2015 US Atlantic Shark Commercial Fishing Season

News Release

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)

01. December 2014

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NMFS Announces a Final Rule Regarding
the 2015 Atlantic Shark Commercial Fishing Season

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announces a final rule that establishes quotas and opening dates for the 2015 Atlantic commercial shark fisheries.

Some of the quotas have changed from the proposed rule based on adjustments to account for additional landings reported as of October 15, 2014.

Additionally, based on public comment, NMFS has changed the opening date of the aggregated LCS and hammerhead shark management groups in the Atlantic region from June 1 to July 1, 2015.

The final adjusted quotas and opening dates are:

All of the shark fisheries will remain open until December 31, 2015, unless NMFS calculates that the fishing season landings have reached, or are projected to reach, 80 percent of the available quota. In that case, NMFS will publish a notice in the Federal Register of the closure for that shark species group that will be effective no fewer than 5 days from the date of filing. (…)

Source: NMFS ( table: SYM )