BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 231215-0305; RTID 0648-XE044]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Quota Transfer
from Virginia to Rhode Island
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Temporary rule; quota transfer.
SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Commonwealth of Virginia is transferring a portion
of its 2024 commercial summer flounder quota to the State of Rhode Island. 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
Rhode Island.
DATES: Effective June 20, 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 § 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, 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.
Virginia is transferring 3,799 pounds (lb; 1,723 kilograms (kg)) to Rhode Island
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, 1,895,757 lb (859,901 kg); and Rhode Island,
1,382,306 lb (627,003 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 14, 2024.


Karen H. Abrams,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries,
National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 2024-13533 Filed: 6/20/2024 8:45 am; Publication Date: 6/21/2024]