There are about forty species of shark included in this category, which includes the whale shark—the largest fish in the world—familiar species such as the tiger, shortfin mako and white sharks and a host of lesser known species found in shallow coastal waters, the waters of the continental shelf and in the open ocean. Although not all species range along the entire coast, at least a few shark species can be found everywhere between Maine and North Carolina.
Sharks in federal waters are managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which coordinates its management decisions with those of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic
On March 1, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued emergency measures intended to protect the shortfin mako shark from continued overfishing. The measures became effective on March 2. Prior to the new rule, no size or trip limits restricted the directed shark fishery, which included shortfin makos, although vessels that held an Incidental shark
On April 4, 2017, NOAA Fisheries published in the Federal Register a “Final Rule” for Amendment 5b to the Highly Migratory Species (HMS) plan. The HMS plan manages a group of species that include tunas and sharks. Amendment 5b was developed in response to the 2016 stock assessment, which determined that dusky sharks are overfished
