Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Quota Transfer From North Carolina to New Jersey, 47872 [2024-12202]
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47872
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 108 / Tuesday, June 4, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 231215–0305; RTID 0648–
XE011]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United
States; Summer Flounder Fishery;
Quota Transfer From North Carolina to
New Jersey
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Temporary rule; quota transfer.
AGENCY:
NMFS announces that the
State of North Carolina is transferring a
portion of its 2024 commercial summer
flounder quota to the State of New
Jersey. 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 New Jersey.
DATES: Effective June 3, 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 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
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
15:48 Jun 03, 2024
Jkt 262001
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 20,000
pounds (lb; 9,072 kilograms (kg)) to New
Jersey 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, 2,371,124 lb (1,075,524
kg); and New Jersey, 1,492,958 lb
(677,194 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: May 30, 2024.
Karen H. Abrams,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024–12202 Filed 6–3–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
50 CFR Part 680
[Docket No. 240529–0147]
RIN 0648–BM81
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic
Zone; Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands
Crab Rationalization Program
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:
NMFS issues regulations to
implement amendments 54 and 55 to
the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI)
King and Tanner Crabs (Crab FMP). This
final rule revises two provisions of the
Crab Rationalization Program (CR
Program) to do the following: change
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00026
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
active crab fishery participation
requirements for crab quota share (QS)
established for catcher vessel crew
(CVC) and catcher/processor crew
(CPC), also called C Shares; expand
individual processing quota (IPQ)
exemptions for custom processing from
processor use caps; and remove the
processor facility use cap. These actions
are intended to promote the goals and
objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management
Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the Crab
FMP, and other applicable laws.
DATES: This rule is effective July 5,
2024, except for the addition of a
definition for ‘‘Fishing trip’’ in 50 CFR
680.2 at instruction 2 and the
amendments to 50 CFR 680.40 at
instruction 5 and 50 CFR 680.43 at
instruction 8, which are effective May
31, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Electronic copies of
amendments 54 and 55 to the Crab FMP,
the Regulatory Impact Reviews (RIRs),
and the Categorical Exclusion prepared
for this action are available from https://
www.regulations.gov or from the NMFS
Alaska Region website at https://
fisheries.noaa.gov/region/alaska.
Application for Annual Crab IFQ Permit
forms are available from https://
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/beringsea-and-aleutian-islands-crabrationalization-applications-andreporting-forms. NMFS determined that
this final action amending the Crab FMP
is categorically excluded from
requirements to prepare an
environmental assessment under the
National Environmental Policy Act.
The Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS), RIR, Final Regulatory Flexibility
Analysis (FRFA), and Social Impact
Assessment that were previously
prepared for the CR Program are
available from the NMFS Alaska Region
website at https://
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/region/alaska.
Written comments regarding the
burden-hour estimates or other aspects
of the collection-of-information
requirements contained in this final rule
may be submitted to NMFS Alaska
Region, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK
99802–1668, Attn: Gretchen Harrington;
and to https://www.reginfo.gov/public/
do/PRAMain. Find this particular
information collection by selecting
‘‘Currently under Review’’ or by using
the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Andrew Olson, 907–586–7228,
andrew.olson@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS
published a Notice of Availability for
amendments 54 and 55 to the Crab FMP
in the Federal Register on February 27,
E:\FR\FM\04JNR1.SGM
04JNR1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 108 (Tuesday, June 4, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 47872]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-12202]
[[Page 47872]]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 231215-0305; RTID 0648-XE011]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Quota Transfer From North Carolina to New Jersey
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 State of New Jersey. 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 New Jersey.
DATES: Effective June 3, 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 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 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 20,000 pounds (lb; 9,072 kilograms
(kg)) to New Jersey 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, 2,371,124 lb (1,075,524
kg); and New Jersey, 1,492,958 lb (677,194 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: May 30, 2024.
Karen H. Abrams,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-12202 Filed 6-3-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
