National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration July 24, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that Dr. Peter Tyack, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA has been issued a permit to conduct research on marine mammals.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council's Rural Community Outreach Committee will meet in Anchorage.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold a meeting of its Habitat Advisory Panel in North Charleston, SC.

NMFS announces the availability of the draft Amendment 3 to the Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Amendment 3 examines different management alternatives available to rebuild blacknose sharks consistent with the 2007 small coastal shark (SCS) stock assessment, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), and other applicable law. Amendment 3 also examines management alternatives to end overfishing of blacknose sharks and shortfin mako sharks, consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and also proposes adding smooth dogfish under NMFS management. The proposed rule to implement Amendment 3 would, among other things, establish a quota for blacknose sharks and non-blacknose SCS, prohibit the use of gillnet gear to catch sharks from South Carolina south, prohibit the retention of blacknose sharks in recreational fisheries, take action at the international level to end overfishing of shortfin mako through participation in appropriate international fisheries organizations, such as International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), promote the live release of shortfin mako sharks, add smooth dogfish under NMFS management, establish a commercial quota for smooth dogfish, require smooth dogfish fishermen to obtain the appropriate Federal permit, and establish a mechanism for specifying Annual Catch Limits (ACLs) and Accountability Measures (AMs) for Atlantic sharks. These changes could affect all fishermen, commercial and recreational, who fish for sharks in the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea.