Final Amendment 15 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan

Final Amendment 15 has two broad components: 1) modification, data collection, and assessment of four commercial longline spatial management areas; and 2) administration and funding of the highly migratory species (HMS) pelagic longline electronic monitoring (EM) program. The first component considers modification, data collection, and analysis of four current spatial management areas that restrict or prohibit commercial fishing (MidAtlantic shark, Charleston Bump, East Florida Coast, and DeSoto Canyon closed areas). These closed areas have been in place for approximately 20 years, and the prohibition on fishing in those areas during all or part of the year has led to a commensurate decrease in fishery-dependent data, complicating efforts to assess the effectiveness of the areas in meeting conservation and management needs. To address the lack of fishery-dependent data inside the closed areas and to assess their effectiveness, Amendment 15 considers potential modifications to the boundaries and/or timing of the closed areas, data collection programs in the high- and low-bycatch-risk areas, and a process for routine evaluation of spatial management areas to identify whether conservation and management needs are being met. The second component considers cost allocation of the HMS pelagic longline EM program. NMFS historically has paid all costs associated with the program, however, NMFS Procedure 04-115-02 (Cost Allocation in Electronic Monitoring Programs for Federally Managed U.S. Fisheries) provides guidance that a portion of those costs should be paid for by fishery participants. Amendment 15 considers alternatives to transition sampling costs to industry, while the Agency retains the responsibility for administrative costs.