Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Quota Transfer From Virginia to Massachusetts, 57794 [2024-15580]
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57794
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 136 / Tuesday, July 16, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with RULES
more than their allocated number of
trips in the area. The projected date on
which the LAGC IFQ fleet will have
taken all of its allocated trips in an
Access Area becomes apparent only as
trips into the area(s) occur on a real-time
basis and as activity trends begin to
appear. Current trip counts are regularly
posted to the monitoring website
(https://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.
noaa.gov/ro/fso/reports/Scallop
Program/CURRENT_REPORTS/LAGC_
AA_TRIPS.html), giving regulated
entities near-real time access to the
status of impending closures.
Nevertheless, NMFS can only make an
accurate projection of a specific closure
date very close in time to when the fleet
has taken all of its allocated trips. If
NMFS solicited public comment on this
mandatory closure action then the
LAGC IFQ scallop vessels would exceed
their allocated number of trips in the
Area I, Area II, and New York Bight
Scallop Access Areas. Excessive trips
and harvest from the Area I, Area II, and
New York Bight Scallop Access Areas
would result in excessive fishing effort
in the area, where precise effort controls
are critical, thereby undermining
conservation objectives of the Atlantic
Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan
and requiring more restrictive future
management measures to prevent
overfishing. Accordingly, delaying this
action to provide prior notice and a
comment period would harm scallop
resources and the scallop fishing
industry. The public had prior notice
and full opportunity to comment on this
closure process in Amendment 11 to the
Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery
Management Plan (FMP) (73 FR 20090;
April 14, 2008). The public also had
prior notice and full opportunity to
comment on the action to set
specifications for the 2024 fishing year
in Framework Adjustment 38 to the
Scallop FMP (89 FR 20341; March 22,
2024). Regulated parties and
stakeholders, were given a meaningful
opportunity to comment on the
regulatory scheme, and they are on
notice to anticipate this specific closure
action. For these reasons, NMFS has
good cause to waive notice and
comment for this action, which flows
from and was specifically required by
regulations that underwent notice and
comment rulemaking. For these same
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:00 Jul 15, 2024
Jkt 262001
reasons, NMFS further finds, under 5
U.S.C. 553(d)(3), good cause to waive
the 30-day delayed effectiveness period.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: July 11, 2024.
Lindsay Fullenkamp,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024–15587 Filed 7–12–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 231215–0305; RTID 0648–
XE107]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United
States; Summer Flounder Fishery;
Quota Transfer From Virginia to
Massachusetts
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Temporary rule; quota transfer.
AGENCY:
NMFS announces that the
Commonwealth of Virginia is
transferring a portion of its 2024
commercial summer flounder quota to
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
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 Massachusetts.
DATES: Effective July 15, 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
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00078
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 9990
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 5,025 pounds
(lb; 2,279 kilograms (kg)) 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. The
revised summer flounder quotas for
2024 are: Virginia, 1,890,242 lb (857,399
kg); and Massachusetts, 613,208 lb
(278,146 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: July 11, 2024.
Lindsay Fullenkamp,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024–15580 Filed 7–15–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
E:\FR\FM\16JYR1.SGM
16JYR1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 136 (Tuesday, July 16, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 57794]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-15580]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 231215-0305; RTID 0648-XE107]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder
Fishery; Quota Transfer From Virginia to Massachusetts
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 Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 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 Massachusetts.
DATES: Effective July 15, 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 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.
Virginia is transferring 5,025 pounds (lb; 2,279 kilograms (kg)) 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. The revised summer
flounder quotas for 2024 are: Virginia, 1,890,242 lb (857,399 kg); and
Massachusetts, 613,208 lb (278,146 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: July 11, 2024.
Lindsay Fullenkamp,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-15580 Filed 7-15-24; 8:45 am]
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