Rule2025-17862
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Bluefish Fishery; Quota Transfer From Massachusetts to North Carolina
Primary source
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Published
September 16, 2025
Effective
September 15, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS announces that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is transferring a portion of their 2025 commercial bluefish quota to the State of North Carolina. This quota adjustment is necessary to comply with the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) quota transfer provisions. This announcement informs the public of the revised 2025 commercial bluefish quotas for Massachusetts and North Carolina.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 177 (Tuesday, September 16, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 177 (Tuesday, September 16, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 44582]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-17862]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 241203-0308; RTID 0648-XF197]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Bluefish
Fishery; Quota Transfer From Massachusetts to North Carolina
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 Massachusetts is
transferring a portion of their 2025 commercial bluefish quota to the
State of North Carolina. This quota adjustment is necessary to comply
with the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) quota transfer
provisions. This announcement informs the public of the revised 2025
commercial bluefish quotas for Massachusetts and North Carolina.
DATES: Effective September 15, 2025 through December 31, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew Rigdon, Fishery Management
Specialist, (978) 281-9336.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations governing the Atlantic bluefish
fishery are found in 50 CFR 648.160 through 648.167. These regulations
require annual specification of a commercial quota that is apportioned
among the coastal states from Maine through Florida. The process to set
the annual commercial quota and the percent allocated to each state is
described in Sec. 648.162, and the final 2025 allocations were
published on December 10, 2024 (89 FR 99138).
The final rule implementing amendment 1 to the FMP, as published in
the Federal Register on July 26, 2000 (65 FR 45844), provided a
mechanism for transferring bluefish 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
request approval to transfer or combine bluefish commercial quota under
Sec. 648.162(e). The Regional Administrator is required to consider
three criteria in the evaluation of requests for quota transfers or
combinations: (1) the transfers 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 criteria
have been met for the transfers approved in this notification.
Massachusetts is transferring 100,000 pounds (lb) (45,359 kilograms
(kg)) to North Carolina through mutual agreement of the states. This
transfer was requested to ensure North Carolina would not exceed its
2025 state quota. The revised bluefish quotas for 2025 are:
Massachusetts, 162,663 lb (73,783 kg) and North Carolina, 1,072,012 lb
(486,256 kg).
Classification
NMFS issues this action pursuant to section 305(d) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act. This action is required by 50 CFR 648.162(e)(1)(i) through
(iii), 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.
Kelly Denit,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-17862 Filed 9-15-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 16, 2025.
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