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khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with RULES

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 243 / Wednesday, December 22, 2021 / Rules and Regulations mt 54.6 mt 48.8 mt = 5.8 mt of quota unused. Under 635.28a2, NMFS
may reopen the fishery if NMFS
determines that reasonable fishing opportunities are available. Based on these landings data, as well as average catch rates and anticipated fishing conditions, NMFS has determined that reopening the General category fishery for four days is appropriate given the amount of unused December subquota.
Depending on weather conditions and fish availability, a longer reopening could risk exceeding the unused quota available for the December subquota period. NMFS will need to account for 2021 landings and dead discards within the adjusted U.S. quota, consistent with ICCAT recommendations, and anticipates having sufficient quota to do that. Thus, this action would allow fishermen to take advantage of the availability of fish on the fishing grounds to the extent consistent with the available amount of quota and other management objectives, while avoiding quota exceedance.
Therefore, the General category fishery will reopen at 12:30 a.m., Monday, December 20, 2021, and close at 11:30 p.m., Thursday, December 23, 2021. The General category daily retention limit during this reopening remains the same as prior to closing:
One large medium or giant i.e., measuring 73 inches 185 cm curved fork length or greater BFT per vessel per day/trip. This action applies to Atlantic tunas General category commercial permitted vessels and HMS Charter/Headboat category permitted vessels with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for BFT. Retaining, possessing, or landing large medium or giant BFT by persons aboard vessels permitted in the General and HMS
Charter/Headboat categories must cease at 11:30 p.m. local time on December 23, 2021. The General category will automatically reopen January 1, 2022, for the January through March 2022
subquota time period.
Fishermen aboard General category permitted vessels and HMS Charter/
Headboat permitted vessels may catchand-release and tag and release BFT of all sizes, subject to the requirements of the catch-and-release and tag-andrelease programs at 635.26. All BFT
that are released must be handled in a manner that will maximize their survival, and without removing the fish from the water, consistent with requirements at 635.21a1. For additional information on safe handling, see the Careful Catch and Release brochure available at https
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/resource/

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outreach-and-education/careful-catchand-release-brochure/.

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq. and 1801
et seq.

Monitoring and Reporting NMFS will continue to monitor the BFT fisheries closely. Dealers are required to submit landing reports within 24 hours of a dealer receiving BFT. Late reporting by dealers compromises NMFS ability to timely implement actions such as quota and retention limit adjustment, as well as closures, and may result in enforcement actions. Additionally, and separate from the dealer reporting requirement, General and HMS Charter/Headboat category vessel owners are required to report the catch of all BFT retained or discarded dead within 24 hours of the landings or end of each trip, by accessing hmspermits.noaa.gov, using the HMS Catch Reporting app, or calling 888 8728862 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m..

Dated: December 17, 2021.
Ngagne Jafnar Gueye, Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

Classification This action is taken pursuant to regulations at 50 CFR part 635, which were issued pursuant to section 304c of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.
The Assistant Administrator for NMFS finds that pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
553bB, there is good cause to waive prior notice of, and an opportunity for public comment on, this action for the following reasons:
The regulations implementing the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and amendments provide for inseason adjustments to respond to the unpredictable nature of BFT availability on the fishing grounds, the migratory nature of this species, and the regional variations in the BFT fishery. Affording prior notice and opportunity for public comment to reopen the fishery is impracticable and contrary to the public interest. The General category recently closed, but based on the available category subquota, fishery performance in recent weeks, and the availability of BFT on the fishing grounds, is reopened in this action to allow fishermen to take advantage of availability of fish and of quota. NMFS could not have proposed this action earlier, as it needed to consider and respond to updated data and information about fishery conditions and this years landings. If NMFS were to offer a public comment period now, after having appropriately considered that data, it would preclude fishermen from harvesting BFT that are legally available. For all of the above reasons, there is good cause under 5
U.S.C. 553d to waive the 30-day delay in effectiveness.

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FR Doc. 202127761 Filed 121721; 4:15 pm BILLING CODE 351022P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 50 CFR Part 648
Docket No. 2012090332; RTID 0648XB659

Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Bluefish Fishery;
Quota Transfers From VA to NC and FL
to RI
National Marine Fisheries Service NMFS, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA, Commerce.
ACTION: Notification; quota transfers.
AGENCY:

NMFS announces that the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Florida are transferring a portion of their 2021 commercial bluefish quota to the states of North Carolina and Rhode Island, respectively.
These quota adjustments are necessary to comply with the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management Plan quota transfer provisions. This announcement informs the public of the revised commercial bluefish quotas for Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, and Rhode Island.
DATES: Effective December 17, 2021, through December 31, 2021.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Laura Hansen, Fishery Management Specialist, 978 2819225.
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 2021 allocations were published on December 16, 2020 85 FR 81421.
The final rule implementing Amendment 1 to the Bluefish Fishery Management Plan FMP published in the Federal Register on July 26, 2000
65 FR 45844, and provided a mechanism for transferring bluefish quota from one state to another. Two or more states, under mutual agreement SUMMARY:

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