Rule2024-14218
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Quota Transfer From Virginia to Massachusetts
Primary source
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Published
June 28, 2024
Effective
June 27, 2024
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS announces that the Commonwealth of Virginia is transferring a portion of its 2024 commercial summer flounder quota to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 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 Virginia and Massachusetts.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 125 (Friday, June 28, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 125 (Friday, June 28, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 53884-53885]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-14218]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 231215-0305; RTID 0648-XE067]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Quota Transfer From Virginia to Massachusetts
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 Commonwealth of Virginia is
transferring a portion of its 2024 commercial summer flounder quota to
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 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 Virginia and Massachusetts.
DATES: Effective June 27, 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 FMP, as published in
the Federal Register on December 17,
[[Page 53885]]
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.
Virginia is transferring 490 pounds (lb; 222 kilograms (kg)) to
Massachusetts 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: Virginia, 1,895,267 lb (859,679 kg); and
Massachusetts, 608,183 lb (275,867 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) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act, and is exempted from review under Executive Order 12866.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: June 24, 2024.
Karen H. Abrams,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-14218 Filed 6-27-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on June 28, 2024.
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