Gag is considered overfished (population abundance is too low) and undergoing overfishing (rate of removal too high). The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires that overfished stocks be rebuilt and that overfishing be halted. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) recommended NOAA Fisheries Service implement this temporary rule to revise 2011 commercial and recreational measures in light of the rerun of the gag update stock assessment. The Council is developing a long-term plan address gag stock rebuilding through Amendment 32 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico.
Commercial management measures
The rule proposes to increase the 2011 quota from 100,000 pounds to 430,000 pounds. The rerun of the 2009 population assessment update for gag indicated the commercial quota should be reduced from 1.49 million pounds to 500,000 pounds. However, setting the quota at this level assumes equal reductions in both landings and dead discards (fish that die after they are released). Testimony from industry indicated that although gag can be avoided when targeting the capture of other species, gag cannot be completely excluded from the catch and there will be some gag bycatch and associated dead discards. Therefore, the Council recommended the quota be set at 430,000 pounds to account for discards. The original 100,000 pound quota was set by the Council as they awaited a rerun of the update stock assessment. Until those results were known, the Council wanted to be conservative in its actions to harvest gag.
The Council asked for the initial 100,000-pound quota to allow incidentally caught gag to be landed and counted against the quota instead of being discarded.
The rule also proposes to continue the suspension of the use of red grouper IFQ multi-use allocation, which could be used to harvest gag. If the suspension is not in place, four percent of an IFQ participant’s red grouper allocation is converted to multi-use allocation. If the multi-use allocation is used to harvest gag, these additional gag landings would likely allow the harvest to exceed the gag quota. Note that this part of the rule would not reduce an IFQ participant’s red grouper allocation. The rule would simply not allow four percent of the total allocation to be converted to multi-use allocation.
Recreational management measures
For the recreational sector, the rule proposes a 2011 recreational season from September 16 through November 15. The current bag limit of two gag within the four fish aggregate grouper bag limit and the minimum size of 22-inches total length would be in effect during the fishing season. In recommending the proposed season, the Council examined several options for the fishing season including summer, fall, and winter openings. They recommended a fall season as a compromise between public testimony for summer and winter seasons. In the analysis supporting this proposed rule, a shorter summer season from July 1 through August 15 was evaluated. Both seasons were sufficient to reduce overfishing, but the proposed season maximizes the season length.
Request for Comments
Written comments on any portion of the proposed rule must be received no later than May 6, 2011, to be considered by NOAA Fisheries Service. See the Addresses section for information on where and how to submit comments. All comments received by NOAA Fisheries Service will be addressed in the final rule.
Addresses
Electronic copies of the proposed rule and draft environmental assessment may be obtained from the e-Rulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov or from NOAA Fisheries Service, Southeast Regional Office, Sustainable Fisheries Division, 263 13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701-5505.
You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
- Electronic Submissions: Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Enter the following docket number into the “Search” box: NOAA-NMFS-2011-0072. All comments received are part of the public record and will generally be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without change. Comments will be posted for public viewing as they are received. All personal identifying information (for example, name, address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by the commenter, may be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential business information or otherwise sensitive or protected information. NOAA Fisheries Service will accept anonymous comments. Attachments to electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
- Mail: Peter Hood, NOAA Fisheries Service, Southeast Regional Office, Sustainable Fisheries Division, 263 13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701-5505.
Comments received through means not specified in this bulletin will not be considered.
This bulletin provides only a summary of the information pertinent to the rule. Any discrepancies between this bulletin and the rule as published in the Federal Register will be resolved in favor of the Federal Register.
Need more information on these topics?
Grouper Frequently Asked Questions:
http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sf/
Southeast Regional Office’s Web page:
http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov.
http://www.oysterradio.com e-mail manager@oysterradio.com with comments
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