On November 15, 2002, NOAA Fisheries announced its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and amend regulations in the Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Tunas, Swordfish, and Sharks. The amendment could modify regulations pertaining to Atlantic sharks, Essential Fish Habitat, and exempted fishing permits.

On January 27, 2003, NOAA Fisheries released an Issues and Options Paper for this amendment and announced the location of seven scoping meetings. These scoping meetings were held in February and March 2003 in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic Coast. The comment period for scoping ended on March 17, 2003.

During scoping, NOAA Fisheries received and heard a number of comments. These comments are summarized in a Scoping Summary Report. All comments received during scoping will be considered when drafting the amendment to the Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Tunas, Swordfish, and Sharks. NOAA Fisheries would like to extends its thanks to those constituents who participated in the scoping process.

View the scoping comments report online. For further information or to request copies of the Scoping Summary Report, contact Karyl Brewster-Geisz at (301) 713-2347 or go to: www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hmspg.html.