2026 Atlantic Shark Commercial Quotas Adjusted for Underharvest
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
This rule raises some 2026 Atlantic shark commercial quotas to reflect unused quota from 2025. It gives commercial shark fishermen more room to land certain species, including Gulf of America blacktip sharks and smoothhound sharks, while leaving other groups unchanged because their stocks are overfished, overfishing is occurring, or their status is uncertain. The practical effect is on shark permit holders and processors that rely on these landings. NMFS says the change is effective immediately through December 31, 2026, so fishing businesses should use the updated limits now and keep watching for any in-season quota shifts.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Refer to official sources for legal decisions.
Key Changes
- Raises 2026 quotas for some shark management groups by carrying over unused 2025 quota, up to the legal cap.
- Keeps quotas unchanged for groups that are overfished, subject to overfishing, or have uncertain stock status.
- Applies immediately through December 31, 2026, to avoid premature fishery closures.
Obligations
What this law requires
Atlantic shark commercial permit holders must use the updated 2026 commercial quota limits now, because NMFS has immediately adjusted the base annual quotas for the 2026 Atlantic shark commercial fishing year.
Commercial fishing businesses must apply the increased adjusted quotas only for the species and management groups listed in the rule, and must not assume quota increases for groups whose base quotas were left unchanged.
Fishermen must monitor NMFS in-season quota notices, because NMFS may further adjust the 2026 quotas later in the year by transferring quotas between regions or sub-regions.
Businesses harvesting Gulf of America blacktip sharks must apply any underharvest carryover in accordance with the east/west Gulf sub-regional quota split percentages specified by NMFS.
Permit holders must not rely on carryover quota for management groups that NMFS identifies as overfished, experiencing overfishing, or of unknown status, including aggregated large coastal sharks, hammerhead sharks, non-blacknose small coastal sharks, blacknose shark, blue/porbeagle/pelagic sharks other than blue or porbeagle, and sandbar shark and research LCS.