Rule2023-28225
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Quota Transfers From NC and VA to NJ
Primary source
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Published
December 22, 2023
Effective
December 19, 2023
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina and the Commonwealth of Virginia are transferring a portion of their 2023 commercial summer flounder quotas to the State of New Jersey. These adjustments to the 2023 fishing year quota are 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, Virginia, and New Jersey.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 245 (Friday, December 22, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 245 (Friday, December 22, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 88540]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-28225]
[[Page 88540]]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 221223-0282; RTID 0648-XD599]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Quota Transfers From NC and VA to NJ
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notification of quota transfers.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina and the
Commonwealth of Virginia are transferring a portion of their 2023
commercial summer flounder quotas to the State of New Jersey. These
adjustments to the 2023 fishing year quota are 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, Virginia, and New
Jersey.
DATES: Effective December 19, 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 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 transfers
approved in this notification.
North Carolina is transferring 110,000 pounds (lb; 49,895 kilograms
(kg)) and Virginia is transferring 50,000 lb (22,680 kg) to New Jersey
through mutual agreements between the states. These transfers were
requested to ensure New Jersey would not exceed its 2023 quota. The
revised summer flounder quotas for 2023 are North Carolina, 3,147,764
lb (1,427,802 kg), Virginia, 2,738,223 lb (1,242,037 kg), and New
Jersey, 2,470,420 (1,120,564 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: December 18, 2023.
Everett Wayne Baxter,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-28225 Filed 12-19-23; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 22, 2023.
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