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Reef Fish Committee is meeting as we speak. Here are some updates on the hot topics. Please remember that committee decisions are not final. Council meets on Friday to make final rulings on all committee suggestions.
Amberjack- The reef fish committee motioned to carry the Grater Amberjack regulatory action as is. That would establish a recreational seasonal closure from June 1st through July 31st. Council will take final action on Friday, and decide if they want to pass the motion.
Gag Grouper- A recent stock assessment update revealed that there needed to be a 71% reduction in gag removals for 2010. Reef Fish Amendment 32 (and the gag stock rebuilding plan) are still under development so an interim rule is being considered to address the overfishing of gag until that amendment is implemented. The reef fish committee passed a motion to suspend the harvest of gag in the beginning of 2011 for both recreational and commercial sectors. The motion still needs to be brought to council for the final decision. Because of size distribution discrepancy and a discrepancy in the logbook discards and the observer discard data, the Committee moved to reconvene the gag assessment panel. The Southeast Fishery Science Center will re-run the gag assessment and provided updated information to the Council during its February meeting so they can move forward with Amendment 32.
Red Snapper- A report from NOAA estimates that approximately 2.3 million of the 3.4 million pound quota remains for 2010. Using summer effort numbers NOAA estimates that the remaining quota can be met in 39 days in a supplemental fall season. No decisions have been made, the committee hasn’t even begun speaking about snapper yet. The full document including this information can be found at www.gulfcouncil.org. on the bottom left corner click FTP server. Click the August 2010 briefing book, and then find tab B-14(a). If you have trouble finding it e-mail me at Emily.muehlstein@gulfcouncil.org .
Your Chum,
Emily Muehlstein
Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council
Amberjack- The reef fish committee motioned to carry the Grater Amberjack regulatory action as is. That would establish a recreational seasonal closure from June 1st through July 31st. Council will take final action on Friday, and decide if they want to pass the motion.
Gag Grouper- A recent stock assessment update revealed that there needed to be a 71% reduction in gag removals for 2010. Reef Fish Amendment 32 (and the gag stock rebuilding plan) are still under development so an interim rule is being considered to address the overfishing of gag until that amendment is implemented. The reef fish committee passed a motion to suspend the harvest of gag in the beginning of 2011 for both recreational and commercial sectors. The motion still needs to be brought to council for the final decision. Because of size distribution discrepancy and a discrepancy in the logbook discards and the observer discard data, the Committee moved to reconvene the gag assessment panel. The Southeast Fishery Science Center will re-run the gag assessment and provided updated information to the Council during its February meeting so they can move forward with Amendment 32.
Red Snapper- A report from NOAA estimates that approximately 2.3 million of the 3.4 million pound quota remains for 2010. Using summer effort numbers NOAA estimates that the remaining quota can be met in 39 days in a supplemental fall season. No decisions have been made, the committee hasn’t even begun speaking about snapper yet. The full document including this information can be found at www.gulfcouncil.org. on the bottom left corner click FTP server. Click the August 2010 briefing book, and then find tab B-14(a). If you have trouble finding it e-mail me at Emily.muehlstein@gulfcouncil.org .
Your Chum,
Emily Muehlstein
Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council
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