Draft Amendment 14 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS Fishery Management Plan: Shark Quota Management

September 23, 2020

NOAA Fisheries is exploring options for implementing management measures to be consistent with the current National Standard 1 policy guidelines for Atlantic sharks in the HMS management unit.

Bulletin |

New England/Mid-Atlantic

Southeast

NOAA Fisheries announces the availability of Draft Amendment 14 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan.

What is Draft Amendment 14?

Draft Amendment 14 will establish a new framework action for the establishment of acceptable biological catch (ABCs) and annual catch limits (ACLs) for Atlantic shark fisheries. The Preferred management options are below.

Topic	Preferred Options
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).
ACL development	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, and only for underharvest of the commercial quotas (landings only) under certain conditions.
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.

This amendment does not contain a proposed rule or regulatory text. 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.

Public Comment

We encourage anyone affected or otherwise interested in the general management of Atlantic HMS and the contents of the Atlantic HMS FMP to participate in the Draft Amendment 14 process. We request comment on the provisions described in Draft Amendment 14.

We intend to hold two operator-assisted public hearings via conference calls and webinars to solicit comments on this topic. Time and dates are listed below.

Venue	Date	Time	Instructions
Webinar	October 13, 2020	2-4 pm	Join WebEx Meeting number: 199 057 6075 Password: 2utD84dRnPv Join by phone: 1-415-527-5035 Access code: 199 057 6075
Webinar	November 18, 2020	2-4 pm	Join WebEx Meeting number: 199 661 2520 Password: mMS2QWuuF43 Join by phone: 1-415-527-5035 Access code: 199 661 2520

Comments are due by December 31, 2020. You can submit comments online at the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal (search for “NOAA-NMFS-2019-0040”). For further information, contact Guý DuBeck, Ian Miller, or Karyl Brewster-Geisz at (301) 427-8503.