NOAA Fisheries has proposed to adjust the seasonal quota for the Atlantic large coastal shark fishery for the 2004 fishing season. The proposal would adjust the split for the North Atlantic region, as outlined in Amendment 1, from a 50/50 split to a 20/80 split between the two semi-annual fishing seasons to allow a greater proportion of the quota to be landed in the second semi-annual season. Thus, without adjusting for over- or underharvest the North Atlantic regional quotas would be 8.1 metric tons (mt) dressed weight (dw) and 32.5 mt dw for the first and second semi-annual seasons, respectively.

This rule would not change the annual regional quota for the North Atlantic, but would rather adjust the North Atlantic regional quota allocation between the two 2004 semi-annual fishing seasons. This rule will be available on the HMS Web site at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms.

Comments should be sent to Christopher Rogers, Chief, Highly Migratory Species Division, 1315 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 by May 28, 2004. Comments can also be e-mailed to 0648.AS28@noaa.gov.