Secretarial Amendments

Section 304(e)(5) of the MSFCMA states that if, within the one-year period beginning on the date of identification or notification that a fishery is overfished, the Council does not submit to the Secretary a fishery management plan, plan amendment, or proposed regulations required by paragraph to end overfishing in the fishery and to rebuild affected stocks of fish, the Secretary shall prepare a fishery management plan or plan amendment and any accompanying regulations to stop overfishing and rebuild affected stocks of fish within 9 months.

Due to circumstances including delays in receiving information from NMFS needed to prepare rebuilding plans, and delays resulting from the terrorist events of September 11, 2001, the Council did not meet its deadline for submitting rebuilding plans for red grouper and greater amberjack. As a result, although the amendments below were still prepared predominately by the Council and generally reflect the Council’s policy, they were submitted as Secretarial amendments rather than as Council plan amendments. In such cases, the rebuilding plan is, officially, is prepared by the Secretary of Commerce and may be modified by NMFS following submission by the Council). 

Secretarial Amendment 1 (pdf - 1,296 kb) (2004)

Secretarial Amendment 1, including an SEIS, RIR and IRFA, was initially submitted to NOAA Fisheries in September 2002 and was implemented July 15, 2004.  It contains a ten-year rebuilding plan for red grouper based on three-year intervals. It specifies maximum sustainable yield (MSY), optimum yield (OY), maximum fishing mortality threshold (MFMT), and minimum stock size threshold (MSST) levels that comply with the Sustainable Fisheries Act. A red grouper assessment, completed in 2002, found that approximately a 10% reduction relative to the recent fishing mortality during 1999-2001 was required for the first three years of the rebuilding plan in order to implement the plan. To accomplish this, the Council proposed that the revised Secretarial Amendment include a 5,200 pound shallow-water grouper gutted weight commercial trip limit that will achieve a 10% red grouper harvest reduction, a reduction in the shallow-water grouper quota from 9.35 million pounds gutted weight (9.8 million pounds whole weight) to 8.80 million pounds gutted weight, repeal the Feb. 15 - Mar. 15 closed season on commercial harvest of red grouper, black grouper and gag in the Gulf EEZ (which appeared to be resulting in mini-derby fisheries around the closed season rather than a fishing reduction), and set a recreational bag limit of two red grouper out of the five aggregate grouper bag limit per person, with a double bag limit allowed for persons on qualified for-hire boats that are out over 24 hours. In addition, the Council proposed changing the quota for deep-water grouper from 1.6 million pounds whole weight (equal to 1.35 million pounds landed weight) to a gutted weight quota of 1.02 million pounds (equal to the average annual harvest 1996-2000), and establishing a landed weight quota for tilefish (all tilefish species in aggregate) at 0.44 million pounds (average annual harvest 1996-2000). NMFS rejected the proposed 5,200 pound shallow-water grouper trip limit and the repeal of the February 15 - March 15 commercial closed season.  The remaining proposed measures were approved, and NOAA Fisheries added a commercial red grouper quota of 5.31 million pounds gutted weight with the stipulation that the commercial shallow-water grouper fishery close when either the shallow-water grouper quota or red grouper quota is reached, whichever occurs first.

Secretarial Amendment 2 (pdf - 1,970 kb) (2003)

Secretarial Amendment 2, including EA, RIR and RFA, was approved by NMFS on June 17, 2003. It sets MSY, OY, MFMT, and MSST levels for greater amberjack that are in compliance with the Sustainable Fisheries Act, and it establishes a ten-year rebuilding plan for greater amberjack based on three-year intervals. No specific management measures were proposed in this amendment, since the greater amberjack harvest is currently within the TAC specified for the first three-year interval.