2022-00738. Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Retroactive Quota Transfer From MA to CT

AGENCY:

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION:

Notification of quota transfer.

SUMMARY:

NMFS announces that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is transferring a portion of its 2021 commercial summer flounder quota to the State of Connecticut. This retroactive adjustment to the 2021 fishing year quota is necessary to comply with the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan quota transfer provisions. This announcement informs the public of the retroactively revised 2021 commercial quotas for Massachusetts and Connecticut.

DATES:

Effective January 12, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Laura Deighan, Fishery Management Specialist, [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery are found in 50 CFR 648.100 through 648.110. 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 final 2021 allocations were published on December 21, 2020 (85 FR 82946).

The final rule implementing Amendment 5 to the Summer Flounder Fishery Management Plan (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: The transfer or combinations would not preclude the overall annual quota from being fully harvested; the transfer addresses an unforeseen variation or contingency in the fishery; and the transfer is consistent with the objectives of the FMP and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The Regional Administrator has determined these three criteria have been met for the transfer approved in this notification.

Massachusetts is transferring 40,000 lb (18,144 kg) to Connecticut through mutual agreement of the states. This transfer was requested to ensure Connecticut would not exceed its 2021 quota. The revised summer flounder quotas for 2021 are: Massachusetts, 985,159 lb (446,861 kg) and Connecticut, 709,376 lb (321,768 kg).

Given the timing of the states' request, we were unable to process the transfer before the December 31 end of the 2021 fishing year. The retroactively adjusted quotas will be used to calculate overages for the 2021 fishing year and adjust, as needed, 2022 summer flounder quotas.

Classification

NMFS issues this action pursuant to section 305(d) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. This action is required by 50 CFR 648.162(e)(1)(i) through (iii), 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: January 11, 2022.

Ngagne Jafnar Gueye,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.