MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. — August 11, 2014 — Several changes may be coming to snapper-grouper regulations in federal waters in North Carolina, including changes for blueline tilefish and snowy grouper.
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, an interstate fishery management council with jurisdiction in the federal waters off North Carolina, held a public scoping and public hearings on several fishery-management plan amendments Thursday at the Crystal Coast Civic Center. Among these were public hearings on Amendments 32 and 20 to the Snapper-Grouper FMP.
Amendment 32, if adopted, would remove blueline tilefish from the deepwater complex in the Snapper-Grouper FMP. Myra Brouwer, SAFMC fishery biologist, said during a presentation to about seven people in attendance that the 2013 Southeast Data, Assessment and Review program determined the fish were both overfished (their numbers were below the amount needed for a sustainable fishery) and undergoing overfishing (being fished too much to have a sustainable fishery).
“It’s barely overfished,” she said, “but it is undergoing overfishing.”
The SAFMC is required to implement regulations to end overfishing immediately and rebuild a fish stock to a sustainable level.
To that end, it requested in April the National Marine Fisheries Service enact emergency management and temporarily reduce the annual catch limit (the annual allowable catch to maintain a healthy fish stock) to 224,100 pounds; 75 percent of the maximum sustainable yield (the largest catch that can be taken from a stock).
The SAFMC is proposing to remove the blueline tilefish from the deepwater complex because the council is looking at management for the entire complex that wouldn’t fit with the efforts to rebuild the tilefish stock. According to the preferred alternatives chosen by the council, Amendment 32 would make the following changes to blueline tilefish management:
•Remove blueline tilefish from the deepwater complex.
•Set the tilefish ACL at 170,278 pounds whole weight, with 131,634 pounds allocated to the commercial fishery and 38,644 pounds to the recreational fishery.
•Set the MSY for the tilefish at 226,500 pounds.
•Establish ACLs for commercial and recreational tilefish to increase over time from 2015 to 2018, to plateau at 44,048 pounds for commercial fishing and 43,925 pounds for recreational fishing until modified.
•Set a commercial trip limit of 100, 200 or 300 pounds gutted weight, which the SAFMC hasn’t yet selected a preferred alternative for.
The council is also considering changes to the tilefish’s recreational bag limit. However, a preferred alternative hasn’t been selected yet.
Read the full story at Carolina Coast Online