2019-26970. Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Quota Transfer From NC to VA

AGENCY:

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

ACTION:

Notice; quota transfer.

SUMMARY:

NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina is transferring a portion of its 2019 commercial summer flounder quota to the Commonwealth of Virginia. This quota adjustment 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 revised 2019 commercial quotas for North Carolina and Virginia.

DATES:

Effective December 13, 2019, through December 31, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Laura Hansen, 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 2019 allocations were published on May 17, 2019 (84 FR 22392).

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 Act. The Regional Administrator has determined these three criteria have been met for the transfer approved in this notice.

North Carolina is transferring 7,500 lb (3,402 kg) of summer flounder commercial quota to Virginia. This transfer was requested to repay landings made by a North Carolina-permitted vessel in Virginia under a safe harbor agreement. Based on the revised Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Specifications, the summer flounder quotas for 2019 are now: North Carolina, 2,879,055 lb (1,305,917 kg); and, Virginia, 2,405,916 lb (1,091,305 kg).

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

Dated: December 10, 2019.

Jennifer M. Wallace,

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