In accordance with the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act (Act), as amended, NMFS, determined, on July 7, 2000, that the Commonwealth of Virginia is not in compliance with Addendum 1 to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (Commission) Interstate Fishery Management Plan (ISFMP) for horseshoe crab and has failed to implement measures necessary for the conservation of the fishery in question. Pursuant to the Act, NMFS hereby declares a Federal moratorium on fishing for horseshoe crabs in Virginia waters and issues regulations prohibiting the possession of horseshoe crabs in Virginia waters and the landing of horseshoe crabs in Virginia, regardless of where they were caught. The purpose of this action is to support the interstate fishery management system and to encourage the implementation and enforcement of the Commission's ISFMP on horseshoe crabs.