NOAA
Fisheries Requests Comments on Options to Address Overfishing of North Atlantic
Shortfin Mako Sharks
NOAA’s
National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) announces its intent to
prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Fishery Management Plan (FMP)
Amendment to
comply with International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna
(ICCAT) Recommendation 17-08 and address overfishing and establish the
foundation for a rebuilding plan for North Atlantic shortfin mako sharks. The measures initially
will be implemented through an interim final rule, under the emergency
rulemaking authority of section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Conservation and
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), and the Atlantic Tunas Convention
Act (ATCA), 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq. Since
the interim final rule may only be effective for up to 366 days, NOAA
Fisheries
is developing a regulatory amendment to the 2006 Consolidated HMS Fishery
Management Plan that will consider and evaluate conservation and management
options to address overfishing and to establish a foundation for a rebuilding
plan the North Atlantic shortfin mako shark stock when the interim rule has
expired.
NOAA Fisheries announces the scoping phase
of this rulemaking process. NOAA
Fisheries has drafted
an issues and options document that summarizes the North Atlantic shortfin mako
shark stock assessment and the ICCAT recommendation and offers preliminary
ideas on potential management approaches to address overfishing on the stock in
order to encourage and initiate public comment.
NOAA Fisheries has scheduled the following scoping meetings and conference call to take
public comment.
Public Scoping Meeting – March 15, 2018 from 4:00
– 8:00 p.m.
National
Marine Fisheries Service
Southeast Fisheries Science Center
3500 Delwood Beach Road
Panama City, FL 3240
Public Scoping Meeting – March 21, 2018 from 4:00
– 8:00 p.m.
Commissioners Meeting Room
Dare County Administration Building
954 Marshall C. Collins Drive
Manteo, NC 27954
Conference Call Scoping
Meeting – April
4, 2018 from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
To
participate in the conference call, please call: (800) 779-3136
Passcode: 9421185
To
participate in the webinar, click on the RSVP link, A confirmation email with
webinar log-in information will be sent after RSVP is
registered.
Public Scoping Meeting – April 12, 2018 from 4:00
– 8:00 p.m.
Stafford Branch Public Library
129 North Main St
Manahawkin, NJ 08050
Public Scoping Meeting – April 19, 2018 from 5:00
– 8:00 p.m.
National Marine Fisheries Service
Grater Atlantic Regional Office
55 Great Republic Drive
Gloucester, MA 01930
Because the rulemakings overlap
for some gear types, the public scoping meetings being held in Panama City, FL,
Manteo, NC, and Manahawkin, NJ will be held in conjunction with public scoping
meetings for pelagic longline bluefin tuna area-based and weak hook management. The shortfin mako shark management measure presentation
will likely be given first unless polling of the audience indicates another
approach is appropriate. After each
presentation, public comment for that issue will be received. Meeting attendees interested in this issue
are encouraged to show up at the beginning of the meeting to help determine the
order of the presentations. The second
presentation will not start any later than 6 pm.
In addition to the four scoping meetings and
conference call, NOAA Fisheries has requested to present the issues and options presentation
to the five Atlantic Regional Fishery Management Councils (the New England,
Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Fishery Management
Councils) and the Atlantic and Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commissions during
the public comment period. Please see
the Councils’ and Commissions’ spring meeting notices for times and
locations. NOAA Fisheries welcomes additional
thoughts and comments on appropriate management measures. The issues and options document is available on
the HMS website.
Specifically, NOAA
Fisheries requests
comments on commercial management options including, but not limited to, the
ICCAT recommendations, quota levels, electronic monitoring, minimum sizes, retention
restrictions, and prohibited species. In
addition, NOAA Fisheries is seeking comments on recreational management options
including, but not limited to, retention limits and restrictions, minimum
sizes, gear modifications, landings restrictions and prohibited species. NOAA Fisheries also seeks comments on recreational monitoring
requirements and the rebuilding program options for shortfin mako sharks. Comments received during scoping will assist NOAA
Fisheries in
determining the options for future proposed rulemaking to conserve and manage
shark resources and shark fisheries, consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Act
and other applicable laws.
Submit Comments by May
7, 2018:
Written comments, identified by “NOAA-NMFS-2018-0011”, may be submitted electronically via the Federal eRulemaking Portal, or mail to the contact information included below. All comments received are a part of the public record and will generally be posted to Federal eRulemaking Portal without change. All Personal Identifying Information (for example, name, address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information. NOAA Fisheries will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required fields, if you wish to remain anonymous). You may submit attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
This notice is
a courtesy to Atlantic HMS fishery participants to help keep you informed about
the fisheries. For further information
on these emergency measures, contact the HMS Management Division at (301)
427-8503 or visit the HMS website.
|
