June 29, 2022 — NOAA Fisheries approved new criteria to inform Gulf of Mexico reef fish and red drum management, changing Amendments 48 and 5 for the respective fishery management plans.
Earlier this year NOAA Fisheries requested comments on new criteria used to inform Gulf of Mexico reef fish and red drum management. On March 2022, announcing the request, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council recommended these criteria changes for two amendments, Amendment 48 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico and Amendment 5 to the FMP for the Red Drum Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico (Amendments 48/5).
According to NOAA Fisheries, “Amendment 48 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico and Amendment 5 to the FMP for the Red Drum Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico (Amendments 48/5) were developed to establish or modify maximum sustainable yield (MSY) proxies, overfishing and overfished determination criteria called maximum fishing mortality thresholds (MFMTs), and minimum stock size thresholds (MSSTs), respectively, and optimum yield (OY) for some reef fish species and red drum.”
Plans and regulations are reviewed annually
The agency adds that “Status determination criteria are the MSY, MFMT, and MSST and are measurable and objective values or proxies that are used to determine if overfishing has occurred, or if the stock or stock complex is overfished. Overfishing means too many fish are being harvested from a population and overfished means that the population is too low.” Follow the link to download a Status Determination Criteria Infographic published by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.