is transferring a portion 

of its 2024 commercial summer flounder 

quota to the Commonwealth of 

Massachusetts. 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 Maine and 

Massachusetts. 

DATES: Effective October 18, 2024, 

through December 31, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Matthew Rigdon, Fishery Management 

Specialist, (978) 281–9336. 

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 the 

final 2024 allocations were published 

on December 21, 2023 (88 FR 88266). 

The final rule implementing 

Amendment 5 to the 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 transfers or 

combinations would not preclude the 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 203 / Monday, October 21, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 84107 

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. 

Maine is transferring 4,000 pounds 

(lb; 1,814 kilograms (kg)) of summer 

flounder to Massachusetts through a 

mutual agreement between the states. 

This transfer was requested to help 

address an overage of the Massachusetts 

2024 summer flounder quota. The 

revised summer flounder quotas for 

2024 are: Maine, 180 lb (82 kg); and 

Massachusetts, 619,561 lb (281,028 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) of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act and is exempted 

from review under Executive Order 

12866. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 

Dated: October 16, 2024. 

Karen H. Abrams, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–24320 Filed 10–18–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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