Highly Migratory Species Tournament Registration and Reporting

Under the provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is responsible for management of the nation's marine fisheries. Existing regulations require operators of tournaments involving Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS), specifically Atlantic swordfish, sharks, billfish, and tunas, to register four weeks in advance of the tournament. Operators must provide contact information and the tournament's date(s), location(s), and target HMS. If selected by NMFS, operators are required to submit an HMS tournament summary report within seven days after tournament fishing has ended. Most of the catch data in the summary report is routinely collected in the course of regular tournament operations. NMFS uses the data to estimate the total annual catch of HMS and the impact of tournament operations in relation to other types of fishing activities. In addition, HMS tournament registration provides a method for tournament operators to request educational and regulatory outreach materials from NMFS. Nonsubstantive change: an online registration form will be made available.

The latest form for Highly Migratory Species Tournament Registration and Reporting expires 2022-07-31 and can be found here.

Highly Migratory Species Tournament Registration

Federal Enterprise Architecture: Natural Resources - Conservation, Marine and Land Management

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