Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; Reef Fish Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico; Red Grouper Commercial Quota Holdback in the Gulf of Mexico

NMFS issues this temporary rule to withhold a portion of the red grouper commercial allocation for the 2022 fishing year in anticipation of an upcoming rulemaking that would, among other measures, reduce the commercial annual catch limit (ACL) and annual catch target (ACT) through Amendment 53 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP). This action would withhold the distribution of red grouper and gag multi-use individual fishing quota (IFQ) allocation on January 1, 2022, in the amount equal to the anticipated reduction in the allocation for shareholders in the groupers and tilefishes IFQ (GT-IFQ) program.