Rule2024-00149
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Quota Transfer From North Carolina to Connecticut
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 8, 2024
Effective
January 5, 2024
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 State of Connecticut. This adjustment to the 2023 fishing year quota is necessary to comply with the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP) quota transfer provisions. This announcement informs the public of the revised 2023 commercial quotas for North Carolina and Connecticut.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 5 (Monday, January 8, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 5 (Monday, January 8, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 891]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-00149]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 221223-0282; RTID 0648-XD631]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Quota Transfer From North Carolina to Connecticut
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Temporary rule; 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 State of Connecticut. This adjustment to the 2023 fishing year
quota is necessary to comply with the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black
Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP) quota transfer provisions. This
announcement informs the public of the revised 2023 commercial quotas
for North Carolina and Connecticut.
DATES: Effective January 5, 2024.
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 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: (1) the transfer or combinations
would not preclude the overall annual quota from being fully harvested;
(2) the transfer addresses an unforeseen variation or contingency in
the fishery; and (3) 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 30,000 pounds (lb; 13,608 kilograms
(kg)) to Connecticut through a mutual agreement between the states.
This transfer was requested to ensure Connecticut would not exceed its
2023 quota. The revised summer flounder quotas for 2023 are North
Carolina, 3,001,074 lb (1,361,264 kg), and Connecticut, 953,031 lb
(432,288 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: January 3, 2024.
Everett Wayne Baxter,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-00149 Filed 1-5-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on January 8, 2024.
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