Commercial Atlantic Shark Fishery Statuses, Minimum Sizes, and Bag Limits
Check if Atlantic commercial shark fisheries are open and review minimum sizes and retention limits.
Current Requirements
Retention limits for Atlantic sharks vary by permit type and species complex. This page is kept up to date with changing statuses and retention limits. Additional requirements may be applicable. View the HMS Commercial Compliance Guide for details.
Atlantic Shark Directed Permit
Species Complex | Fishery Status | Minimum Size | Retention Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
Aggregated large coastal sharks and hammerhead sharks—Atlantic | Open | None | 55/vessel/trip other than sandbar sharks |
| Aggregated large coastal sharks and hammerhead sharks—Eastern Gulf of America* | Open | None | 55/vessel/trip other than sandbar sharks |
| Aggregated large coastal sharks and hammerhead sharks—Western Gulf of America | Open | None | 55/vessel/trip other than sandbar sharks |
| Blacktip—Western Gulf of America | Open | None | 55/vessel/trip other than sandbar sharks |
Small coastal sharks | Open | None |
|
Pelagic sharks (other than shortfin mako) | Open | None | No limit |
Atlantic Shark Incidental Permit
Species Complex | Fishery Status | Minimum Size | Retention Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
Large coastal sharks—all regions | Open | None | 3/vessel/trip |
Small coastal sharks | Open | None | 16 combined small coastal and pelagic sharks/vessel/trip with no more than 8 blacknose sharks/vessel/trip |
Pelagic sharks (other than shortfin mako) | Open | None | 16 combined pelagic and small coastal sharks/vessel/trip with no more than 8 blacknose sharks/vessel/trip |
HMS Commercial Caribbean Small Boat Permit
This fishery is open. There are no minimum size requirements for authorized sharks under this permit. The retention limits are as follows:
Authorized Species | Fishery Status | Minimum Size | Retention Limit |
| Tiger, bull, blacktip, spinner, lemon, Atlantic sharpnose, finetooth, bonnethead, and smoothounds sharks | Open | None | 3 combined sharks / vessel / trip |
Commercial Smoothhound Shark Permit
This fishery is open. There are no minimum size requirements or retention limits for smoothhound sharks.
Permit
To commercially harvest Atlantic sharks or retain sharks on a for-hire trip, vessel owners must obtain a valid Atlantic Shark Directed or Shark Incidental limited access permit or a Smoothhound Shark open access permit.
Measurement
Measure fork length in a straight line from the snout to the fork of the tail.
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Retention Prohibited
The following are prohibited species and must be released with minimal injury and without removing it from the water:
Atlantic angel
Basking
Bigeye sand tiger
Bigeye sixgill
Bigeye thresher
Bignose
Caribbean reef
Caribbean sharpnose
Dusky
Galapagos
Longfin mako
Shortfin mako
Narrowtooth
Night
Oceanic whitetip
Sand tiger
Sevengill
Sixgill
Smalltail
Whale
White
Download our Shark Identification Placard
*Executive Order 14172, “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness” (Jan. 20, 2025), directs that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America. On August 7, 2025, NOAA Fisheries and the National Ocean Service amended regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations to reflect the renaming. The name change did not result in any changes to, and had no effect on the applicability or enforceability of, any existing regulations. This website continues to use “Gulf of Mexico” when quoting statutes or previously published materials.