During the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting last week in Wrightsville Beach, NC, NOAA Fisheries outlined options being considered for future red snapper fishing.

Before Yesterday:

In August 2024, a District Court approved a settlement agreement between NOAA Fisheries and plaintiffs requiring NOAA Fisheries to submit a final rule implementing a Secretarial Amendment to the Federal Register by June 6, 2025, to end overfishing of South Atlantic red snapper.

Red snapper overfishing is being largely driven by dead discards in the recreational fishery, both during the directed red snapper fishing season and during the closed red snapper season while fishermen are targeting snapper-grouper species that co-occur with red snapper.

The Secretarial Amendment will be based on the results of an updated SEDAR 73 stock assessment that includes data through 2023 to ensure the best scientific information available is used for decision making. This is allowing NOAA Fisheries to evaluate rebuilding progress and changes in fishing mortality since 2019 to inform the actions in the Secretarial Amendment. We look forward to sharing the results of the update assessment soon, once the report is finalized.

In the Future - What is Included in the Secretarial Amendment:

? NOAA Fisheries is exploring management strategies that end and prevent overfishing, while also increasing fishing opportunities for red snapper by reducing the amount of fish released dead.

? The Secretarial Amendment currently considers these actions:

• Reevaluating the criterion for determining overfishing given above-average recruitment of young fish to the fishery in recent years.
• Setting commercial and recreational annual catch limits at levels that end and prevent overfishing. Catch limit increases are being considered and the level of increase is dependent on discard reductions achieved.
• Looking at a variety of temporal and depth-based discard reduction areas and time periods. The discard reduction alternatives being considered allow for tradeoffs to be evaluated between the size, scope, and scale of management actions to reduce discards and the resulting increases in red snapper fishing opportunities and landings.
• Evaluating increases in commercial trip limits to improve economic efficiency and reduce discards.
• Considering changes to the fishing year, and changes to the start of both the commercial and recreational fishing seasons including how the recreational season is structured.
• Establishing an annual experimental studies program to promote a continuation of the great collaborative work being done through the current Exempted Fishing Permits (EFPs).

Get Involved:

• NOAA Fisheries expects to:
  • Publish a Notice of Availability of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), the amendment, and the proposed rule in the near future, and requests public comments on all three documents.
  • Share the Secretarial Amendment with the public and Council at that time for consideration and comment. We anticipate the public comment period will overlap the Council’s March meeting.

• The agency is targeting February 2025 to hold in-person public hearings.

• NOAA Fisheries will post the public hearing dates, times and locations here as soon as they are confirmed and a fishery bulletin with this information will also be sent out and posted online.