Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; Reef Fish Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico; Red Grouper Management Measures

NMFS issues this final rule to implement the management actions described in a regulatory amendment to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP) prepared by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council). This final rule increases the 2011 commercial quota for red grouper, and thereby increases the 2011 commercial quota for shallow water grouper (SWG), sets the commercial quota for red grouper and SWG from 2012 to 2015 and subsequent fishing years, and increases the red grouper recreational bag limit from two to four fish within the current four-fish grouper aggregate bag limit. The increase in the recreational bag limit will allow the recreational sector to more effectively harvest the increase in the recreational allocation established in the regulatory amendment. The intended effect of this final rule is to help prevent overfishing of red grouper while achieving optimum yield (OY) by increasing the red grouper harvest consistent with the findings of the recent 2010 re-run of the stock assessment for this species using updated information.