05-20829. Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Quota Transfer

AGENCY:

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

ACTION:

Temporary rule; inseason adjustment.

SUMMARY:

NMFS announces that it has approved the request of the State of New Jersey to transfer 36,333 lb (16,481 kg) of commercial summer flounder quota to the states of Maine, Connecticut, and New York, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in accordance with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Addendum XV to the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP). By this action, NMFS adjusts the quotas and announces the revised commercial quota for each state involved.

DATES:

Effective October 13, 2005 through December 31, 2005, unless NMFS publishes a superseding document in the Federal Register.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mike Ruccio, Fishery Management Specialist, [phone], fax [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery are found at 50 CFR part 648. The regulations require annual specification of a commercial quota that is apportioned among the coastal states from North Carolina through Maine. The process to set the annual commercial quota and the percent allocated to each state are described in § 648.100.

The ASMFC adopted Addendum XV to the FMP in November 2004. The Addendum is being implemented under the adaptive management and framework procedures that are part of the FMP. Addendum XV establishes a program, for 2005 and 2006, that allocates the increase in commercial summer flounder quota (from the 2004 amount) differently than the existing allocation scheme, in order to reduce the amount of fish that must be discarded as bycatch in the commercial fishery in states with relatively low summer flounder quotas. The transfer of quota from donor states will allow recipient states to marginally increase trip limits, thereby decreasing the amount of summer flounder discarded at sea.

The final rule implementing Amendment 5 to the FMP (December 17, 1993; 58 FR 65936) provided a mechanism for summer flounder quota to be transferred from one state to another. Two or more states, under mutual agreement and with the concurrence of the Administrator, Northeast Region, NMFS (Regional Administrator), can transfer or combine summer flounder commercial quota under § 648.100(d). The Regional Administrator is required to consider the criteria set forth in § 648.100(d)(3) in the evaluation of requests for quota transfers or combinations. The Regional Administrator has reviewed those criteria and approved the quota transfer requests submitted by the State of New Jersey.

Consistent with Addendum XV, New Jersey, a designated “donor state,” has voluntarily employed the quota transfer provisions of the FMP to transfer a total of 36,333 lb (16,481 kg) to be allocated as follows: Maine 999 lb (453 kg); Massachusetts 10,957 lb (4,970 kg); Connecticut 13,965 lb (6,335 kg); and New York 10,412 lb (4,723 kg)(see Table 1).

Table 1. Summer Flounder Commercial Quota Transfers

State	Amount Transferred		2005 Quota1		2005 Revised Quota
	lb	kg	lb	kg	lb	kg
New Jersey	-36,333	-16,481	3,005,481	1,363,286	2,969,148	1,346,806
Maine	+999	+453	12,396	5,623	13,395	6,076
Massachusetts	+10,957	+4,970	1,219,773	553,289	1,230,730	558,259
Connecticut	+13,965	+6,335	459,408	208,387	473,373	214,722
New York	+10,412	+4,723	1,414,282	641,518	1,424,694	646,241
1 Reflects quotas as published on June 21, 2005 (70 FR 35557), inclusive of previous Addendum XV and “safe harbor” transfers.

Classification

This action is taken under 50 CFR part 648 and is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.

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

Dated: October 12, 2005.

Alan D. Risenhoover,

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