Emergency Action to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico: Modify the Greater Amberjack Recreational Fixed Closed Season

The temporary emergency rule would modify the greater amberjack recreational fixed closed season to be August 1 – 31 and November 1 – July 31 (open September 1 – October 31). This action is being taken in response to a request made by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) at its June 2022 meeting. The recreational fishing year is from August 1 through July 31, and the current recreational fixed closed season allows fishing from August through October and then in May. In response to the most recent greater amberjack stock assessment (SEDAR 70 2020), which determined that greater amberjack is not making adequate rebuilding progress and is still both overfished and experiencing overfishing, the Council requested that NOAA Fisheries implement an emergency rule to modify the 2022/2023 recreational fishing season to only be open in September and October of 2022. This rule is intended to reduce overfishing, reduce the probability of an annual catch limit overage and subsequent payback for the recreational sector, and reduce the severity of a postseason payback that could possibly prevent the recreational season from opening in the 2023/2024 fishing year while the Council develops long-term measures to end overfishing and rebuild the stock with Reef Fish Amendment 54. Further, current regulations do not allow the portion of an overage that could not be paid back in the following year to be carried over to the second year. The failure to reduce overfishing and mitigate for the entire overage of recreational harvest that is projected to occur in the 2022/2023 under the current fixed closed season would result in serious conservations issues to the greater amberjack stock and may prevent it from rebuilding by 2027.