Final Amendment 14 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan
Summary
Final Amendment 14 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan
NOAA Fisheries announces the availability of Final Amendment 14 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP).
What is Amendment 14?
Amendment 14 establishes a new framework to use to implement acceptable biological catch (ABCs) and annual catch limits (ACLs) for Atlantic shark fisheries. The final management options are below.
|
Topic |
Preferred Option |
|
ABC control rule |
Management Option A3 Create a tiered ABC control rule.* |
|
Phase-in ABC control rule |
Management Option B2 Allow consideration of phase-in ABC control rules for any modifications in ABC. |
|
ACL development |
Management Option C2 Actively manage all sector ACLs (commercial and recreational). Management Option C5 Establish an ACL for each Atlantic shark management group, without commercial ACL quota linkages. |
|
Carry-over |
Management Option D6 Allow carry-over only for underharvest of commercial quotas (landings only) under certain conditions (i.e., the stock is not overfished and not experiencing overfishing). |
|
Multi-year overfishing status determination criteria |
Management Option E3 Compare a three-year average of fishing mortality estimates to the overfishing limit to determine overfishing status. |
* NOAA Fisheries may phase-in the ABC control rule changes for some shark stocks over time.
There is no final rule or regulatory text associated with this amendment. It does not change any fishery quotas or implement any new HMS fishery management measures. It does not consider any management changes for prohibited shark species. Any operational changes to HMS fishery management measures as a result of Amendment 14 will be considered in future rulemakings, as appropriate.