Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Quota Transfer From North Carolina to Massachusetts

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>50 CFR Part 648</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. 241203-0308; RTID 0648-XF335]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder Fishery; Quota Transfer From North Carolina to Massachusetts</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Temporary rule; quota transfer. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina is transferring a portion of its 2025 commercial summer flounder quota to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This adjustment to the 2025 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 2025 commercial quotas for North Carolina and Massachusetts. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Effective December 3, 2025, through December 31, 2025. </EFFDATE> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Matthew Rigdon, Fishery Management Specialist, (978) 281-9336. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> 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 § 648.102, and the final 2025 allocations were published on December 10, 2024 (89 FR 99138). The final rule implementing Amendment 5 to the FMP, as published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> 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. North Carolina is transferring 1,801 pounds (lb; 817 kilograms (kg)) of summer flounder 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 on September 9, 2025. The revised summer flounder quotas for 2025 are: North Carolina, 2,332,603 lb (1,058,051 kg); and Massachusetts, 596,041 lb (270,360 kg). On November 7, 2025, NMFS announced that the 2025 summer flounder commercial quota for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has been harvested (90 FR 50490). Effective 0001 hours November 7, 2025, through December 31, 2025, landings of summer flounder in Massachusetts by vessels holding Federal summer flounder commercial fishery permits are prohibited for the remainder of the 2025 calendar year. Further, federally permitted dealers are also notified that they may not purchase summer flounder from federally permitted vessels that land in Massachusetts for the remainder of the calendar year. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Classification</HD> 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. <HD SOURCE="HED">Authority: </HD> 16 U.S.C. 1801 <E T="03">et seq.</E> <SIG> <DATED>Dated: December 2, 2025.</DATED> <NAME>Kelly Denit,</NAME> Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. </SIG> </SUPLINF> <FRDOC>[FR Doc. 2025-21960 Filed 12-3-25; 8:45 am]</FRDOC> </RULE>