South Atlantic Fishery Management Council

The South Atlantic Bite

Black sea bass held with mouth open and stomach protruding. A sign of barotrauma.

Public Comments Solicited on Proposed Management Measures for Black Sea Bass

The Council is currently soliciting public input on management options proposed for Black Sea Bass in federal waters off the South Atlantic. The proposed changes are in response to the latest stock assessment for Black Sea Bass. Amendment 56 to the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan would revise catch levels, revise status determination criteria, consider options to revise current allocations between recreational and commercial sectors, and potentially include other measures. 

An online presentation and public comment form for Snapper Grouper Amendment 56 is available from the Council’s website. Comments will be accepted through February 6, 2025.


Request for Proposals: Recreational Attitudes and Preferences in the South Atlantic Snapper Grouper Fishery

The Council is seeking proposals for a project to collect attitude and preference data from private recreational fishermen that target species in the snapper grouper management complex. The Snapper Grouper Management Plan includes 55 species of snappers, groupers,sea bass, amberjack, grunts, porgies and more.

While these species are highly desirable, the attitudes and preferences of private recreational anglers on how these species should be managed is not well understood. Improving this understanding is crucial to effective management. Therefore the Council is seeking proposals for a project to fill this information gap and use it to develop stakeholder-informed management strategies that will be evaluated through the Council’s ongoing Snapper Grouper Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE)

Additional information is available from the Council’s website. The proposal submission deadline is February 24, 2025.


NOAA Fisheries Submits Two Modern Fish Act Reports to Congress Addressing Recreational Data Collection

NOAA Fisheries recently announced the completion of two biennial reports to Congress, as required by the Modern Fish Act. The first biennial report provides an update on progress made toward the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s 28 recommendations outlined in the 2017 independent review of the Marine Recreation Information Program (MRIP). NOAA Fisheries has addressed or is actively addressing all recommendations, including improving recreational fishing data collection, estimation methods and data quality.

The second biennial report submitted to Congress was developed in consultation with state partners and regional fisheries information networks and provides a progress update on MRIP’s 2021 “Plan for State Partnerships”, which details best practices for administering and improving state-federal recreational fishing data collection partnership programs.

Learn more about the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) and how recreational data are collected.

gaffing a dolphin

Additional Snippets:

Reminder: NOAA Fisheries’ In-Person Public Hearings for Proposed Red Snapper Management Measures in the South Atlantic Begin this Week

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 begin this week in NC and SC, continue February 24 in Jacksonville, FL, February 25th in 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.

Are you Eating U.S. Wild-Caught Shrimp? New Study Found that 96% of Shrimp Consumers Were Misled by Restaurants

Shrimp consumers are being misled on a massive scale. That’s according to the recent news release from the Southern Shrimp Alliance, an organization of shrimp fishermen, processors, and other industry members. Using genetic testing, a consulting company found that 96% of restaurants randomly selected in the Tampa/St. Pete Florida area imply they use local, wild-caught shrimp while serving foreign, farm-raised shrimp. Only two of the 44 restaurants selected actually served local shrimp. Learn more about the study and efforts underway to combat shrimp-fraud. Local news coverage.


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

Meeting Information

March 3-7, 2025

Council Meeting

Jekyll Island, GA

Meeting Information

March 11, 2025

Citizen Science Projects Advisory Panel

Via webinar

Meeting Information

March 31 – April 1, 2025

Mackerel Cobia Advisory Panel

Meeting Information

April 2-3, 2025

Snapper Grouper Advisory Panel

Meeting Information