Comment from Clark Gray

November 20, 2009 Karyl Brewster-Geisz Office of Sustainable Fisheries Highly Migratory Species Management Division 1315 East West Highway Silver Spring, MD 20910 Comments on the Proposed Rule to Establish the 2010 Commercial Quotas and Opening Dates for the Atlantic Shark Fisheries “0648-AX95”, The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (NC DMF) supports the preferred alternative (B3) in opening the LCS fishery in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico region on July 15. We feel this option would allow our fishermen a greater chance of harvesting LCS. This opportunity was not open to them in the 2009 fishing year due to the quota being caught before these fish were available to our fishermen. In regards to the opening date from the SCS fishing season, we support A2: Opening the 2010 SCS fishing season on the effective date of the final rule for Amendment 3 (if the SCS quota is to be set at 56.9 mt). We strongly urge HMS to consider adopting the following option: (Establish a new SCS quota of 392.5 mt dw and a blacknose commercial quota of 13.5 mt dw) in Amendment 3. We feel it is unfair to penalize commercial fishermen by not allowing them to harvest Atlantic sharpnose, bonnetheads, and finetooths, all of which are not considered over fished. If this alternative is chosen, then NC DMF would support opening the SCS season on Jan 1st. This would allow our fishermen the opportunity to catch SCS as they are available to them during the winter months. We would also like to bring to the attention of the HMS board that if the preferred SCS quota of 56.9 mt is adopted, then the quota for the whole SCS complex would be 31 mt less than the quota set aside for the Sandbar research quota alone. We feel this is an unacceptable option. NCDMF appreciates the opportunity to provide comments for this advanced notice and would be willing to clarify or discuss any of our concerns. Sincerely, Clark Gray