100402 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 239 / Thursday, December 12, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

1The information collection is currently 

approved by OMB under control no. 0648–0084, 

Basic Requirements for Special Exception Permits 

and Authorizations to Take, Import, and Export 

Marine Mammals, Threatened and Endangered 

Species, and for Maintaining a Captive Marine 

Mammal Inventory Under section 104 of the MMPA, 

the Fur Seal Act, and/or section 10(a)(1)(A) of the 

Endangered Species Act. 

consultation and, for example, a new 

species is listed or critical habitat is 

designated, NMFS will review the new 

information to determine if consultation 

needs to be reinitiated in accordance 

with 50 CFR 402.16. If these analyses 

produce new information that warrants 

a change to a permit or permits, NMFS 

retains the ability to amend permits to 

add conditions, such as mitigation 

measures to minimize impacts to 

protected species, as described in 

§ 216.36(b). 

Amendments To Extend the Permit or 

LOC Duration 

As mentioned above (see Opportunity 

for Public Comment) and consistent 

with current practice, permit and LOC 

holders may request a minor 

amendment to extend the duration of 

their permit up to 1 year, if justified. 

The regulations at 50 CFR 216.39 state 

that a major amendment may include an 

extension of a permit beyond 12 

months; however, NMFS typically 

issues extensions for 12 months or less. 

Classification 

Pursuant to the procedures 

established to implement E.O. 12866, 

the Office of Management and Budget 

has determined that this rule is not 

significant. 

Pursuant to section 605(b) of the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), the 

Chief Counsel for Regulation of the 

Department of Commerce has certified 

to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration that this 

rule will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. Permit and 

LOC applicants including individuals, 

academic institutions, business or other 

for-profit organizations, not-for-profit 

institutions, and government 

organizations are the only entities that 

are subject to the requirements in these 

regulations. The number of small 

governmental jurisdictions, small 

organizations, or small businesses 

affected is approximately less than 150 

entities total, and less than 35 

applicants annually (some of which 

submit multiple applications). The 

change in duration of permits will not 

affect the cost to these small entities, as 

it will require the same amount of time 

and resources to apply for a 5-year 

permit as it will to apply for a permit 

of a longer duration. Overall, this rule 

may reduce the costs to these entities by 

potentially spending less time applying 

for permits. For example, the estimated 

number of burden hours to complete a 

scientific research permit application is 

50 hours, with an estimated average 

hourly rate of $32.58. Thus, an 

applicant for a scientific research permit 

will spend approximately $3,258 and 

100 hours to apply for two consecutive 

5-year research permits. By removing 

the duration limit for section 104 

permits, the number of burden hours 

and costs to apply for a scientific 

research permit could potentially be 

reduced to approximately $1,629 and 50 

hours for a 10-year permit, if issued. An 

applicant for an LOC will spend 

approximately 10 hours and $325.80 to 

complete a 5-year LOC application, 

which if issued for a longer period, will 

reduce that cost. Because of this, a 

regulatory flexibility analysis is not 

required, and none has been prepared. 

A person is not required to respond 

to, nor shall a person be subject to a 

penalty for failure to comply with an 

information collection subject to the 

requirements of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 unless the 

information collection has a currently 

valid OMB Control Number. This rule 

contains collection-of-information 

requirements subject to the provisions 

of the PRA.1 No changes to the reporting 

requirements or to the information 

collection instrument is required as a 

result of this regulatory change, other 

than removing the 5-year duration 

restriction and requesting justification 

for an applicant’s proposed permit 

duration. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 216 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Exports, Imports, Marine 

mammals. 

Dated: December 4, 2024. 

Samuel D. Rauch, III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

For reasons set forth in the preamble, 

NMFS amends 50 CFR part 216 as 

follows: 

PART 216—REGULATIONS 

GOVERNING THE TAKING AND 

IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 216 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq. 

■ 2. In § 216.35, revise paragraph (b) to 

read as follows: 

§ 216.35 Permit restrictions. 

* * * * * 

(b) Special exception permits expire 

on the date specified in the permit, 

unless limited or extended in duration 

by the Director in accordance with 

§§ 216.36 and 216.39. 

* * * * * 

■ 3. In § 216.45, revise paragraphs 

(b)(2)(iv) and (d)(3) to read as follows: 

§ 216.45 General Authorization for Level B 

harassment for scientific research. 

* * * * * 

(b) * * * 

(2) * * * 

(iv) The period of time over which the 

research project or program will be 

conducted (i.e., the requested period of 

the LOC), including the field season(s) 

for the research, if applicable; 

* * * * * 

(d) * * * 

(3) Authorization to conduct research 

under the General Authorization is for 

the period(s) of time identified in the 

letter of confirmation issued under 

paragraph (c) of this section, unless 

limited or extended by the Director, or 

modified, suspended, or revoked in 

accordance with paragraph (e) of this 

section; 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2024–28931 Filed 12–11–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 231221–0314; RTID 0648– 

XE527] 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Atlantic Bluefish Fishery; 

Quota Transfer From New Jersey to 

North Carolina 

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 New Jersey is transferring a 

portion of their 2024 commercial 

bluefish quota to the State of North 

Carolina. This quota adjustment is 

necessary to comply with the Atlantic 

Bluefish Fishery Management Plan 

(FMP) quota transfer provisions. This 

announcement informs the public of the 

revised 2024 commercial bluefish 

quotas for New Jersey and North 

Carolina. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 239 / Thursday, December 12, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 100403 

DATES: Effective December 11, 2024 

through December 31, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Matthew Rigdon, Fishery Management 

Specialist, (978) 281–9336. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Regulations governing the Atlantic 

bluefish fishery are found in 50 CFR 

648.160 through 648.167. These 

regulations require annual specification 

of a commercial quota that is 

apportioned among the coastal states 

from Maine through Florida. The 

process to set the annual commercial 

quota and the percent allocated to each 

state is described in § 648.162, and the 

final 2024 allocations were published 

on January 2, 2024 (89 FR 34). 

The final rule implementing 

amendment 1 to the FMP, as published 

in the Federal Register on July 26, 2000 

(65 FR 45844), provided a mechanism 

for transferring bluefish 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 request approval to transfer or 

combine bluefish commercial quota 

under § 648.162(e). The Regional 

Administrator is required to consider 

three criteria in the evaluation of 

requests for quota transfers or 

combinations: (1) the transfers 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 

criteria have been met for the transfers 

approved in this notification. 

New Jersey is transferring 40,000 

pounds (lb) (18,144 kilograms (kg)) to 

North Carolina through mutual 

agreement of the states. This transfer 

was requested to ensure North Carolina 

would not exceed its 2024 state quota. 

The revised bluefish quotas for 2024 are: 

New Jersey, 108,898 lb (49,395 kg) and 

North Carolina, 1,170,996 lb (531,155 

kg). 

Classification 

NMFS issues this action pursuant to 

section 305(d) of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act. This action is required by 50 CFR 

648.162(e)(1)(i) through (iii), 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 6, 2024. 

Karen H. Abrams, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–29141 Filed 12–11–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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