Rule2022-00738
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Retroactive Quota Transfer From MA to CT
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
January 18, 2022
Effective
January 12, 2022
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS announces that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is transferring a portion of its 2021 commercial summer flounder quota to the State of Connecticut. This retroactive adjustment to the 2021 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 retroactively revised 2021 commercial quotas for Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 11 (Tuesday, January 18, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 11 (Tuesday, January 18, 2022)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 2557-2558]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00738]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[RTID 0648-XB717]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Retroactive Quota Transfer From MA to CT
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notification of quota transfer.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is
transferring a portion of its 2021 commercial summer flounder quota to
the State of Connecticut. This retroactive adjustment to the 2021
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 retroactively
revised
[[Page 2558]]
2021 commercial quotas for Massachusetts and Connecticut.
DATES: Effective January 12, 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 Sec. 648.102 and final 2021 allocations were
published on December 21, 2020 (85 FR 82946).
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 Sec. 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.
Massachusetts is transferring 40,000 lb (18,144 kg) to Connecticut
through mutual agreement of the states. This transfer was requested to
ensure Connecticut would not exceed its 2021 quota. The revised summer
flounder quotas for 2021 are: Massachusetts, 985,159 lb (446,861 kg)
and Connecticut, 709,376 lb (321,768 kg).
Given the timing of the states' request, we were unable to process
the transfer before the December 31 end of the 2021 fishing year. The
retroactively adjusted quotas will be used to calculate overages for
the 2021 fishing year and adjust, as needed, 2022 summer flounder
quotas.
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: January 11, 2022.
Ngagne Jafnar Gueye,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-00738 Filed 1-12-22; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on January 18, 2022.
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