To: Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board and Technical Committee
From: Marin Hawk, FMP Coordinator
Subject: NOAA Fisheries’ Draft Amendment 5 to the Highly Migratory Species Coastal Shark FMP
The National Marine Fisheries Service announced the release of a proposed rule for Amendment 5 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan. The Commission is seeking guidance from the Board on whether or not to send comments to NOAA Fisheries as a Commission. Amendment 5 addresses results of recent stock assessments for scalloped hammerhead, sandbar, dusky, blacknose, and Gulf of Mexico blacktip sharks. The preferred suite of measures (Alternative A2) to end overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks includes creating new complexes, establishing total allowable catches, commercial quotas and quota linkages (when one complex closes, the other complex also closes, regardless of the amount of quota caught), modifying recreational minimum size limits and reporting requirements, and creating and modifying time/area closures.
Alternative 1 would involve no action and keep the HMS FMP as it currently is. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Alternative 5 would close all commercial and recreational shark fisheries, except spiny dogfish.
Alternative 2 would remove scalloped, smooth and great hammerhead sharks from the non-sandbar LCS complex, and establish an Atlantic hammerhead complex with a quota of 28.3 metric tons. This quota was determined from recent landings of hammerheads, which averaged 28.7 metric tons annually between 2008 and 2011. A new complex, called the Atlantic aggregated LCS complex would be established, which consists of blacktip, bull, lemon, nurse, silky, spinner and tiger sharks. This complex would take the place of the non-sandbar LCS complex and have a quota of 168.2 metric tons. This quota is based on the average annual landings of the remaining species in the complex, once hammerheads are removed. These two complexes would be linked, so when either quota is reached, the other would also be closed, regardless of how much of the quota had been filled. This alternative also creates linked, regional quotas for non-blacknose SCS sharks and blacknose sharks. Under this alternative, the recreational size limit would increase by 42” (3.5 feet) to 96” (8feet) for all species except Atlantic Sharpnose and bonnethead.
Alternative 3 would remove scalloped, smooth and great hammerhead sharks from the non-sandbar LCS complex and establish a non-regional hammerhead complex with a quota of 52.2 metric tons. A new complex, called the Atlantic aggregated LCS complex would be established, which consists of blacktip, bull, lemon, nurse, silky, spinner and tiger sharks. This complex would take the place of the non-sandbar LCS complex and have a quota of 168.2 metric tons. Under this alternative, only the recreational size limit for the hammerhead complex would increase by 24” to 78”. All other size limits would remain the same. There would be no new quota linkages with this alternative. Alternative 3 also establishes a new regional quota for the blacknose SCS complex.
Alternative 4 would remove scalloped hammerhead sharks from the non-sandbar LCS complex and establish a regional quota of 27.8 metric tons for just that species. A new complex, called the Atlantic aggregated LCS complex would be established, which consists of smooth and great hammerhead, blacktip, bull, lemon, nurse, silky, spinner and tiger sharks. This complex would take the place of the non-sandbar LCS complex and have a quota of 180 metric tons. The hammerhead and LCS complexes would be linked. This alternative also establishes new regional quotas for the non-blacknose SCS complex and the blacknose complex.
The Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Coastal Sharks complements the Highly Migratory Species Coastal Shark FMP. The Interstate FMP states that non-sandbar LCS or SCS species groups will close in state waters when NOAA Fisheries closes the species groups in Federal waters. For example, when NOAA Fisheries closes the non-sandbar LCS complex in federal waters, the same closures apply in state waters. Therefore, any amendment that changes the quota or quota linkages for a species group will impact the regulations in state waters. The Proposed rule species groupings are also different than those identified in the Interstate FMP. The Interstate FMP size limit for all sharks (except Atlantic sharpnose, blacknose, finetooth, bonnethead and smooth dogfish) is 54”. Options in the Proposed Rule are larger for some shark species. In order to change any of the above Interstate FMP measures, an addendum would be needed.
Please see the table below outlining all of the proposed measures concerning quotas, recreational size limits and species complexes. Other measures concerning pelagic long-lining effort, community outreach and quota transfers can be found in the attached proposed rule as well.
The public comment period for the proposed rule ends on February 12, 2013. If the Board would like to comment as a Commission, we will need your feedback on what issues to include in the comments. We are seeking guidance from the Board by January 10, 2013. If you have any questions or would like clarification, please do not hesitate to contact me at 703-842-0740 or mhawk@asmfc.org.
| Species | Current Spp Grouping | Age @ Maturity (yrs) | Length @ Maturity (in) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silky | Non-sandbar LCS | 90.6 | |
| Tiger | Non-sandbar LCS | M: 7, F: 10 | 114 |
| Blacktip | Non-sandbar LCS | M: 4-5, F: 6-7 | 57-61 |
| Spinner | Non-sandbar LCS | M: 4- 5, F: 7-8 | 55.1 |
| Bull | Non-sandbar LCS | M: 14-15, F: 18+ | 86.6 |
| Lemon | Non-sandbar LCS | 12 | 90 |
| Nurse | Non-sandbar LCS | 88.6 | |
| Scalloped HH | Non-sandbar LCS | 70-78 | |
| Great HH | Non-sandbar LCS | 82.6 | |
| Smooth HH | Non-sandbar LCS | 88.5-106.3 | |
| Atlantic sharpnose | small coastal sharks | 31.5-33.5 | |
| finetooth | small coastal sharks | 51.2 | |
| blacknose | small coastal sharks | 39 | |
| bonnethead | small coastal sharks | 29.5 | |
| shortfin mako | pelagic | M: 2, F: 7 | M: 76.7, F: 110.2 |
| porbeagle | pelagic | 78.8 | |
| common thresher | pelagic | 125 | |
| oceanic whitetip | pelagic | 74.8 | |
| blue | pelagic | M: 4-5, F 5-6 | 63-70.8 |
Based on biological data section (1.4.3.1) of Interstate Coastal Sharks FMP.
