48008 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 198 / Monday, October 16, 2017 / Rules and Regulations 

pertinent common pool quotas during 

the fishing year. Given this, and because 

the common pool has caught more than 

80 percent of its annual quota, the 

possession of GB cod by all common 

pool vessels is prohibited effective 

October 11, 2017, through April 30, 

2018. This action is intended to prevent 

the common pool from further 

exceeding its Trimester 2 TAC or from 

exceeding its annual quota. 

If a vessel declared its trip through the 

Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) or the 

interactive voice response system, and 

crossed the VMS demarcation line prior 

to October 11, 2017, it may complete its 

trip within the Trimester TAC Area. A 

vessel that has set gillnet gear prior to 

October 11, 2017, may complete its trip 

by hauling such gear. 

Any overage of the Trimester 1 or 2 

TACs must be deducted from the 

Trimester 3 TAC. If the common pool 

fishery exceeds its total quota for a stock 

in the 2017 fishing year, the overage 

must be deducted from the common 

pool’s quota for that stock for fishing 

year 2018. Any uncaught portion of the 

Trimester 1 and Trimester 2 TACs is 

carried over into the next trimester. 

However, any uncaught portion of the 

common pool’s total annual quota may 

not be carried over into the following 

fishing year. 

Weekly quota monitoring reports for 

the common pool fishery are on our 

Web site at: http://

www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/ 

ro/fso/MultiMonReports.htm. We will 

continue to monitor common pool catch 

through vessel trip reports, dealerreported landings, VMS catch reports, 

and other available information and, if 

necessary, we will make additional 

adjustments to common pool 

management measures. 

Classification 

The NMFS Assistant Administrator 

has determined that this temporary rule 

is consistent with the Northeast 

Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, 

other provisions of the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act, and other applicable 

law. 

This action is exempt from the 

procedures of Executive Order 12866 

because this action contains no 

implementing regulations. 

The Assistant Administrator for 

Fisheries, NOAA, finds good cause 

pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) and 5 

U.S.C. 553(d)(3) to waive prior notice 

and the opportunity for public comment 

and the 30-day delayed effectiveness 

period because it would be 

impracticable and contrary to the public 

interest. 

There are several reasons that notice 

and comment are impracticable, 

unnecessary, and contrary to the public 

interest. First, the proposed and final 

rules for Framework 56 explained the 

possibility of minor adjustments and 

corrections because final allocations are 

not always available at the time of the 

rulemaking for the upcoming fishing 

year. These adjustments are routine and 

formulaic, required by regulation, and 

anticipated by industry. No comments 

were received on the potential for these 

adjustments, which provide an accurate 

accounting of the common pool’s 

allocation. 

The regulations require the Regional 

Administrator to close a trimester TAC 

area to the common pool fishery when 

90 percent of the Trimester TAC for a 

stock has been caught. Updated catch 

information only recently became 

available indicating that the common 

pool fishery is projected to have caught 

123 percent of its Trimester 2 TAC for 

GB cod as of October 3, 2017. The time 

necessary to provide for prior notice and 

comment, and a 30-day delay in 

effectiveness, would prevent the 

immediate closure of the GB Cod 

Trimester TAC Area and prohibition of 

GB cod possession. Not closing the area 

immediately and prohibiting GB cod 

possession increases the likelihood that 

the common pool fishery will further 

exceed its trimester TAC, or exceed its 

annual quota, to the detriment of this 

stock, which could undermine 

management objectives of the Northeast 

Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. 

Additional overages would negatively 

affect the common pool fishery as a 

result of future overage paybacks or 

premature closures of the fishery. 

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

Dated: October 11, 2017. 

Emily H. Menashes, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2017–22347 Filed 10–11–17; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 161017970–6999–02] 

RIN 0648–XF721 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Summer Flounder Fishery; 

Quota Transfer 

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 North Carolina is transferring a 

portion of its 2017 commercial summer 

flounder quota to the State of New York. 

This quota adjustment 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 commercial 

quotas for North Carolina and New 

York. 

DATES: Effective October 13, 2017, 

through December 31, 2017. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Cynthia Hanson, Fishery Management 

Specialist, (978) 281–9180. 

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 the 

initial 2017 allocations were published 

on December 22, 2016 (81 FR 93842). 

The final rule implementing 

Amendment 5 to the Summer Flounder 

Fishery Management Plan, 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 the criteria in 

§ 648.102(c)(2)(i)(A) through (C) in the 

evaluation of requests for quota transfers 

or combinations. 

North Carolina is transferring 3,000 lb 

(1,361 kg) of summer flounder 

commercial quota to New York. This 

transfer was requested to repay landings 

by a North Carolina-permitted vessel 

that landed in New York under a safe 

harbor agreement. 

The revised summer flounder quotas 

for calendar year 2017 are now: North 

Carolina, 1,536,693 lb (697,032 kg); and 

New York, 435,764 lb (197,659 kg); 

based on the initial quotas published in 

the 2017 Summer Flounder, Scup, and 

Black Sea Bass Specifications and 

subsequent transfers. 


jstallworth on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 198 / Monday, October 16, 2017 / Rules and Regulations 48009 

Classification 

This action is taken under 50 CFR 

part 648 and is exempt from review 

under Executive Order 12866. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. Dated: October 10, 2017. 

Emily H. Menashes, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2017–22272 Filed 10–13–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


jstallworth on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with RULES