Gulf Council to Convene a Meeting of its Standing and Special Reef Fish Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC)

Meeting Notice August 17, 2015   Gulf Council to Convene a Meeting of its Standing and Special Reef Fish Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC)    The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council has scheduled a  meeting of its Standing and Special Reef Fish SSC September 1-2, 2015 at the Hilton Westshore in Tampa, Florida. The meeting will begin Tuesday, September 1, at 1:00 pm and will conclude no later that 3:00 pm Wednesday, September 2. During the meeting, the Standing and Special Reef Fish SSC will receive a report from the Southeast Fisheries Science Center on the both the Red Grouper Benchmark Assessment and the Gray Triggerfish Standard Assessment. If the Committee accepts the assessments and sufficient information is available, it will recommend overfishing limits (OFL) and acceptable biological catch (ABC) levels for both species. The Committee will also discuss best practices for constant catch ABC projections and will recommend a constant catch ABC for the west Florida shelf stock of hogfish. Best practices for determining the number of years to provide OFL and ABC projections will also be discussed. Finally, the SSC will review and approve the terms of reference for a review of an upcoming Goliath Grouper Standard Stock Assessment, and will receive a report on Integrated Ecosystem Assessment and Management Strategy Evaluation as it pertains to single-species assessments. A copy of the agenda and related materials can be downloaded from the Council's FTP server -https://public.gulfcouncil.org:5001/webman/index.cgi (login is gulfguest/gulfguest). Materials are in the "SSC meeting-2015-09" folder.  To watch the meeting live, please register at: http://gulfcouncil.org/council_meetings/Webinars.php.   About the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional Fishery Management Councils established by the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976. The Council prepares fishery management plans, which are designed to manage fishery resources within the 200-mile limit of the Gulf of Mexico.   Submit comments and stay updated on fishery issues: Check it out! Go to www.gulfcouncil.org and click on the thermometer in the middle of the page. From there you can read up on all the pending actions, watch the video presentations, read comments, and submit your own. All comments submitted through the online form are automatically posted on our web site for Council review. Other comments are manually posted every couple of days.  There is also a thermometer for each issue that lets you know where the Council is in the process for that particular amendment, whether it's the scoping phase, final action, or implementation.    You can also find information on our Facebook page, blog, and YouTube channel.

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