2012 US Atlantic Shark Commercial Fishing Season

Atlantic Highly Migratory Species;
2012 Atlantic Shark Commercial
Fishing Season

AGENCY:National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS),
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Final rule; fishing season notification.

January 24, 2012

SUMMARY:

This final rule establishes the opening dates and adjusts quotas for the 2012 fishing season for the Atlantic
commercial shark fisheries. Quotas were adjusted based on over- and/or underharvests experienced during the
2010 and 2011 Atlantic commercial shark fishing seasons. In addition, NMFS is using previously-implemented
adaptive management measures to provide, to the extent practicable, fishing opportunities for commercial
shark fishermen in all regions and areas to determine the opening dates. These actions are expected to provide fishing opportunities for commercial shark fishermen in the northwestern Atlantic, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.

2012 ANNUAL QUOTAS  in metric tons (mt) dressed weight (dw) :

Non-Sandbar Large Coastal Sharks (LCS)
Gulf of Mexico: 392.8  (866,063 lb dw).
Atlantic: 183.2   (403,889 lb dw).

Non-Sandbar LCS Research.
37.5   (82,673 lb dw).

Sandbar Shark Research.
87.9  (193,784 lb dw).

Non-Blacknose Small Coastal Sharks.
332.4   (732,808 lb dw).

Blacknose Sharks.
19.9   (43,872 lb dw).

Blue Sharks.
273.0 (601,856 lb dw).

Porbeagle Sharks
0.7   (1,585 lb dw).

Pelagic Sharks Other Than Porbeagle or Blue.
488.0  (1,075,856 lb dw).

Source with all Supplementary Information ( PDF ) : Federal Register /Vol. 77, No. 15