The Pew Environment Group submitted comments to the executive director of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council regarding items in the public scoping draft of the Comprehensive Ecosystem-Based Amendment 3. The Council’s intention to shift towards a more holistic ecosystem-based management system is laudable, and the ecosystem plan with its amendments can instill a wider view of fisheries and their role in the South Atlantic marine ecosystem. We would like to particularly encourage the development of spawning area protections and to urge the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council to use all the tools available to it to increase the efficiency of the amendment process.