NOAA Fisheries is seeking public comment on a proposed rule that would establish a 2013 gag recreational fishing season that opens on July 1 and closes when the annual catch target is projected to be caught. The rule would also continue the February 1 through March 31 shallow-water grouper closure, but restrict the closure to depths deeper than 20 fathoms. The proposed rule will publish in the Federal Register on February 21, 2013, with the comment period ending March 25, 2013.
 
Gag Recreational Season

The proposed rule would open the recreational gag season on July 1, 2013, and the season would close when the annual catch target is projected to be caught. Based on a 2013 annual catch target of 1.287 million pounds, preliminary projections, assuming compatible state regulations, indicate the season would be able to remain open until sometime between November 11 and December 3. A 2013 closure date will be projected after more complete 2012 recreational landings data are made available. If at any time during the gag season the landings are projected to exceed the 2013 annual catch limit of 1.495 million pounds, fishing for gag would close.

Recreational Shallow-Water Grouper Closure

The proposed rule would also convert the fixed February 1 through March 31 shallow-water grouper closed season into a time-area closure by eliminating the fixed closed season in federal waters shoreward of the 20-fathom boundary. This allows grouper fishing to occur year-round while providing some protection to species that spawn during February and March. Figure 1 displays the boundaries.

Request for Comments

NOAA Fisheries must receive comments on this proposed rule no later than March 25, 2013. We will address all comments specifically directed to the framework action or the proposed rule in the final rule. You may obtain electronic copies of the proposed rule and the amendment from the NOAA Fisheries Web site:

http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sf/GrouperSnapperandReefFish.htm or the

e-Rulemaking Portal: www.regulation.gov.

How to Submit Comments

You may submit comments on this document, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2013-0012, by any of the following methods:

Electronic Submission:

Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2013-0012, click the "Comment Now!" icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.

Mail: Submit written comments to Peter Hood, NOAA Fisheries, Southeast Regional Office, Sustainable Fisheries Division, 263 13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701-5505.

Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, may not be considered by NOAA Fisheries. All comments received are a part of the public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying information (e.g., name, address, etc.), confidential business information, or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily by the sender will be publicly accessible. NOAA Fisheries will accept anonymous comments (enter "N/A" in the required fields if you wish to remain anonymous). Attachments to electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe PDF file formats only.

This announcement is forwarded as a courtesy of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.

• Allow NOAA Fisheries to shorten the season for gag if landings exceeded the catch limit in the previous year. The same would apply to red grouper if that species' catch limit was exceeded. Currently, if recreational landings exceed the catch limit for either gag or red grouper in a year, the recreational season for all shallow-water groupers is shortened the following year.
• Change the trigger method for recreational accountability measures to one that compares one year of landings to the annual catch limit. The current method for triggering accountability measures uses a three-year moving average of landings compared to the annual catch limit. The use of a moving average has not been practical due to frequent changes in the gag annual catch limit.
• Allow establishment or modification of accountability measures through the framework procedure, which should result in faster establishment of these measures. Currently, a change to accountability measures requires an amendment to the fishery management plan.

Electronic copies of the amendment and final rule may be obtained from the NOAA Fisheries Website http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sf/GrouperSnapperandReefFish.htm. For more information on Amendment 38 please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions on the NOAA Fisheries site.

This bulletin serves as a Small Entity Compliance Guide, complying with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.

Gag grouper, which is also part of the shallow-water grouper complex, will remain closed until July 1, and will close when the annual catch target is met.   

Note that recreational fishing for gag is already closed. Gag fishing will open in Gulf of Mexico federal waters on July 1, 2013. The rulemaking, if implemented, would also modify the 2013 recreational gag season by keeping the July 1 opening date, but revising the closure date from October 31 to a date when the annual catch target is projected to be caught.

As part of the rulemaking, there will be a comment period on a proposed rule. NOAA Fisheries will provide instructions on how and when to submit comments in an accompanying Fishery Bulletin outlining the proposed rule.

Species in the Recreational Shallow-Water Grouper Complex

Black Grouper
Red Grouper
Gag
Yellowfin grouper
Scamp
Yellowmouth grouper

RFA Urges Anglers To Attend 1/17 & 1/22 FL Scoping Meetings

The Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) and its Florida chapters ask you now to stand up and be heard!
 

On Thursday, January 17 (Destin) and Tuesday, January 22 (St. Petersburg), the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council) is going out for scoping of public opinion of regional fisheries management. Both meetings are set to begin at 6 p.m. and will conclude no later than 9 p.m.

According to representatives at the Gulf Council, the scoping meetings are meant to gather public input on the subject of regional management of recreational red snapper. Gulf anglers are being asked to provide comments with regard to Reef Fish Amendment 39 pertaining to the concept of regional management of recreational red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. Scenarios being discussed at the Gulf Council pertain to breaking up the Gulf by regional and state boundaries, while also addressing red snapper allocation.

A video has been posted at You Tube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFnbLXSaP-U&feature=youtu.be) which explains how this new regional approach could impact Gulf anglers, and it's a presentation which is sure to cause concern for anglers throughout the Gulf region, especially in terms of sector separation goals.

RFA executive director Jim Donofrio said it only takes 24 seconds watching the video to understand the problem with coastal fisheries management like red snapper. "It's a federal issue, it was Congress reauthorizing the Magnuson-Stevens Act in 2006 by unanimous consent in the Senate and including language which has led to a rebounding population of red snapper at the expense of our recreational fishing community," Donofrio said.

Donofrio said that much of the language written into Magnuson-Stevens in 2006 at the urging of environmental groups has pitted members of the recreational fishing community against each other in recent years, particularly in terms of private anglers and the for-hire sector. "One of the most divisive arguments in our recreational community now is how our federally permitted vessels deal with regional management measures which have state seasons open while federal waters are closed," Donofrio said. "The federal law has forced fisheries managers to ratchet down regulations so severely that we're arguing over single days on the water where we once talked of full seasons of fisheries."

RFA's Forgotten Coast (RFA-FC) chairman Capt. Tom Adams says it's getting harder and harder for business owners to keep their faith while fighting to keep their heads above water. "This is a dejected, depressed bunch of people being forced out of business by bad laws and miserable fisheries management," Capt. Adams said. "This is Florida, fishing capital of the world, with a 27-day snapper season, what a joke!"

"Everyone agrees there are more red snapper out there than there ever has been," Adams noted. The Mexico Beach charter boat captain noted that there was an 8-month season on red snapper just a few years ago at a time when there was statutory overfishing occurring with the stock. In the spring, NOAA Fisheries announced findings from a newly updated population assessment that shows overfishing of Gulf of Mexico red snapper has ended and the population is rebounding, allowing NOAA the ability to increase fishing catch limits for the species from 7.53 million pounds to 8.08 million pounds. However, Capt. Adams and RFA noted that even adding another 1 million pounds of red snapper to the recreational quota only adds an additional 7 days of available fishing for Gulf anglers, a devastating fisheries management contradiction.

"How's that for fishery management, as the population of fish grows the days which anglers are allowed on the water is reduced," Donofrio said. "When fish stocks are low, managers stop us from fishing to protect the fish, yet as the population grows and the stocks become more plentiful, managers do the exact same thing, they stop us from fishing to protect the fish."

(Click here to read more about the ongoing red snapper problems in the latest RFA electronic newsletter.)

In addition to attending the public scoping meetings, you can also submit your comments to the Gulf Council by clicking here.

Check out the Amendment 39 Regional Management Scoping Guide by clicking here.

The actual addresses of the Florida scoping meetings are as follows:

January 17, 2013

Destin Community Center

101 Stahlman Avenue

Destin, FL 32541

January 22, 2013

Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park

950 Lake Carillon Drive

St. Petersburg, FL 33716

January 14, 2013    Doubletree by Hilton    4964 Constitution Avenue    Baton Rouge, LA  70808	January 14, 2013    Holiday Inn Express    2440 Gulf Freeway    Texas City, TX  77591
January 15, 2013    Hilton Garden Inn    6717 S. Padre Island Drive    Corpus Christi, TX  78412	January 15, 2013    Four Points by Sheraton    940 Beach Boulevard    Biloxi, MS  39530
January 16, 2013    Hilton Garden Inn    23092 Perdido Beach Blvd            Orange Beach, AL 36561	January 17, 2013    Destin Community Center    101 Stahlman Avenue    Destin, FL  32541      January 22, 2013    Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park    950 Lake Carillon Drive    St. Petersburg, FL  33716

These meetings are physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to Kathy Pereira at least five working days prior to the meeting.

Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council to Convene a Meeting of its Socioeconomic Scientific and Statistical Committee

• Step 1: Select "From My Shareholder Account To My Vessel Account" from the drop-down menu.
• Step 2: Select your vessel account; you must click the vessel name to highlight it in blue. The numbers to the right of your vessel's name indicate the allocation currently held in the vessel account by share category.
• Step 3: In the "Transfer Pounds (gutted weight)" column type in the number of pounds of allocation you would like to transfer to your vessel account.
• To complete an allocation transfer press Submit in the lower left corner of the screen. You will receive a pop-up asking you to confirm the transfer.