36248 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 116 / Thursday, June 16, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 

* * * * * 

Martha Williams, 

Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–12944 Filed 6–15–22; 8:45 am] 

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No.: 211217–0262] 

RTID 0648–XC090 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Summer Flounder Fishery; 

Quota Transfer From NC to VA 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notification of quota transfer. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the 

State of North Carolina is transferring a 

portion of its 2022 commercial summer 

flounder quota to the Commonwealth of 

Virginia. This adjustment to the 2022 

fishing year quota is necessary to 

comply with the Summer Flounder, 

Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery 

Management Plan quota transfer 

provisions. This announcement informs 

the public of the revised 2022 

commercial quotas for North Carolina 

and Virginia. 

DATES: Effective June 15, 2022, through 

December 31, 2022. 

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 648.110. 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 final 

2022 allocations were published on 

December 23, 2021 (86 FR 72859). 

The final rule implementing 

Amendment 5 to the Summer Flounder 

Fishery Management Plan (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: The transfer or 

combinations would not preclude the 

overall annual quota from being fully 

harvested; the transfer addresses an 

unforeseen variation or contingency in 

the fishery; and the transfer is consistent 

with the objectives of the FMP and the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act. The 

Regional Administrator has determined 

these three criteria have been met for 

the transfer approved in this 

notification. 

North Carolina is transferring 7,196 lb 

(3,264 kg) to Virginia through mutual 

agreement of 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 

2022 are: North Carolina, 3,342,114 lb 

(1,515,957 kg) and Virginia, 2,788,816 lb 

(1,264,985 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: June 10, 2022. 

Jennifer M. Wallace, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–13026 Filed 6–15–22; 8:45 am] 

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