October 2015 Council Meeting Preview

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will meet next week at the Hilton in Galveston, Texas.

You’re welcome to join us in person or watch a livebroadcast of the meeting. This agenda will help you figure out when the Council will be addressing the fisheries issues that interest you. Here are the background materials you’ll need to follow along.

Public comment will be held from 2:30 – 5:00 pm on Wednesday, October 7.  Here is a quick overview of some of the issues the Council plans to address:

Hint: The Council takes public comment at all times – not just during meetings. If we’re working on a fishery issue and you want to share your thoughts visit our “proposed amendments” page by clicking this thermometer icon from our homepage www.gulfcouncil.org. There you’ll find a variety of documents, guides, videos, and online comment forms for each Amendment.

Photo: Emily Muehlstein

Gag and Black Grouper

The Council expects to take final action on a framework action that considers changing the gag season and size limit and the black grouper size limit. Watch this video and share your opinion before a decision is made.

Red Snapper

The Council will review revised alternatives in Amendment 39: Regional Management – which considers dividing the recreational red snapper quota among different regions in the Gulf to allow for the creation of different management measures that best suit each area.  Public hearings will be hosted in the coming weeks at these dates and locations. We’ll post documents, guides, and videos to this page when they’re ready.

Hogfish

Photo: Emily Muehlstein

The West Florida hogfish stock, which is in the Gulf Council’s jurisdiction, is not overfished or experiencing overfishing. The stock associated with the Florida keys, which falls in both Gulf and South Atlantic Management areas, is both overfished and experiencing overfishing.  Next week, the Council will review a document that considers defining a management unit for hogfish between the two Councils and assigning a catch limit to the Gulf Council managed stock.

Mutton Snapper

The Council will review a framework action that considers setting and annual catch limit, bag limit, and commercial trip limits for mutton snapper.

South Florida Management

The Gulf Council, South Atlantic Council, and State of Florida have been working on a fisheries management plan that aims to streamline regulations in South Florida, particularly off of the Florida Keys.  The Council will review an options paper that considers modifying the management structure and some management measures for yellowtail snapper, mutton snapper, black grouper and shallow-water grouper, to make fishing regulations less complicated for commercial and recreational fishermen in the area.

Photo: iStock

Mackerel

The Council will review two public hearing drafts for amendments that consider making some changes to king and Spanish mackerel management. Amendment 26 considers making modifications to allocations, stock boundaries and sale provisions of king mackerel, and Amendment 28 considers separating permits for Gulf and Atlantic king and Spanish mackerel.

Photo: Emily Muehlstein

Shrimp

The Council will review a public hearing draft for Shrimp Amendment 17A - which considers what to do about the pending expiration of the federal shrimp permit moratorium. The Council expects to host public hearings on this amendment in January.

  

The Council will also review a draft options paper for Shrimp Amendment 17B – that considers establishing an optimum yield, target number of permits, permit pool, and addressing transit provisions through federal waters.

Sector Allocation - Amendment 28 Q&A

What is Sector Allocation?

Photo: Doug Gregory

Sector allocation considers setting allocations for gag, red grouper, black grouper, and red snapper. While allocation has traditionally been set between commercial and recreational sectors, this document considers sub-dividing the recreational allocation into private, for-hire, and possibly headboat sectors.

How far along is the Council in making decisions?

The Council began its initial analysis of the issues and was presented with a scoping document during the August 2012 Council meeting. After reviewing over 4000 comments, the Council decided to table discussions until after the red snapper benchmark stock assessment is complete. The assessment was completed in the summer of 2013.

What is allocation?

Allocation is the division of the Annual Catch Limit between fishing sectors. The Annual Catch Limit is the amount of fish that can be harvested from a fish stock each year. The current allocations are:

	Commercial	Recreational
Gag	39%	61%
Red Grouper	76%	24%
Black Grouper	73%	27%
Red Snapper	51%	49%

Photo: Mike Miglini

What is sector separation?

Sector separation is the splitting of the recreational fishing sector into two or three sub-sectors; private, charter for-hire, and possibly headboat. If the recreational sector is split into sub-sectors, then the recreational Annual Catch Limit would be divided among the sub-sectors. Each sub-sector could then pursue different management schemes to constrain its Annual Catch Limit by using fishing regulations tailored specifically for that fishing sector.

Why is the Council considering allocation?

The Council’s allocation policy requires a review of allocations at intervals of no less than five years. None of the species allocations being considered in this amendment have ever been formally reviewed. In 2006, the Council set interim allocations for gag and red grouper, and the black grouper allocation was set for the first time in 2011. Red snapper allocation was set in 1990.

Why is the Council considering sector separation?

For a number of years a group of charter for-hire fishermen have been asking the Council to manage them differently than private recreational fishermen. These captains assert that their businesses are not viable under the current recreational management scheme.

How will the Council decide on allocations?

The Council developed a fishery allocation policy to help guide the allocation process.  Allocation decisions  are made using a combination of  historical landings data, and economic and social analysis of different allocation scenarios. You can read the Council’s allocation policy here.

Grouper

Grouper

Photo: Tim Sheerman

If you fish for grouper recreationally or commercially, you might want to pay attention to a couple of things the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is considering.

The Gulf Council is gearing up to discuss the 2013 recreational gag fishing season.

This year, the federal gag season is open from July 1 – October 31. The Gulf coast of Florida is open at the same time as the federal season, with the exception of Taylor, Jefferson, Wakulla, and Franklin counties, which are open from April 1 – June 30.  

Inconsistent regulations between state and federal waters are difficult for a few reasons: enforcement becomes complicated; federally permitted for-hire boats are excluded from state seasons; and the fish caught during non-federal seasons are still counted as part of the Gulf-wide Annual Catch Limit and can result in a shortened federal season.

Photo: Troy Frady

Recently, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) requested that the Gulf Council consider gag season options that would allow for fishing in both the spring and fall.  

The current season was set to allow for the most fishing days possible (123 days). Rates of catch are typically lower in the later summer months, so the season can be open longer before the Annual Catch Target is met. The Council will reexamine the desire for a split open season, which may reduce the number of fishing days, but allow for gag fishing at a more desirable time of year.

The 2013 recreational gag season is scheduled for discussion during the June Gulf Council meeting in Tampa, Florida. The Council will be asking for your thoughts on the 2013 gag season soon.  

The Gulf Council is planning to discuss the possibility of changing the current February – March recreational shallow-water grouper closure.

During the April Council meeting, fishermen asked the Council to analyze the possibility of changing the annual shallow-water grouper closure since the circumstances that initially prompted the closure have changed.

Photo: Doug Gregory

In 2006, red grouper was considered overfished and experiencing overfishing. To reduce the number of red grouper being caught the Council closed gag, red grouper, and black grouper fishing from February 15 – March 15. The Council closed the three species together to prevent effort from shifting to the other species and to reduce bycatch of red groupers. The chosen closure also reduced fishing pressure on all three species during their spawning seasons.

In 2008, gag was determined to be overfished and experiencing overfishing. The Council extended the season closure from February 1- March 31 and limited all shallow water grouper fishing (gag, black grouper, red grouper, yellowfin, scamp, and yellowmouth.)

Red grouper is no longer overfished or experiencing overfishing, and the gag season has changed so that is no longer aligned with other shallow water groupers. At its June meeting the Council will analyze the possibility of removing or modifying the current shallow water grouper closed season.

The Council is working to set permanent allocations for gag, red grouper, and black grouper.

           

Allocation is the division of an Annual Catch Limit between commercial and recreational fishing sectors. In 2006, the Council set temporary allocations for gag and red grouper; and the black grouper allocation was set for the first time last year.

Current allocations are:

	Commercial	Recreational
Gag	39%	61%
Red Grouper	76%	24%
Black Grouper	73%	27%

The Gulf Council has reviewed the historical landings of each grouper species, and NOAA scientists have concluded that the current allocations of gag and red grouper are not economically efficient. 

Photo: Kathy Hoak

The Council has suggested that more information about commercial Individual Fishing Quota share price, for-hire fees, charter client information, captain and crew information, and seafood dealer information be analyzed while the Council develops an options paper. The options paper containing a range of possible allocations for each species will be presented during the June Council meeting.

The Gulf Council may ease recreational shallow water grouper accountability measures.

Accountability Measures are actions that prevent Annual Catch Limits from being exceeded and correct overages if they are.  The Accountability Measures for gag and red grouper are:

·      The season can be closed early if the Annual Catch Limit is expected to be met during the fishing season.

·      If the Annual Catch Limit is exceeded:

o   Scheduled increases to the following years Annual Catch Limit will not occur.

o   The entire Shallow Water Grouper season will be shortened to ensure the Annual Catch Limit is not exceeded again.

o   The following years Annual Catch Limit will be reduced by the amount of fish that were overharvested.

The Council is developing an amendment that may eliminate the Accountability Measure that shortens the entire shallow water grouper fishing season. Red grouper and black grouper are not overfished or experiencing overfishing, and the status of scamp, yellowfin, and yellowmouth are unknown.  Removing the Accountability Measure that shortens the entire shallow-water grouper season could help prevent unnecessary closures of those species.