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DATE: May 23, 2000 SUBJECT: Report for May 2000 meeting of Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council The Gulf Council met in New Orleans the week of May 15-19. I have summarized the results of the issues of importance to Florida. Coastal Pelagics The Council approved a Gulf king mackerel total allowable catch of 10.2 million pounds. This is a reduction from the 10.6 million TAC which has been in place for the last three years. The 10.2 million TAC was the midpoint of the acceptable biological catch range at 30% SPR (8.2-12.8 million). In Committee I supported a failed motion for 9.5 million which was halfway between the upper end of ABC at 40% SPR (8.8 million lbs.) and the midpoint of 30% SPR. The Council also voted to restore the captain-crew bag limit. In the public hearing, Capt. Bob Zales requested that we lower the present 12 inch minimum size on Spanish mackerel to allow retention of smaller mackerel for trolling baits. The Council took no action on it, but stock is probably abundant enough to allow that. The Council directed staff to develop an options paper on cobia management including consideration of no sale and lower bag limit options. There was discussion of asking Florida to make them a restricted species. At present only an SPL is required for sale in Florida. The federal Coastal Pelagics permit is not required to sell. In the context of cobia and king mackerel the Council also approved a motion which directs staff A...to develop an appropriate letter to all Gulf and South Atlantic states as well as the SAFMC to request prohibition of sale of recreationally caught fish." The letter will come before the Council for approval in July. Regarding the dolphin-wahoo draft FMP, the Council directed staff to work with South Atlantic Council staff and NMFS staff to redraft portions of the document. The Council did not approve the document for the public hearings which had already been scheduled by staff and which will now have to be canceled. Reef Fish The Council looked at preliminary drafts for Amendment 18 (mostly grouper management) and for another amendment to create a limited entry system for bottom longline vessels. The Council voted to merge the two amendments with the limited entry option being one of the options under A Gear Regulations: Longline and Buoy Gear. We were advised that Anna-Marie Eklund of NMFS will give a jewfish report at the July meeting. Charter Vessel/Headboat Permit Moratorium The Council reviewed yet another draft of this document and chose preferred alternatives. The Council will review this again in July before approving it for public hearings. Presently the Council is proposing a 3 year moratorium on a new Gulf EEZ For-Hire Permit which would have endorsements for mackerels, reef fish, and possibly dolphin-wahoo. The proposal establishes Class 1 (transferable) and Class 2 (nontransferable) licenses. The fundamental eligibility requirement for Class 1 is that the vessel must have had a mackerel or reef fish endorsement on the control date (11/18/98), or must be able to prove being in the for-hire fishery for five years prior to implementation of the amendment (probably late in 2001). For-hire vessels which don't qualify for Class 1 permits will be eligible for Class 2 if the vessel was in the fishery in one of the years 1996, 1997, or 1998 and the owner can demonstrate that 50% of earned income or $25,000 of gross income was from for-hire fishing. Historical charter captains who don't own a boat would also qualify for a Class 2 license. The Council added a provision to allow a commercial fisherman to trade his/her commercial reef fish and mackerel permits for a Class 1 permit. Stone Crab The Council reviewed and approved for public hearing a stone crab effort management plan amendment for adoption in the EEZ. The public hearing draft will have two preferred options:
A third alternative will be included in the document as A considered but rejected though it could still be adopted at the Final Hearing in July. That alternative would delegate to Florida the management of the EEZ stone crab fishery off Florida. If we are unable to resolve this issue, we will ask the Council to withdraw the stone crab FMP. Public hearings are scheduled for June in Marathon, Naples, Crystal River, and Steinhatchee. Final hearing is July 12 or 13 in Key Largo. We have encountered a serious problem regarding adoption of Florida's regulations in the EEZ. The NOAA General Counsel believes that Florida's management plan violates the Magnuson Act because our license fees exceed the administrative fees that the Secretary of Commerce is allowed to charge. That decision is not final, but it seems to be pretty firm. General Counsel was not persuaded by staff and Council arguments that we had already approved and implemented a similar program for spiny lobster in the EEZ, nor was he persuaded by the argument that the North Pacific Council has designated Alaska to manage two species in the EEZ off Alaska and that their fees exceed those allowed to the Secretary of Commerce. Shrimp By unanimous vote, Council directed staff to develop an amendment to 1)require a vessel permit for the EEZ shrimp fishery, and 2)require that vessel operators obtain an operator's permit. The latter is a new concept never used previously in the Gulf, and its basis is to preclude captains with severe violations from moving from vessel to vessel, fishery to fishery. Staff time permitting, we anticipate a draft amendment in July with a final hearing in September. Amendment 10, which proposes to require BRD's east of Cape San Blas, was discussed briefly. Wayne Swingle advised that FMRI's Ecopath Model would not be available to assess the effects of BRD's for more than a year, if then. I advised the Council that I had not forgotten this issue, and that I felt that the Magnuson Act required us to take action and I intended to bring it up again as soon as practicable, but I felt that the permit requirements were more immediately important. Marine Reserves Council approved the Tortugas 2000 document for public hearings. Red Drum The Council received a report from Mike Murphy on behalf of the Red Drum Assessment Panel. The latest assessment on the condition of adult red drum in the offshore areas is uncertain, though most results indicated that the stock is still overfished and that overfishing is still occurring. The Panel advised that we need to monitor age frequency and abundance of offshore adults if the uncertainty was ever going to be resolved. Gulfwide escapement appears to be 8% - 9%. Fishing mortality rates are reported in the assessment as being low in Florida and Texas and high in Central Gulf. |
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