Rule2025-21960
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Quota Transfer From North Carolina to Massachusetts
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
December 4, 2025
Effective
December 3, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina is transferring a portion of its 2025 commercial summer flounder quota to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This adjustment to the 2025 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 2025 commercial quotas for North Carolina and Massachusetts.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 231 (Thursday, December 4, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 231 (Thursday, December 4, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 55814]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-21960]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 241203-0308; RTID 0648-XF335]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Quota Transfer From North Carolina 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 State of North Carolina is
transferring a portion of its 2025 commercial summer flounder quota to
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This adjustment to the 2025 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 2025 commercial
quotas for North Carolina and Massachusetts.
DATES: Effective December 3, 2025, through December 31, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew Rigdon, Fishery Management
Specialist, (978) 281-9336.
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 2025 allocations
were published on December 10, 2024 (89 FR 99138).
The final rule implementing Amendment 5 to the 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 1,801 pounds (lb; 817 kilograms
(kg)) of summer flounder 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 on
September 9, 2025. The revised summer flounder quotas for 2025 are:
North Carolina, 2,332,603 lb (1,058,051 kg); and Massachusetts, 596,041
lb (270,360 kg).
On November 7, 2025, NMFS announced that the 2025 summer flounder
commercial quota for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has been
harvested (90 FR 50490). Effective 0001 hours November 7, 2025, through
December 31, 2025, landings of summer flounder in Massachusetts by
vessels holding Federal summer flounder commercial fishery permits are
prohibited for the remainder of the 2025 calendar year. Further,
federally permitted dealers are also notified that they may not
purchase summer flounder from federally permitted vessels that land in
Massachusetts for the remainder of the calendar year.
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: December 2, 2025.
Kelly Denit,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-21960 Filed 12-3-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 4, 2025.
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