Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 223 / Tuesday, November 19, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 91275 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 635 

[Docket No. 220919–0193; RTID 0648– 

XE450] 

Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; 

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Fisheries; 

General Category December Quota 

Transfer 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; quota transfer. 

SUMMARY: NMFS is transferring 59.5 

metric tons (mt) of Atlantic bluefin tuna 

(BFT) quota from the Reserve category 

to the General category for the 

remainder of the 2024 fishing year. With 

this transfer, the adjusted General 

category December time period 

subquota is 76 mt and the Reserve 

category quota is 2 mt. This action is 

intended to provide further harvest 

opportunities for General category 

fishermen, based on consideration of the 

regulatory determination criteria 

regarding inseason adjustments and 

applies to Atlantic Tunas General 

category (commercial) permitted vessels 

and Atlantic Highly Migratory Species 

(HMS) Charter/Headboat permitted 

vessels with a commercial sale 

endorsement when fishing 

commercially for BFT. 

DATES: The quota transfer is effective 

December 1, 2024, through December 

31, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Anna Quintrell (anna.quintrell@

noaa.gov) or Larry Redd, Jr. (larry.redd@

noaa.gov) by email or by phone at 301– 

427–8503. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Atlantic 

BFT fisheries are managed under the 

2006 Consolidated HMS Fishery 

Management Plan (FMP) and its 

amendments, pursuant to the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act; 16 U.S.C. 1801 

et seq.) and consistent with the Atlantic 

Tunas Convention Act (ATCA; 16 U.S.C. 

971 et seq.). ATCA is the implementing 

statute for binding recommendations of 

the International Commission for the 

Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. HMS 

implementing regulations are at 50 CFR 

part 635. Section 635.27(a) divides the 

U.S. BFT quota, established by the 

International Commission for the 

Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) 

and as implemented by the United 

States among the various domestic 

fishing categories, per the allocations 

established in the 2006 Consolidated 

HMS FMP and its amendments. NMFS 

is required under the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act at 16 U.S.C. 1854(g)(1)(D) to provide 

U.S. fishing vessels with a reasonable 

opportunity to harvest quotas under 

relevant international fishery 

agreements such as the ICCAT 

Convention, which is implemented 

domestically pursuant to ATCA. 

As described in § 635.27(a), the 

current baseline U.S. BFT quota is 

1,316.14 mt (not including the 25 mt 

ICCAT allocated to the United States to 

account for bycatch of BFT in pelagic 

longline fisheries in the Northeast 

Distant Gear Restricted Area). The 

baseline quotas for the General and 

Reserve categories are 710.7 mt and 38.2 

mt, respectively. The General category 

baseline quota is suballocated to 

different time periods. Relevant to this 

action, the baseline subquota for the 

December time period is 37.0 mt. To 

date, NMFS has published one action 

that adjusted the December time period 

quota (89 FR 3361, January 18, 2024) 

and three actions that adjusted the 

Reserve category quota (89 FR 58074, 

July 17, 2024; 89 FR 77029, September 

20, 2024; 89 FR 81032, October 7, 2024). 

The current adjusted December time 

period quota is 16.5 mt and the Reserve 

category quota is 61.5 mt. 

Transfer From the Reserve Category to 

the December 2024 Subquota 

Under § 635.27(a)(8), NMFS has the 

authority to transfer quota among 

fishing categories or subcategories after 

considering the determination criteria 

provided under § 635.27(a)(7). This 

section focuses on the calculations 

involved in transferring quota from the 

Reserve category to the General 

category; the consideration of the 

determination criteria can be found 

below after this section. 

As stated above, the adjusted 

December time period subquota and 

adjusted Reserve quota are 16.5 mt and 

61.5 mt, respectively. At this time, after 

considering the relevant determination 

criteria (see below), NMFS is 

transferring 59.5 mt from the Reserve 

category to the General category 

December time period. This transfer will 

result in an adjusted December time 

period subquota of 76 mt (16.5 mt + 59.5 

mt = 76 mt) and an adjusted Reserve 

category quota of 2 mt (61.5 mt–59.5 mt 

= 2 mt). The General category quota is 

available for use by Atlantic Tunas 

General category (commercial) 

permitted vessels and HMS Charter/ 

Headboat permitted vessels with a 

commercial sale endorsement when 

fishing commercially for BFT. These 

quotas will be in effect when the fishery 

automatically opens on December 1, 

2024. 

Consideration of the Relevant 

Determination Criteria 

NMFS has considered all of the 

relevant determination criteria and their 

applicability to this inseason quota 

transfer (§ 635.27(a)(7)). These criteria 

include, but are not limited to, the 

following: 

Regarding the usefulness of 

information obtained from catches in 

the particular category for biological 

sampling and monitoring of the status of 

the stock (§ 635.27(a)(7)(i)), biological 

samples collected from BFT landed by 

General category fishermen and 

provided by BFT dealers continue to 

provide NMFS with valuable parts and 

data for ongoing scientific studies of 

BFT age and growth, migration, and 

reproductive status. Additional 

opportunity to land BFT in the General 

category would support the continued 

collection of a broad range of data for 

these studies and for stock monitoring 

purposes. 

NMFS also considered the catches of 

the General category quota to date 

(including during the summer/fall and 

winter fisheries in the last several years) 

and the likelihood of closure of that 

segment of the fishery if no adjustment 

is made (§ 635.27(a)(7)(ii)), as well as 

daily landing trends and the availability 

of BFT on fishing grounds 

(§ 635.27(a)(7)(ix)). The General category 

is currently closed and the December 

time period has not yet opened. 

However, without a quota transfer at 

this time, based on recent catch rates in 

comparison to the current available 

quota (16.5 mt), NMFS would likely 

need to close the General category 

fishery shortly after the December time 

period begins. Once the fishery is 

closed, participants would have to stop 

BFT fishing activities while 

commercial-sized BFT remain available 

in the areas where General category 

permitted vessels operate. A quota 

transfer at this time provides limited 

additional opportunities to harvest the 

U.S. BFT quota while avoiding 

exceeding it. 

Regarding the projected ability of the 

vessels fishing under the General 

category to harvest the additional 

amount of BFT quota transferred before 

the end of the fishing year 

(§ 635.27(a)(7)(iii)), NMFS considered 

General category landings over the last 

several years and landings to date this 

year. Landings are highly variable and 

depend on access to commercial-sized 


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91276 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 223 / Tuesday, November 19, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

BFT and fishing conditions, among 

other factors. NMFS may adjust each 

time period’s subquota based on 

overharvest or underharvest in the prior 

time period and may transfer subquota 

from one time period to another time 

period. By allowing for the current 

quota transfer, NMFS anticipates that 

the General category quota would be 

used before the end of the fishing year. 

Thus, this quota transfer would allow 

General category fishermen to take 

advantage of the availability of BFT on 

the fishing grounds and provide a 

reasonable opportunity to harvest the 

available U.S. BFT quota. 

NMFS also considered the estimated 

amounts by which quotas for other gear 

categories of the fishery might be 

exceeded (§ 635.27(a)(7)(iv)) and the 

ability to account for all 2024 landings 

and dead discards (§ 635.27(a)(7)(xi)). 

Preliminary landings across all 

categories are below the available U.S. 

quota and are similar to landing 

estimates calculated at this time in 

recent past years. Additionally, in the 

last several years, the total U.S. BFT 

landings have been below the available 

U.S. quota such that the United States 

has carried forward the maximum 

amount of underharvest allowed by 

ICCAT from one year to the next. NMFS 

recently took such an action to carry 

over the allowable 134.1 mt of 

underharvest from 2023 to 2024 (89 FR 

77029, September 20, 2024). 

NMFS anticipates having sufficient 

quota to account for landings and dead 

discards within the adjusted U.S. quota, 

consistent with ICCAT 

recommendations. 

NMFS also considered the effects of 

the adjustment on BFT rebuilding and 

overfishing, and the effects of the 

transfer on accomplishing the objectives 

of the FMP (§ 635.27(a)(7)(v) and (vi)). 

This quota transfer would be consistent 

with established quotas and subquotas, 

which are implemented consistent with 

ICCAT recommendations (established in 

Recommendation 22–10), ATCA, and 

the objectives of the 2006 Consolidated 

HMS FMP and amendments. In 

establishing these quotas and subquotas 

and associated management measures, 

ICCAT and NMFS considered the best 

scientific information available, 

objectives for stock management and 

status, such as rebuilding and avoiding 

overfishing, and effects on the stock. 

This quota transfer is in line with the 

established management measures and 

stock status determinations. It is also 

important that NMFS limit landings to 

the quota both to adhere to the FMP 

quota allocations and to ensure that 

landings are as consistent as possible 

with the pattern of fishing mortality 

(e.g., fish caught at each age) that was 

assumed in the latest stock assessment, 

and this quota transfer is consistent 

with those objectives. Another principal 

consideration is the objective of 

providing opportunities to harvest the 

available General category quota 

without exceeding the overall U.S. 

annual quota. This consideration is 

based on the objectives of the 2006 

Consolidated HMS FMP and its 

amendments, including achieving 

optimum yield on a continuing basis 

and allowing all permit categories a 

reasonable opportunity to harvest 

available BFT quota allocations (related 

to § 635.27(a)(7)(x)). 

Monitoring and Reporting 

NMFS will continue to monitor the 

BFT fishery closely. Per 

§ 635.5(b)(2)(i)(A), dealers are required 

to submit landing reports within 24 

hours of a dealer receiving BFT. Late 

reporting by dealers compromises 

NMFS’ ability to timely implement 

actions such as quota and retention 

limit adjustments, as well as closures, 

and may result in enforcement actions. 

Additionally, and separate from the 

dealer reporting requirement, General 

and HMS Charter/Headboat category 

vessel owners are required per 

§ 635.5(a)(4) to report their own catch of 

all BFT retained or discarded dead 

within 24 hours of the landing(s) or end 

of each trip, by accessing https://

hmspermits.noaa.gov or by using the 

HMS Catch Reporting app, or calling 

(888) 872–8862 (Monday through Friday 

from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.). 

Depending on the level of fishing 

effort and catch rates of BFT, NMFS 

may determine that additional 

adjustments are necessary to ensure 

available quota is not exceeded or to 

enhance scientific data collection from, 

and fishing opportunities in, all 

geographic areas. If needed, subsequent 

adjustments will be published in the 

Federal Register. In addition, fishermen 

may access https://

hmspermits.noaa.gov, for updates on 

quota monitoring and inseason 

adjustments. 

Classification 

NMFS issues this action pursuant to 

section 305(d) of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act (16 U.S.C. 1855(d)) and regulations 

at 50 CFR part 635 and this action is 

exempt from review under Executive 

Order 12866. 

The Assistant Administrator for 

NMFS (AA) finds that pursuant to 5 

U.S.C. 553(b)(B), there is good cause to 

waive prior notice and opportunity to 

provide comment on this action, as 

notice and comment would be 

impracticable and contrary to the public 

interest. Specifically, the regulations 

implementing the 2006 Consolidated 

HMS FMP and amendments provide for 

inseason adjustments and quota 

transfers to respond to the unpredictable 

nature of BFT availability on the fishing 

grounds, the migratory nature of this 

species, and the regional variations in 

the BFT fishery. Providing prior notice 

and opportunity for public comment on 

this quota transfer to the General 

category for the remainder of 2024 is 

impracticable and contrary to the public 

interest as the General category fishery 

is currently underway. Based on 

General category catch rates, a delay in 

this action would likely result in closure 

of the General category fishery when the 

baseline quota is met, with attendant 

administrative costs and costs to the 

fishery. NMFS could not have proposed 

this action earlier, as it needed to 

consider updated landings data in 

deciding whether to transfer a portion of 

the Reserve category quota to the 

General category quota. A delay in 

implementing this quota transfer would 

preclude the fishery from harvesting 

BFT that are currently available on the 

fishing grounds and that might 

otherwise become unavailable during a 

delay. This action does not raise 

conservation and management concerns 

and would support effective 

management of the BFT fishery. 

Transferring quota from the Reserve 

category to the General category 

December time period does not affect 

the overall ICCAT-allocated U.S. BFT 

quota, and available data show the 

adjustment would have a minimal risk 

of exceeding the overall quota. NMFS 

notes that the public had an opportunity 

to comment on the underlying 

rulemakings that established the U.S. 

BFT quota and the inseason adjustment 

criteria. 

For all of the above reasons, the AA 

finds that pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(d), 

there is good cause to waive the 30-day 

delay in effective date. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq. and 1801 

et seq. 

Dated: November 14, 2024. 

Karen H. Abrams, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–26946 Filed 11–14–24; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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