Regulatory Amendment 13 revises the acceptable biological catch estimates, annual catch limits (including sector annual catch limits), and recreational annual catch targets for 37 un-assessed snapper-grouper species.
The revisions incorporate updates to the recreational data for these species, as per the new Marine Recreational Information Programme, as well as revisions to commercial and for-hire landings.
Regulatory Amendment 13 is necessary to avoid triggering accountability measures for these snapper-grouper species based on annual catch limits that were established by the Comprehensive Annual Catch Limit Amendment in April 2012, using recreational data under the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey system.
NOAA Fisheries no longer uses the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey and now estimates recreational landings using the Marine Recreational Information Program.
The 37 species affected by Regulatory Amendment 13 are 31 species in the deepwater, jacks, snappers, grunts, shallow water groupers, and porgies complexes; as well as six individual stocks.
A listing of these species, and the revised values can be found by following the link below to Frequently Asked Questions.
