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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 (HMS) 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 (ATCA), id. 971 et seq ., the implementing statute for binding recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. NMFS is considering changes to fishing gear regulations and requirements in fisheries targeting HMS. These regulations and requirements were originally developed to achieve fishery management and conservation goals, but may have become outdated due to changes in species distributions, fishing gear technology, fishing techniques, market conditions, and fishing interests. These outdated regulations may be limiting fishing opportunities, which in turn may affect the ability to achieve optimum yield from the fisheries. This action would consider changes to fishing gear regulations in HMS fisheries in order to increase flexibility and remove inefficiencies while still achieving fishery management and conservation goals. This action could affect the commercial buoy gear and speargun fisheries, which fish for swordfish, bigeye, albacore, yellowfin, and skipjack tunas, and sharks throughout the entire range of the fishery (Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of America, and Caribbean Sea). In 2021, these fisheries across all regions and gear types had ex-vessel revenues of approximately $27.8 million of which the specific gears affected by this action are only a small portion. This action may also consider overarching changes to increase flexibility regarding how bait can be collected in all HMS fisheries. This action is being taken pursuant to the rulemaking authority under 304(g)(1) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act or 16 U.S.C. 1854(c).