Proposed Rule2026-06392
Reef Fish Fishery of the Gulf of America; Amendment 62
Primary source
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Published
April 2, 2026
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
The Gulf Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 62 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf (FMP) (Amendment 62) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. If approved, Amendment 62 would, for Gulf of America (Gulf) red grouper, revise the catch limits and sector allocations. Additionally, Amendment 62 would remove the February 1 through March 31 shallow-water grouper (SWG) recreational seasonal closure in Gulf Federal waters seaward of the 20-fathom boundary. The purpose of Amendment 62 is to modify the catch limits and sector allocations of Gulf red grouper based on the best scientific information available, and to remove the recreational closed season for SWG seaward of the 20-fathom boundary.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 63 (Thursday, April 2, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 63 (Thursday, April 2, 2026)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 16623-16626]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-06392]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 622
RIN 0648-BO10
Reef Fish Fishery of the Gulf of America; Amendment 62
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Announcement of availability of fishery management plan
amendment; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Gulf Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 62 to the
Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf (FMP)
(Amendment 62) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. If
approved, Amendment 62 would, for Gulf of America (Gulf) red grouper,
revise the catch limits and sector allocations. Additionally, Amendment
62 would remove the February 1 through March 31 shallow-water grouper
(SWG) recreational seasonal closure in Gulf Federal waters seaward of
the 20-fathom boundary. The purpose of Amendment 62 is to modify the
catch limits and sector allocations of Gulf red grouper based on the
best scientific information available, and to remove the recreational
closed season for SWG seaward of the 20-fathom boundary.
DATES: Written comments on Amendment 62 must be received on or before
June 1, 2026.
ADDRESSES: A plain language summary of Amendment 62 is available at
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov/docket/NOAA-NMFS-2026-0991">https://www.regulations.gov/docket/NOAA-NMFS-2026-0991</a>. You may submit
comments on this document, identified by [NOAA-NMFS-2026-0991], by
either of the following methods:
<bullet> Electronic Submission: Submit comments electronically via
the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Visit <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and
type [NOAA-NMFS-2026-0991] in the Search box. Click on the ``Comment''
icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
<bullet> Mail: Send written comments to Daniel Luers, NMFS
Southeast Regional Office, 263 13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL
33701.
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 NMFS. All comments received are part of the
public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> 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. NMFS will accept anonymous
comments--enter ``N/A'' in the required fields if you wish to remain
anonymous.
An electronic copy of Amendment 62 is available from <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> or from the Southeast Regional Office website at:
<a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/amendment-62-gulf-red-grouper-management-measures">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/amendment-62-gulf-red-grouper-management-measures</a>. Amendment 62 includes an environmental assessment,
a Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)
[[Page 16624]]
analysis, regulatory impact review, and fishery impact statement.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel Luers, NMFS Southeast Regional
Office, telephone: 727-824-5305, or email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#460227282f232a680a33233435062829272768212930"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7531141b1c10195b3900100706351b1a14145b121a03">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Gulf reef fish fishery, which includes
red grouper, is managed under the FMP. The FMP was prepared by the
Council and NMFS, approved by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary),
and is implemented by NMFS through regulations at 50 CFR part 622 under
the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). The Magnuson-Stevens Act
requires each regional fishery management council to submit any FMP or
FMP amendment to the Secretary for review and approval, partial
approval, or disapproval. The Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that
NMFS, upon receiving an FMP or FMP amendment, publish an announcement
in the Federal Register notifying the public that the FMP or amendment
is available for review and comment.
Background
The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires NMFS and regional fishery
management councils to prevent overfishing and achieve, on a continuing
basis, the optimum yield (OY) from federally managed fish stocks. These
mandates are intended to ensure fishery resources are managed for the
greatest overall benefit to the Nation, particularly with respect to
providing food production, recreational opportunities, and protecting
marine ecosystems.
Unless otherwise noted, all weights in this notice are in pounds
(lb) gutted weight.
The current catch limits for red grouper were set in 2022 (87 FR
40742, July 8, 2022). The current Gulf red grouper overfishing limit
(OFL) and acceptable biological catch (ABC) are 5.99 million lb (2.72
million kilogram (kg)) and 4.96 million lb (2.25 million kg),
respectively. The total annual catch limit (ACL) is set equal to the
ABC, and is allocated 59.3 percent to the commercial sector and 40.7
percent to the recreational sector. This allocation was specified in
Amendment 53 to the FMP and is informed, in part, by Marine Recreation
Information Program--Fishing Effort Survey (MRIP-FES) recreational data
(84 FR 25573, May 2, 2022). The current maximum sustainable yield (MSY)
proxy for red grouper is based on the yield associated with a fishing
mortality rate (F) that would result in a spawning stock biomass (SSB)
of 30 percent of the spawning potential ratio
(SPR)(F<INF>30</INF><INF>%<INF>SPR</INF></INF>), where SPR is the ratio
of the SSB to its unfished state.
In 2025, the most recent stock assessment (Southeast Data,
Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) 88) was completed for red grouper. SEDAR
88 used updated recreational catch and effort data produced by the
Florida State Reef Fish Survey (SRFS). To obtain complete estimates of
recreational catch for the stock assessment, SRFS combined private
recreational landings and discard estimates with charter vessel catch
informed by estimates from MRIP-FES, as well as headboat catch informed
by the Southeast Region Headboat Survey. Thus, when ``SRFS'' is
referred to in this notice with respect to management of the red
grouper stock and SEDAR 88, it encompasses all of these sources of
recreational data combined. The stock assessment results indicated an
increase in the red grouper stock size relative to the previous
assessment (SEDAR 61, 2019). Based on its review of SEDAR 88, the
Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) determined that
the Gulf red grouper stock was not overfished or undergoing overfishing
and recommended increases to the OFL and ABC. However, because SEDAR 88
used different recreational data than the previous assessment, the
current and proposed catch limits are not directly comparable.
Based on the results of SEDAR 88 indicating the stock size has
increased, the Council requested that NMFS take emergency action (based
on social and economic justification) to increase the red grouper catch
limits for the 2025 fishing season (90 FR 37804, August 6, 2025).
Because initial projections from SEDAR 88 assumed that any management
action initiated by the Council would begin in 2027, the assessment
projections required updating to reflect management actions that would
begin in 2025. Using these updated projections, the Council's SSC
recommended an OFL of 10.64 million lb (4.83 million kg) and an ABC of
8.28 million lb (3.76 million kg).
The SSC's OFL recommendation is consistent with its recommendation
to change the current F<INF>MSY</INF> proxy of
F<INF>30</INF><INF>%<INF>SPR</INF></INF> to a more conservative
F<INF>40</INF><INF>%<INF>SPR</INF></INF>. The SSC concluded that
certain biological and ecological characteristics of red grouper are
present that indicate that more conservative management is appropriate.
For example, red grouper undergoes ontogenetic spatial shifts from
nearshore shallow habitats to offshore deep-water habitats; large
females transition to male based on environmental and social cues that
are not completely understood; and its propensity to create unique
habitats in the benthic substrate and territorial behavior may generate
a carrying capacity issue that limits available space for other red
grouper. The SSC determined that accounting for the complex life
history of red grouper is imperative when recommending the revised
F<INF>msy</INF> proxy and thus the OFL. The SSC has, in recent years,
recommended setting an MSY proxy of F<INF>40</INF><INF>%<INF>SPR</INF></INF>
for hermaphroditic groupers like gag, scamp and yellowmouth grouper,
and yellowedge grouper. Based on their recent management advice to the
Council for grouper species with similar life history characteristics
to red grouper, the SSC concluded that an
F<INF>40</INF><INF>%<INF>SPR</INF></INF> as the proxy for
F<INF>MSY</INF> was appropriate.
Commercial harvest of Gulf red grouper has been managed under the
Grouper-Tilefish Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program since the
program was implemented by Amendment 29 to the FMP in 2010 (74 FR
44732, August 31, 2009). The IFQ program serves as the commercial
accountability measure (AM) for red grouper. The commercial quota for
red grouper is set 5 percent less than the commercial ACL to allow for
multi-use allocation with gag to reduce discards and allow commercial
fishermen to better use the allocation they have in a given fishing
year. Red grouper multi-use allocation can be used to possess, land, or
sell red grouper after an IFQ account holder's (shareholder or
associated vessel accounts) red grouper allocation has been landed and
sold, or transferred; and to possess, land, or sell gag, only after
both gag and gag multi-use allocation have been landed and sold, or
transferred from all of the IFQ account holder's accounts. However, if
gag is under a rebuilding plan, the percentage of red grouper multi-use
allocation is equal to zero. Gag is currently under a rebuilding plan,
and thus red grouper multi-use allocation is currently set to zero.
The recreational sector is managed using an ACL and ACT, and both
in-season and post-season AMs. The in-season AM for red grouper
requires NMFS to close the recreational sector when red grouper
landings reach or are projected to reach the recreational ACL. If
landings exceed the red grouper ACL in a fishing year, the post-season
AM requires NMFS to maintain the recreational ACT and shorten the
duration of the following fishing year by the amount necessary to
ensure landings do not exceed the recreational ACT, unless NMFS
determines that managing
[[Page 16625]]
to the ACT in the following year is unnecessary. If red grouper is
overfished and landings exceed the recreational ACL, then both the
recreational ACL and ACT must be reduced in the following year by the
amount of the previous year's recreational overage. Amendment 62 would
not revise the recreational AMs.
Recreational harvest triggered in-season closures of the red
grouper recreational season in each year from 2021 through 2024. In
each of those 4 years, both the recreational ACT and ACL were exceeded,
resulting in implementation of the post-season AM in 3 of the 4
following years to shorten the red grouper season as required. The
post-season AM for the 2025 recreational season, which was triggered by
the 2024 overage of ACL, was not implemented because the emergency
action increased the red grouper catch limits.
For the commercial sector, the 5 percent buffer between the
commercial ACL and ACT, would be retained in Amendment 62 to account
for the gag multi-use allocation of the IFQ program. For the
recreational sector, Amendment 62 would maintain the current 9 percent
buffer between the recreational ACL and ACT that was set in Amendment
53. This recreational buffer would be maintained because the use of
more precise SRFS data to monitor recreational landings and the
substantial increase in the recreational ACL are expected to prevent
future recreational ACL overages.
In 2013, NMFS implemented a framework action under the FMP that
established the current SWG recreational seasonal closure (78 FR 33259,
June 4, 2013). The seasonal closure is the months of February and March
in Gulf Federal waters seaward of a line approximating the 20-fathom
boundary (50 CFR 622.34(d)). In the Gulf, the SWG species are gag, red
grouper, black grouper, scamp, yellowfin grouper, and yellowmouth
grouper. The closure was established to provide protection for spawning
SWG species in deeper Gulf waters while allowing recreational harvest
to occur shoreward of the 20-fathom boundary. Although Amendment 62
would eliminate this closure, all SWG species except red grouper have
other seasonal closure regulations in effect, or in development, which
are expected to prohibit their recreational harvest during February and
March beginning in 2027. Gulf gag has a recreational seasonal closure
in effect from January through August (50 CFR 622.34(e)). On March 18,
2026, NMFS published a proposed rule that would create a recreational
seasonal closure for black grouper, yellowfin grouper, scamp, and
yellowmouth grouper from January through June (91 FR 12989). If that
proposed rule is finalized, red grouper would be the only SWG species
expected to be affected by the removal of the current SWG recreational
seasonal closure. However, as described in Amendment 62, the current
seasonal closure may be redirecting red grouper recreational effort
inshore and therefore reducing the overall benefit of the closure to
the red grouper stock. Additionally, red grouper that are shoreward of
the current closure boundary are generally smaller in size and
therefore discards may be increased due to the red grouper minimum size
limit. The Council determined that is was appropriate to recommend
removal of the February through March recreational closure given the
increase to the stock size as indicated by SEDAR 88 and the increased
catch limits in Amendment 62.
Actions Contained in Amendment 62
Consistent with the best scientific information available,
Amendment 62 would, for Gulf red grouper, update the MSY proxy, the
OFL, the ABC, the sector allocations, and the catch limits for Gulf red
grouper. In addition, Amendment 62 would remove the SWG recreational
seasonal closure of February through March seaward of the 20-fathom
boundary.
MSY Proxy, OFL and ABC
Amendment 62 would revise the MSY proxy, OFL, and ABC for red
grouper based on the Council's SSC recommendations and consistent with
SEDAR 88. The MSY proxy would be defined as the yield at
F<INF>40</INF><INF>%<INF>SPR</INF></INF>. The OFL would be 10.64
million lb (4.83 million kg), and the ABC would be 8.28 million lb
(3.76 million kg). The total ACL would be 6.62 million lb (3.00 million
kg) in 2026 (80 percent of the ABC), 7.45 million lb (3.38 million kg)
in 2027 (90 percent of the ABC), and 8.28 million lb (3.76 million kg)
in 2028 and subsequent years (100 percent of the ABC). The Council
determined that a phase-in approach to increasing the total catch
limits over several years would be appropriate, as the SSC receives an
annual interim stock analysis for red grouper and could advise the
Council if the increases to the total ACL were no longer warranted.
Sector Allocations
Currently, the commercial sector is allocated 59.3 percent and the
recreational sector is allocated 40.7 percent of the total ACL based on
each sector's average landings from 1986 through 2005 (including MRIP-
FES recreational harvest estimates). Amendment 53 set this allocation
to maintain historical fishing practices by using the original
reference years (1986 through 2005) for red grouper landings but
updating the recreational landings from the MRIP-Coastal Household
Telephone Survey to the MRIP-FES dataset, in the stock assessment that
informed the catch levels in Amendment 53. Amendment 62 would update
the commercial-recreational allocation using the same reference period
(1986-2005), but based on SRFS estimated recreational harvest. This
results in a commercial allocation of 68.2 percent and a recreational
allocation of 31.8 percent of the total ACL. SRFS recreational landings
estimates are lower than those produced by MRIP-FES. Continuing with
the current allocation without accounting for the decrease in estimated
catch and effort associated with the change to SRFS from MRIP-FES would
result in a de facto reallocation from the commercial sector to the
recreational sector.
Catch Limits
Amendment 62 would increase the commercial ACL from 2.94 million lb
(1.33 million kg) to 4.51 million lb (2.05 million kg) for 2026, 5.08
million lb (2.30 million kg) for 2027, and 5.65 million lb (2.56
million kg) for 2028 and subsequent years. The commercial quota would
increase from 2.79 million lb (1.27 million kg) to 4.28 million lb
(1.94 million kg) for 2026, 4.83 million lb (2.19 million kg) for 2027,
and 5.37 million lb (2.44 million kg) for 2028 and subsequent years.
Amendment 62 would increase the recreational ACL from 2.02 million
lb (0.92 million kg) to 2.11 million lb (0.96 million kg) for 2026,
2.37 million lb (1.08 million kg) for 2027, and 2.63 million lb (1.19
million kg) for 2028 and subsequent years. The recreational ACT would
increase from 1.84 million lb (0.83 million kg) to 1.92 million lb
(0.87 million kg) for 2026, 2.16 million lb (0.98 million kg) for 2027,
and 2.39 million lb (1.08 million kg) for 2028 and subsequent years.
The current and proposed recreational catch limits are not directly
comparable because of the recreational datasets used in the prior and
current assessments, but the proposed catch limits are increases from
the current values.
SWG Recreational Seasonal Closure
Amendment 62 would remove the recreational seasonal closure from
February through March for SWG
[[Page 16626]]
species in Gulf Federal waters seaward of a line approximating the 20-
fathom boundary. Although Amendment 62 would eliminate this closure, as
previously noted, all SWG species except red grouper have other
seasonal closure regulations in effect or in development, which
prohibit their recreational harvest during this time period.
Proposed Rule for Amendment 62
A proposed rule to implement Amendment 62 has been drafted. In
accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Act, NMFS is evaluating the
proposed rule to determine whether it is consistent with the FMP, the
Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other applicable law. If that determination
is affirmative, NMFS will publish the proposed rule in the Federal
Register for public review and comment.
Consideration of Public Comments
The Council submitted Amendment 62 for review, approval, and
implementation by the Secretary. Comments on Amendment 62 must be
received no later than June 1, 2026. Comments received during the
respective comment periods, whether specifically directed to Amendment
62 or the proposed rule, will be considered by NMFS in the decision to
approve, partially approve, or disapprove, Amendment 62. Comments
received after the comment periods will not be considered by NMFS in
this decision. All comments received by NMFS on the amendment or the
proposed rule during their respective comment periods will be addressed
in the final rule.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: March 30, 2026.
David R. Blankinship,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-06392 Filed 4-1-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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