By David Conway

The notice below comes directly from the South Atlantic Council’s website, www.safmc.net. It announces public hearings for Amendment 16, which proposes serious changes to the grouper fishery regulations on Florida’s East coast and in the Keys.

IF you fish for grouper or snapper, you really should consider at least sending in written comments to the South Atlantic Council’s email address, given below. Even better, go to the meeting closest to you.

Here’s the news:

“Public Hearings Scheduled for Snapper Grouper, Shrimp Issues
Council seeks input on additional alternatives to address overfishing for gag and vermilion snapper, rock shrimp permitting requirements

“The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is soliciting public input on two amendments to its fishery management plans and will hold three public hearings to facilitate public comment. Amendment 16 to the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan (FMP) contains management measures to end overfishing for gag grouper and vermilion snapper as mandated in the reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Act and include seasonal closures, commercial quotas, and adjustments to bag and size limits. Amendment 7 to the Shrimp FMP proposes changes to the current requirements for federal South Atlantic rock shrimp permits and endorsements for commercial fishermen.

“Public hearings were held for Snapper Grouper Amendment 16 in May 2008. As a response to public input and recommendations from its Snapper Grouper Advisory Panel, in June 2008 the Council agreed to add four additional management alternatives for consideration and analysis in Amendment 16. The new alternatives include:

(1) a commercial trip limit of 1,000 pounds for gag with a fishing year start date of May 1. In addition, during March and April, no fishing for and/or possession of the following species would be allowed: gag, black grouper, red grouper, scamp, red hind, rock hind, yellowmouth grouper, tiger grouper, yellowfin grouper, graysby, and coney;

(2) a commercial trip limit of 1,000 pounds for gag with a fishing year start date of January 1. In addition, during February, March, and April no fishing for and/or possession of the following species would be allowed: gag, black grouper, red grouper, scamp, red hind, rock hind, yellowmouth grouper, tiger grouper, yellowfin grouper, graysby, and coney;

(3) implement a May 1 fishing year start date for the commercial vermilion snapper fishery and a 1,000-pound trip limit; and

(4) south of the Miami-Dade/Monroe County line, no fishing for and/or possession of the following species would be allowed during June 1 – December 31: gag, black grouper, red grouper, scamp, red hind, rock hind, yellowmouth grouper, tiger grouper, yellowfin grouper, graysby, and coney. No fishing for or possession of gag would be allowed year-round south of the Miami-Dade/Monroe County line. Fishing for black grouper, red grouper, scamp, red hind, rock hind, yellowmouth grouper, tiger grouper, yellowfin grouper, graysby, and coney would be allowed January 1 through May 31 for Monroe County. Alternative 4 would apply to both commercial and recreational fisheries. Comments are being solicited for all of the alternatives contained in Amendment 16.

“Proposed actions in Amendment 7 to the Shrimp FMP address:

(1) the current 15,000-pound landing requirement for rock shrimp;

(2) loss of limited access rock shrimp endorsements due to not meeting the landing requirement by December 31, 2007;

(3) loss of limited access rock shrimp endorsements due to failing to renew within the specified timeframe;

(4) renaming the rock shrimp permit and endorsement to minimize confusion;

(5) requirements for Vessel Monitoring System verification; and

(6) requirements for the provision of economic data by shrimp permit holders.

“Public comment will be taken at the public hearings anytime between the hours of 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Written comments for both amendments are being accepted by the Council until 5:00 pm, August 15, 2008. Copies of the public hearing documents will be posted on the Council’s web site at www.safmc.net, and may also be obtained from the Council office. Comments should be addressed to: Bob Mahood, Executive Director, South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, 4055 Faber Place Drive, Suite 201, Charleston, SC 29405. Email Snapper Grouper Amendment 16 comments to: SGAmend16SecondPH@safmc.net and comments for Shrimp Amendment 7 to: ShrimpAmend7@safmc.net. “

PUBLIC HEARING SCHEDULE (3:00 PM until 7:00 PM)

August 7, 2008
Hyatt Regency Riverfront
225 Coast Line Drive East
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone: 904/588-1234

August 8, 2008
Radisson Resort at the Port
8701 Astronaut Boulevard
Cape Canaveral, FL 32920
Phone: 321-784-0000

August 12, 2008
Hilton Garden Inn Airport
5265 International Boulevard
North Charleston, SC 29418
Phone: 843-308-9330

More South Atlantic Council Action Updates:

Meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, Sept. 15-19:

• Will consider interim rule to close red snapper fishery in South Atlantic possibly effective on or before Jan. 1, 2009 for 180 days, with option to extend closure for 186 more days.

• Interim rule may include a 4-month spawning season closure for gag grouper in the South Atlantic region.

• Other species covered by the interim rule COULD be black grouper, red grouper and vermilion snapper.

• Will also consider Amendment 17, ie. The rebuilding plan for red snapper stocks in the South Atlantic, which the council is expected to approve in December of ’08, for public hearings tentatively scheduled for January and February ’09.

• Council is expected to approve Amendment 16 and send it to the Dept. of Commerce for approval following the September meeting. Amendment 16 pertains to gag grouper and vermilion snapper and contains the spawning season closure for gag grouper on Florida’s Atlantic coast and a separate and distinct closed season for grouper fishing in Monroe County, the Keys.

• Council will hold public hearings on Amendment 16 Alternatives, including closed season for gag grouper, on August 7, in Jacksonville, Aug. 8 in Cape Canaveral and on August 12, in Charleston, as described above. Go to www.safmc.net for more.

Below are important statistics for the stock assessments which play a critical role in the South Atlantic Council’s management measures for red snapper.

These are provided as background for the ongoing discussion of how to best manage our red snapper fishery.

Current NOAA Fisheries Red Snapper Stock Estimates: Stock Spawning Biomass (SSB) for 2006 (last recorded year) is approx. 434,000 pounds.

Many studies and data sources completed over the course of years go into the compilation of the SSB figure. Among these are:

• catch estimates from all fishery sectors

• associated biological sampling (length, age)

• life history studies (growth and reproductive characteristics)

• stock identification

• discard rates and discard mortality rates

• surveys of abundance and fishery catch per unit of effort (CPUE)

• further explanation of these and other studies can be found in the data workshop section of the stock assessment report.

To figure SSB, scientists must first have an estimate of the population abundance at age, and to that apply information on weight at age to get biomass, and to that apply information on maturity at age to get SSB.

Goal of Recovered SSB would be 17.4 million pounds. The stock will be considered recovered once it reaches this level of spawning biomass.

2006 Catch data records 313,000 pounds recreational landings in SAFMC region and 83,000 commercial pounds landings, for 396,000 pounds, which is extremely close to the SSB for that year.

While many variables play into the SSB, according to NOAA Fisheries Environmental Impact Scientist Rick DeVictor, such as how SSB is defined, whether by male and female or only female fish (as is the case with red snapper) and the relation between the ages that the fishery harvests and the age specific maturation schedule, the Council’s data on landings for 2006 and SSB for 2006 are remarkably close: 2006 Landings: 396,000 pounds 2006 SSB: approximately 435,000 pounds

Some discussion:

These statistics raise the question, does that mean that almost all the spawning stock biomass of fish have been taken for that year and that the next year’s young fish grow up only to be taken away, or does it mean that roughly half the SSB has been taken and half remains in the wild for that year?

“In simple terms,” says DeVictor, “the only SSB available in the following year would be the sum biomass of those fish reaching maturity in that year. In practice it is not quite that simple, as both fishing removals, maturation, and natural deaths all occur continuously over the entire year, and fishery selectivity at age and species maturation schedules are different. Nonetheless, such a situation would greatly jeopardize the sustainability of the population.

“Red snapper SSB is calculated as females alone,” says DeVictor, “so it is probable that mature females remain in the population even if catch equaled SSB because catch is presumably a mixture of males and females.

“If a fishery harvested some fish that are immature, then landings could equal SSB without all of the SSB being removed – some of the total landings is made up of immature fish.

“If some mature fish are not susceptible to harvest,” DeVictor concludes, “due to regulations, behavior, or fishery practices, then landings could equal SSB without all SSB being removed – some SSB is protected and preserved.”

While the Optimal Yield (OY) for the red snapper fishery is not yet set and is being discussed by the council, the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) is considered to be 2,314,000 pounds. The OY is slightly less than MSY.

If the red snapper fishery, considered to be overfished and currently being overfished, were completely closed and there were no losses due to discarding, the projections indicate the stock would rebuild by 2020. By law, the stock must be rebuilt by 2040.

Gulf Council

The Gulf Council will meet August 11 - 14 in Key Largo, Florida, at the Key Largo Grande hotel.

• The council will consider an interim emergency rule, which will address the overfishing issues in the gag grouper fishery until Reef Fish Amendment 30 B is implemented. The interim rule will be based on a variety of alternatives contained in Amendment 30B, including the possible implementation of a 4-fish grouper aggregate limit. Of those four fish, two fish could be gags (down from five in current regulations) and two may be red grouper (up from one red grouper in current regulations). The interim rule is expected to be implemented by the National Marine Fisheries Service in January 2009.

• Also part of Amendment 30B is a new proposed closed grouper season from Feb. 1 to March 31, doubling the current closed season of Feb. 15 – March 15.

• The council is expected to take final action on Reef Fish Amendment 30B which regulates grouper fishing with more permanent measures and regulations for the gag and red grouper fishery in the Gulf region during its August meeting. If approved, the amendment is expected to be implemented some time in 2009.

• The public can send the council comments on Reef Fish Amendment 30B now or attend the meeting in August.

SSB and catch quota figures for Gulf Council Red Snapper Stock Estimates:

The total catch quota for red snapper in the Gulf in ’07 was less than 6 million pounds. It is being cut drastically. In ’08, it has been reduced to 2.45 million pounds for recreational anglers (though NOAA projects it will be closer to 2.78 million pounds) and to 2.55 million pounds for commercial anglers in ’08.

The most recent SEDAR (the name for NOAA’s compilations of scientific stock study assessments) estimate of Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) for red snapper in the Gulf (contained in SEDAR 7, 2005) is for 25.4 million pounds whole weight. The rebuilding objective, according to Charlene Ponce of the Gulf Council, is to first reach MSY biomass level by 2032, and then look at further rebuilding the OY level. For a recovered stock, the yield in pounds for equilibrium OY is only slightly less than the yield for equilibrium MSY.

The MSY figure is a very controversial one, indeed. Over the years, The Gulf Council has varied it widely and even wildly. According to Dr. Bob Shipp in his paper, “A Perspective on the Importance of Artificial Habitat on the Management of Red Snapper in the Gulf of Mexico,” (available to be read on FS Online), “In earlier assessments, some MSY projections ranged between 40 and 60 million pounds, and the 1999 stock assessment projected an MSY of 205 million pounds (GMFMC 2004).”

These are critical figures, because the goal of MSY governs the total allowable catch permitted today, for anglers. Consequently, the higher the MSY is set given stock assessments which remain stable through a period of say five years, then the lower the catch quotas will be set in order to replenish the stock biomass of those fish. That is exactly the quandary we find ourselves in today as the allowable catch continues to be lowered while stocks, many attest, remain stable in the their fisheries, if not even improving, especially with the habitat creation of artificial reefs.

According to Ponce at the Gulf Council, “The final year of data for the SEDAR 7 assessment was 2003, and the “overfished” status determination criteria was (0.06). For red snapper, a ratio less than 0.90 indicates an overfished condition.” Ponce continues, “Determinations indicate that if the red snapper fishery in the Gulf had been closed completely in 2000, the stock was projected to be rebuilt by 2012.”