Rule2023-20874
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Quota Transfer From North Carolina to Virginia
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
September 26, 2023
Effective
September 25, 2023
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina is transferring a portion of its 2023 commercial summer flounder quota to the Commonwealth of Virginia. This adjustment to the 2023 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 2023 commercial quotas for North Carolina and Virginia.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 185 (Tuesday, September 26, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 185 (Tuesday, September 26, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 65823-65824]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-20874]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 221223-0282; RTID 0648-XD393]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Quota Transfer From North Carolina to Virginia
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 State of North Carolina is
transferring a portion of its 2023 commercial summer flounder quota to
the Commonwealth of Virginia. This adjustment to the 2023 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 2023 commercial quotas
for North Carolina and Virginia.
DATES: Effective September 25, 2023, through December 31, 2023.
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 648.111. 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 2023 allocations were
published on January 3, 2023 (88 FR 11).
The final rule implementing Amendment 5 to the Summer Flounder
Fishery Management Plan (FMP), as
[[Page 65824]]
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
(Magnuson-Stevens Act). The Regional Administrator has determined these
three criteria have been met for the transfer approved in this
notification.
North Carolina is transferring 20,441 lb (9,272 kg) to Virginia
through a mutual agreement between the states. This transfer was
requested to repay landings made by out-of-state permitted vessels
under safe harbor agreements. The revised summer flounder quotas for
2023 are North Carolina, 3,281,083 lb (1,488,274 kg), and Virginia,
2,764,904 lb (1,254,139 kg).
Classification
NMFS issues this action pursuant to section 305(d) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act. This action is required by 50 CFR 648.102(c)(2)(i) through
(iv), 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: September 20, 2023.
Kelly Denit,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-20874 Filed 9-25-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 26, 2023.
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