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The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce, is responsible for managing Atlantic highly migratory species pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., and consistent with the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act, id. 971 et seq., the implementing statute for binding recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. Limited access permits for the U.S. Atlantic swordfish and shark fisheries were implemented in 1999 with the goals of rationalizing the fishing capacity with the available quota and reducing latent effort. As part of achieving those goals, these permits were implemented with an annual renewal time period, and permits that were not renewed within one year of expiring became invalid. Since implementation, NMFS has seen a significant decrease in the number of valid swordfish and shark limited access permits. To help address this decline, NMFS is developing a proposed rule that considers modifications to the regulations that currently prevent swordfish and shark limited access permits from being renewed when the permit was not renewed within a year of its expiration date.