Regulatory Amendment to the Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan to Set TotalAllowable Catch and Management Measures for Red Snapper for the 2000 and 2001 Seasons

摘要

Red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico are classified as an overfished stock.Currently, the Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) requires that overfished stocks be restored to a level of 20 percent transitional spawning potential ratio (SPR) within one and a half generation times. (A generation time is the average time it would take a year class in an unfished population to replace itself.) Consequently, the red snapper recovery program, which began in 1989, is under a management program to restore the stock to 20 percent transitional SPR by 2019. New target and recovery time frame parameters are in the process of being revised to comply with the requirements of the Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996 (SFA), but have not yet been implemented. Therefore, the 20 percent SPR by 2019 target remains in effect as the basis for setting management measures in 2000. Stock assessments are periodically conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on red snapper and other species that are in need of management to prevent overfishing from occurring or to recover from an overfished state.