September 2, 2025 — The Gulf Council has recommended roughly halving the total allowable catch of deep-water grouper species in the Gulf of Mexico, currently referred to as the Gulf of America by the U.S. federal government, with most of the catch allocated to the commercial sector.
The deep-water category covers four grouper species – warsaw grouper, snowy grouper, yellowedge grouper, and speckled hind – with a single annual catch limit. For more than a decade, the complex has operated under a commercial quota of 1,024,000 gutted weight (GW) pounds.