June Council Meeting Preview

June Council Meeting Preview

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will meet June 15-18, 2020 by webinar. The Committee and Council Agendas, and meeting materials will be posted as they become available on the Council Meeting’s webpage. Information on how to register for the webinar will also be posted as it becomes available.

Public testimony will be held during the meeting. Details on how to provide testimony during the meeting will be posted on the Council Meeting’s webpage when it becomes available.

Fishing Access in Madison-Swanson and Steamboat Lumps Marine Protected Areas

The Council plans to take final action on a document that considers modifying trolling provisions and possession prohibitions in Madison-Swanson and Steamboat Lumps Marine Protected Areas. Fishing activity is limited in Steamboat Lumps and Madison-Swanson to protect gag grouper spawning aggregations.  Currently, no bottom fishing is allowed in those areas, but surface trolling is permitted during part of the year.  It is difficult to enforce the no-bottom-fishing regulation when surface trolling is allowed, and the Council heard concerns that illegal recreational bottom fishing is occurring in the areas.

·      Read the Draft Amendment

·      Watch the Public Hearing Video

·      Submit Comments

Impacts of COVID-19

The Council plans to discuss the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and may consider management changes to ease those impacts. The Council aims to gather input from fishermen and those involved in fishing-related businesses whose fishing effort or businesses have been directly affected by COVID-19. The Council will continue to follow guidelines set by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act while considering temporary or long-term changes to regulations that may offset economic impacts from the pandemic.

·      Fishing Related Covid-19 Resources

·      Share information on how COVID-19 has impacted your fishing and business using this COVID-19 Comment Tool

Red Drum and Coastal Migratory Pelagic Advisory Panel Member Selection

During closed session, the Council will review applicants and populate its Coastal Migratory Pelagic and Red Drum Advisory Panels. A background check will be performed on selected applicants and membership to both panels will be announced at the August Council meeting.

Vermilion Snapper

The Council will review SEDAR 67: Vermilion Snapper stock assessment which concluded that vermilion is neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing. The Council will hear recommendations from its Scientific and Statistical Committee and may consider initiating an amendment to update vermilion snapper management.

Red Grouper

The Council will continue working on Reef Fish Amendment 53 which considers modifying red grouper commercial and recreational sector allocations and catch limits based on the results of the latest stock assessment (SEDAR 61).  The assessment showed that the red grouper stock is lower than it has ever been.  Additionally, the assessment used the new Marine Recreational Information Program’s (MRIP) calibrated Fishing Effort Survey landings and effort estimates, which increased the estimates of recreational harvest.

Lane Snapper

At its last meeting, the Council was presented with the results of updated yield projections for lane snapper (based on SEDAR 49).  The assessment uses the new calibrated landings and effort data from the Marine Recreational Information Program Fishing Effort Survey and allows for a significant increase in the acceptable biological catch level.  The Council will review guidance from its Scientific and Statistical Committee and work on a document to revise the lane snapper annual catch limits.

January Council Meeting Preview

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will meet at the Hyatt Centric French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana, January 27-30, 2020. You’re more than welcome to join us in person or via webinar.

Public comment will be held on Wednesday, January 29^th, from 1:45 – 5:30 PM. If you can’t join us to comment, visit our “Amendments Under Development” webpage to learn more about what we’re working on and submit comments.

The Agenda and Meeting Materials will help you prepare for the meeting. The following is a brief summary of some of the issues that will be discussed:

Photo: Capt. Jennings

Greater Amberjack

The Council is trying to figure out the best way to manage recreational greater amberjack. In 2018, the Council modified the recreational amberjack fishing year so that the quota renews on August 1^st. That was supposed to allow for fishing seasons August – October and then May in the following calendar year, if there was any quota left. Unfortunately, the entire quota was harvested in the fall season that year so, we didn’t get a May season in 2019. (Note: We still don’t know if we’ll have a May season this year and expect NOAA fisheries to give us that news as soon as they can process the harvest data from the end of last year).

The Council is still looking for ways to allow recreational harvest in both fall and spring since different anglers from different parts of the Gulf prefer to fish amberjack at different times. We will discuss a document that considers managing recreational greater amberjack with different zones and bag limits. This Recreational Greater Amberjack Decision Tool will allow you to explore some of the different management alternatives that are currently being considered.

Photo: Capt. Hubbard

Red Grouper

A recent red grouper stock assessment (SEDAR 61) determined that the red grouper stock is smaller than it has ever been. Additionally, the assessment used the new Marine Recreational Information Program’s landings and effort estimates, which more than doubled the estimates of recreational harvest.

The Council will begin working on Reef Fish Amendment 53 which considers modifying commercial and recreational sector allocations and catch limits based on the results of the latest assessment.

Fishing Access in Eastern Gulf Marine Protected Areas

The Council’s Reef Fish Advisory Panel expressed concern that illegal recreational bottom fishing is occurring in Steamboat Lumps and Madison Swanson Marine Protected Areas. Regulations in those areas were created to protect grouper spawning aggregations. Currently, no bottom fishing is allowed in the areas, but trolling is permitted during part of the year. It is difficult to enforce the no-bottom-fishing regulation when trolling is allowed. So, in an effort to ensure grouper spawning aggregations are protected as intended, the Council will take its first look at a framework action that is considers prohibiting all fishing in the Steamboat Lumps and Madison Swanson Protected Areas.

Status Determination Criteria

The Council must define a maximum sustainable yield, a maximum fishing mortality threshold, a minimum stock size threshold, and an optimum yield for all managed stocks. These reference points are the basis for determining the health of each stock and are required under the Magnuson-Stevens Act and National Standard 1 guidelines. The Council will work on a public hearing draft of Reef Fish Amendment 48/Red Drum Amendment 5, which aims to define, and in some cases modify, existing status determination criteria for reef fish and red drum.

Red Snapper Allocation

The Council will continue work on Reef Fish Amendment 52 which considers reallocating the red snapper annual catch limit between recreational and commercial sectors. The Council previously passed Amendment 28, which reallocated red snapper by shifting 2.5% of the commercial sector’s allocation to the recreational sector. However, a lawsuit resulted in the district court decision which vacated Amendment 28 and restored the previous sector allocations of 49% recreational and 51% commercial.

Commercial Individual Fishing Quota Programs

At its last meeting, the Council decided to split Amendment 36B into two separate documents. At this meeting, it will review a new version of 36B which considers requiring individual fishing quota shareholder accounts to be associated with a commercial reef fish permit. The Council will also take its first look at Amendment 36C which considers a mechanism for distributing unused shares reclaimed by NOAA Fisheries, quota banks, and modifying the accuracy of estimated weights in advance landings notifications.

April Council Meeting Preview

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will meet April 1-4, at the IP Casino and Resort in Biloxi, Mississippi. You can join us in person, or watch a live broadcast of the meeting.

Public comment will be held on Wednesday, April 3, from 1:30 - 5:30 PM. If you can’t testify in person, visit our “Amendments Under Development” webpage to learn about the issue we’re working on and submit comment.

The meeting agenda and meeting materials will help you prepare.  At this meeting, the Council plans to take final action on a number of items. The following is a summary of those issues:

Historical Captains Endorsements

The Council will hear public comments on a final draft of an abbreviated framework action that considers converting historical for-hire captain endorsements to federal for-hire permits. There are currently 31 historical captains with both reef fish and coastal migratory pelagic (CMP) permits, and one captain with a CMP permit. The Council is considering converting these historical endorsements into standard charter/headboat permits.

Read the Document

Watch the Video

Submit Comment

State Management of Recreational Red Snapper

The Council will hear comments gathered during public hearings and review the suite of documents that consider allowing each Gulf state to manage a portion of the recreational red snapper quota in federal waters.

Watch the Video

Read the Public Hearing Guide

Submit Comment

Carryover of Unharvested Quota

The Council will review a public hearing draft that considers allowing uncaught annual catch limit to be carried over and added to the next year’s harvest for reef fish and coastal migratory pelagics. Quota available for carryover would have to be adjusted to account for natural morality and other factors such as management uncertainty.

Watch the Video

Read the Document

Submit Comment

Shrimp

The Council will look at a public hearing draft of an amendment that considers increasing the amount of shrimp effort allowed in the special area that is monitored for juvenile red snapper bycatch.  Analysis shows that the effort reduction threshold, which currently requires that shrimp effort in the area monitored for juvenile red snapper be 67% below the effort in the baseline years of 2001-2003, can be reduced to 60% without affecting the rebuilding of the red snapper stock. 

Watch the Video

Read the Document

Submit Comment

Red Grouper

The Council will take a first look at a Draft Framework Action that considers reducing the red grouper annual catch limit until it can suggest management measures based on the results of the stock assessment that is currently underway.  At its last meeting, the Council was presented with the results of an interim analysis that could be used to provide updated harvest recommendations for red grouper while awaiting the results the next stock assessment. Landings in recent years have been significantly below the annual catch limits, indicating that the stock may not be large enough to sustain current harvest levels. After hearing recommendations from its scientific advisors and listening to public testimony that indicated the stock is struggling, the Council requested that the National Marine Fisheries Service implement an interim or emergency rule to establish an annual catch limit based on the total 2017 landings. 

Watch the Video

Read the Document

Submit Comment