Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Commercial Shark Management Measures

NMFS issues an emergency rule to: establish the commercial annual quotas for ridgeback and non-ridgeback large coastal sharks (LCS) at 783 metric tons (mt) dressed weight (dw) and 931 mt dw, respectively; establish the commercial annual quota for small coastal sharks (SCS) at 326 mt dw; and suspend the regulation regarding the commercial ridgeback LCS minimum size. These regulations are necessary to ensure that the regulations in force are based on the best available science. In addition, as of January 1, 2003, regulations on season- specific quota adjustments and counting dead discards and state landings after a Federal closure against the commercial quotas will go into effect. At least one public hearing on this emergency rule will be held during the public comment period and will be announced in a separate Federal Register document. NMFS also notifies eligible participants of the opening and closing dates for the Atlantic LCS, SCS, pelagic shark, blue shark, and porbeagle shark fishing seasons.