Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Fisheries; Pelagic Longline Fishery Management

This final action will undertake a review process to collect and review data to evaluate the continued need for the Northeastern United States Closed Area and the Spring Gulf of Mexico Gear Restricted Area; remove the Cape Hatteras Gear Restricted Area; and adjust the Gulf of Mexico gear requirements to shorten the duration of required weak hook use from year-round to seasonal (January-June). NMFS has adopted a suite of measures to manage bluefin tuna bycatch in the pelagic longline fishery for Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS), including mandatory weak hook use, time/area closures, gear restricted areas, and electronic monitoring and the Individual Bluefin Quota (IBQ) Program adopted in 2015 through Amendment 7 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP. However, quotas for target species have continued to be significantly underharvested and available IBQ allocation remains unused at the end of each year, indicating that all of the measures in tandem may not be necessary to appropriately limit incidental catch of bluefin tuna in the pelagic longline fishery and may not best achieve other management objectives, such as allowing fishermen a reasonable opportunity to harvest available quotas. These actions will ensure that conservation obligations are met and that bluefin bycatch continues to be minimized, but in a way that is not unnecessarily restrictive of pelagic longline fishery effort.