Fisheries of the Northeastern United States: Atlantic Bluefish Fishery; Quota Transfer from Massachusetts to North Carolina

Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Bluefish Fishery; Quota Transfer From Massachusetts to North Carolina

DATES:

Effective November 29, 2024, through December 31, 2024.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Regulations governing the Atlantic bluefish fishery are found in 50 CFR 648.160 through 648.167. These regulations require annual specification of a commercial quota that is apportioned among the coastal states from Maine through Florida. The process to set the annual commercial quota and the percent allocated to each state is described in § 648.162, and the final 2024 allocations were published on January 2, 2024 (89 FR 34).

The final rule implementing amendment 1 to the FMP, as published in the Federal Register on July 26, 2000 (65 FR 45844), provided a mechanism for transferring bluefish 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 request approval to transfer or combine bluefish commercial quota under § 648.162(e). The Regional Administrator is required to consider three criteria in the evaluation of requests for quota transfers or combinations: (1) the transfers 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 criteria have been met for the transfers approved in this notification.

Massachusetts is transferring 65,000 lb (29,484 kg) to North Carolina through mutual agreement of the states. This transfer was requested to ensure North Carolina would not exceed its 2024 state quota. The revised bluefish quotas for 2024 are: Massachusetts, 155,862 lb (70,698 kg) and North Carolina, 1,030,996 lb (467,652 kg).

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.