March 30, 2016 — The following was released by the National Marine Fisheries Service:
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is reducing the retention limit for the commercial aggregated large coastal shark (LCS) and hammerhead shark management groups for directed shark limited access permit holders in the Atlantic region from 36 to 3 large coastal sharks (other than sandbar sharks) per vessel per trip as of 11:30 p.m. on April 2, 2016. As agreed upon by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Coastal Sharks Management Board (in December 2015), the Commission will follow NMFS for in-season changes to the retention limit.
NMFS takes this action because 24% or 6.6 mt dressed weight (dw) of the available quota for the hammerhead shark fishery has been harvested. If the average catch rate continues, it is projected that landings would reach 80% of the quota by mid-May. The LCS management group is affected because the quotas for the LCS and hammerhead shark management groups are linked.
The retention limit for the LCS and hammerhead shark management groups will remain at 3 large coastal sharks (other than sandbar sharks) per vessel per trip in the Atlantic region (federal and state waters) through the remainder of the 2016 fishing season or until NMFS announces via the Federal Register that another adjustment to the retention limit or a fishery closure is warranted. As previously stated, NMFS intends to increase the commercial retention limit around July 15, 2016, as this was the date used for recent prior season opening dates. However, any future change in the retention limit will not be made unless deemed appropriate.