Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS); Atlantic HMS Tournament Registration and Reporting; Selection of All Atlantic HMS Tournaments for Reporting

NMFS announces that all Atlantic HMS tournaments will be selected for reporting beginning on January 1, 2019. Previously, only a portion of Atlantic HMS tournaments were selected for reporting. An Atlantic HMS tournament is a tournament that awards points or prizes for catching Atlantic HMS (i.e., swordfish, billfish, sharks and/or tunas). When selected for reporting, Atlantic HMS tournament operators are required to submit an HMS tournament catch summary report within seven days after tournament fishing has ended. 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.