NOAA Fisheries Service Announces New Gulf of Mexico Grouper Regulations
Small Entity Compliance Guide
On January 24, 2012, NOAA Fisheries Service approved Amendment 32 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico submitted by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. A final rule implementing these regulations published in the Federal Register on February 10, 2012 (77 FR 6988), with an effective date of March 12, 2012.
Gag is 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 primary purpose of the rule is to end overfishing of gag and allow the stock to rebuild to healthy levels. The rule also addresses red grouper and shallow-water grouper management.
The final rule makes the following changes to grouper regulations:
Setting annual catch limits
• Set the commercial gag annual catch limit at 0.788 million pounds (mp) in 2012, 0.956 mp in 2013, 1.100 mp in 2014, and 1.217 mp in 2015 and beyond.
• Set the gag recreational annual catch limits at 1.232 mp in 2012, 1.495 mp in 2013, 1.720 mp in 2014, and 1.903 mp in 2015 and beyond.
• Set the commercial red grouper annual catch limit at 6.03 mp and the recreational red grouper annual catch limit at 1.90 mp.
Commercial measures
• Set the commercial gag annual catch target (harvest goal), at 0.659 mp in 2012, 0.823 mp in 2013, 0.971 mp in 2014, and 1.092 mp in 2015 and beyond.
• Because of the harvest reductions needed for the rebuilding plan, the commercial quota includes a 14 percent reduction from the annual catch target to account for additional dead discards of gag resulting from the reduced harvest. The commercial quota is 0.567 mp in 2012, 0.708 mp in 2013, 0.835 mp in 2014, and 0.939 mp in 2015 and beyond.
• Change the gag and red grouper individual fishing quota program multi-use allocation from a fixed percentage to a formula.
• Prohibit the use of multi-use allocation to harvest a species if the stock is under a rebuilding plan.
• Reduce the commercial minimum size limit of gag from 24 inches to 22 inches to reduce discards.
Recreational measures
• Set the gag recreational annual catch target.
• Set the recreational gag season from July 1-October 31 (The bag limit will remain two gag in the four grouper aggregate bag limit).
Accountability measures
• Simplify the commercial shallow-water grouper accountability measures by using the individual fishing quota program to reduce redundancy.
• Add an overage adjustment and in-season measures to the recreational gag and red grouper accountability measures to avoid exceeding the annual catch limit.
• Add an accountability measure for the red grouper bag limit that would reduce the four red grouper bag limit in the future if the red grouper recreational annual catch limit is exceeded.
This bulletin serves as a Small Entity Compliance Guide, complying with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.
Electronic copies of the amendment and final rule may be obtained from the NOAA Fisheries Service Web site:
http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/.
This bulletin provides only a summary of the information regarding the existing regulations. Any discrepancies between this bulletin and the regulations as published in the Federal Register will be resolved in favor of the Federal Register.
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