BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 231215-0305; RTID 0648-XE028]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Quota
Transfer from North Carolina to Virginia
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Temporary rule; quota transfer.
SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina is transferring a portion
of its 2024 commercial summer flounder quota to the Commonwealth of Virginia. 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 Virginia.
DATES: Effective [INSERT DATE OF FILING FOR PUBLIC INSPECTION IN
THE FEDERAL REGISTER] 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 § 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 § 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 15,576 pounds (lb; 7,065 kilograms (kg)) to
Virginia 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, 2,355,548 lb
(1,068,459 kg); and Virginia, 1,899,556 lb (861,624 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: June 5, 2024.
Karen H. Abrams,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries,

National Marine Fisheries Service
[FR Doc. 2024-12668 Filed: 6/10/2024 8:45 am; Publication Date: 6/11/2024]