Rule2024-12202
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Quota Transfer From North Carolina to New Jersey
Primary source
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Published
June 4, 2024
Effective
June 3, 2024
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina is transferring a portion of its 2024 commercial summer flounder quota to the State of New Jersey. This adjustment to the 2024 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 2024 commercial quotas for North Carolina and New Jersey.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 108 (Tuesday, June 4, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 108 (Tuesday, June 4, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 47872]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-12202]
[[Page 47872]]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 231215-0305; RTID 0648-XE011]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Quota Transfer From North Carolina to New Jersey
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 2024 commercial summer flounder quota to
the State of New Jersey. This adjustment to the 2024 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 2024 commercial quotas
for North Carolina and New Jersey.
DATES: Effective June 3, 2024 through December 31, 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 the final 2024 allocations
were published on December 21, 2023 (88 FR 88266).
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 transfers or combinations
would not preclude the overall annual quota from being fully harvested;
(2) the transfers address an unforeseen variation or contingency in the
fishery; and (3) the transfers are 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 20,000 pounds (lb; 9,072 kilograms
(kg)) to New Jersey through a mutual agreement between the states. This
transfer was requested to repay landings made by an out-of-state
permitted vessel under a safe harbor agreement. The revised summer
flounder quotas for 2024 are: North Carolina, 2,371,124 lb (1,075,524
kg); and New Jersey, 1,492,958 lb (677,194 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: May 30, 2024.
Karen H. Abrams,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-12202 Filed 6-3-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on June 4, 2024.
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