Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Updates Regarding Sea Turtle Careful Release Equipment and Techniques

In this final rule, NMFS updates the Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS) regulations regarding the sea turtle safe handling and release requirements and equipment in the HMS pelagic and bottom longline fisheries. This action is based in part on two technical memoranda published by NMFS' Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC). The regulatory updates replace some of the more technical terms with those that are more commonly used, add more detail to make the regulations more understandable, and add additional tools or options for fishermen to use to safely handle and release sea turtles. In addition, this final rule simplifies the regulations by removing redundancies, making minor changes in formatting, and revising wording to clarify responsibility of implementation.