The South Atlantic Bite
Newsworthy Notes – February 13th, 2025
Council Meeting March 3-7 in Jekyll Island, GA
Meeting available via webinar as it occurs
Members of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will meet the week of March 3-7, 2025 in Jekyll Island, Georgia to address federal fisheries issues. The meeting will be held at Villas by the Sea, 1175 Beachview Drive North and is open to the public. The meeting will also be available via webinar as it occurs.
The week-long Council meeting begins Monday, March 3rd with a meeting of the Snapper Grouper Commercial Subcommittee. The Council will also hold meetings of the following committees during the week: Habitat & Ecosystem; Snapper Grouper; Mackerel Cobia; Southeast Data Assessment and Review (SEDAR); and a joint meeting of the Habitat & Ecosystem and Shrimp Committees. There will also be meetings of the full Council during the week.
Public Comment
A public comment session on agenda items will be held on Wednesday, March 5th beginning at 4:00 p.m. and allow for in-person and remote (via webinar) verbal public comment. Written comments will also be accepted. Briefing book materials, including agendas, overviews, and public comment forms will be posted to the Council’s website on February 14, 2025.
Scientists Review Mutton Snapper and Yellowtail Snapper Stock Assessments
Members of the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will meet jointly with the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s SSC February 25-26, 2025 in Tampa, Florida. During the joint meeting, the SSC members will review review stock assessments for Mutton Snapper (SEDAR 79) and Yellowtail Snapper (SEDAR 96).
The SSCs will review the assessments for consistency with the best scientific information available, and recommend fishing levels based on the stock assessment. Results of the review will be provided to both the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council for future management decisions.
The meeting is open to the public and available via webinar. Additional information is available from the Council’s website. Learn more about the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee and its role in fisheries management.
Science and SEDAR
Learn more about data and information used in the management process
The Council is required to use the best scientific information available to develop fishery management plans and amendments. The Council considers models, evaluations, reports, datasets, comments from advisory panels, and public input to guide their science-based decisions.
Visit the Science and SEDAR page of the Council’s website to learn more about scientific information available for use by fishery managers, including the Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) cooperative process for conducting stock assessments, ecosystem models, management strategy evaluations, and Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) Reports. The web page also includes the Council’s Research and Monitoring Prioritization Plan for 2023-2027 with priorities for research needs for stock assessments, and research and monitoring needs for managed areas, habitat, and the Council’s Citizen Science Program.
Partnerships are essential in providing information used in making management decisions, including both state and federal programs. The web page provides access to these partners and available resources.
FISHstory Citizen Science Project Continues to Expand
Every picture tells a story. The Council’s FISHstory Citizen Science project uses historic dock photos from the 1940s-1980s, before fisheries monitoring began, to better inform historic recreational data used in stock assessments and help better understand fisheries from the past and present.
Project components include digitizing and archiving historic fishing photos, estimating for-hire catch composition using the online crowdsourcing platform Zooniverse, and developing a method to estimate fish length and size composition for key species. The project continues to expand with over 600 new images scanned and digitized in 2023 and 2024, and 4,000 plus volunteers involved in analyzing photos through Zooniverse.
FISHstory began in 2019, primarily with contributions of photos by Rusty Hudson, a fisherman with generational family ties to the for-hire and commercial fisheries in the Daytona Beach area. Since that time, the project has expanded to include photos from the Carolinas to the Florida Keys.
A recent article in the Moultrie News highlights the project and the involvement of Captain Chuck Griffin, a Charleston, SC area charter captain and member of the Council’s Mackerel Cobia Advisory Panel. With over 30 years of experience fishing in nearshore and offshore waters, Captain Griffin donated his fishing photos from the 1980s. “We used to think we could never make a dent on anything in the ocean, but now we know we can,” explained Griffin. “It’s nice to see that something I did may have made an impact on something I love so much.”
Interested in getting involved in FISHstory or providing historic fishing photos? Contact Julia Byrd, Citizen Science Program Manager at Julia.Byrd@safmc.net.
Additional Snippets:
Reminder: NOAA Fisheries In-Person Public Hearings for Proposed Red Snapper Management Measures Continue
NOAA Fisheries is currently soliciting public comment on proposed management measures to end and prevent overfishing of Red Snapper while increasing landed catch by reducing the number of dead discards. The measures, including a proposed discard reduction season in northeast Florida for the recreational sector, are being proposed through Secretarial Amendment 59 to the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan.
In-person public hearings for Secretarial Amendment 59 will be held Monday, February 24 in Jacksonville, FL, and Tuesday, February 25th and Cocoa Beach, FL, and conclude with a hearing on March 5th in Jekyll Island, GA. NOAA Fisheries is accepting online comments for the Amendment and Proposed Rule through March 17, 2025. See the NOAA Fisheries website for additional details.
Right Whales Face Uncertain Future, But Research Continues
Whale watching as a tourist activity is pure exhilaration. As research work, it’s a near-daily grind of tedium and harsh conditions punctuated by danger. Follow scientists from the GA Department of Natural Resources on a day-long survey for North Atlantic right whales off the Georgia coast in this recent story from The Current. The story also includes a Photo Essay that provides a rare up-close view of these bus-sized beasts and the people studying them.
Mark Your Calendar
Keep track of meetings scheduled by the Council from the Meetings page of the website and register for meeting webinars as information becomes available. Register early and receive email reminders as the meeting date(s) approach!
February 25-26, 2025
Joint South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Scientific and Statistical Committee
Tampa, FL