Council Committees will convene Monday through Wednesday highlighting the agenda summarizes before The Ad Hoc Allocation Committee on Monday will review a list of draft allocation principles, which will serve as guidelines for possible future allocation actions. It is said that the Operator Permits Committee is developing a Generic Operator Permit Amendment and will review a draft scoping document that outlines possible management actions to provide an accurate means of identifying operators of commercial/charter/headboat vessels.
According to the Council on Monday there will be a Question and Answer Session and Public Hearing on the Aquaculture Fishery Management Plan (FMP), which is expected to be approved for submittal to the Secretary of Commerce during the full Council session. On Tuesday, the Reef Fish Management Committee will review and discuss recommendations by its Ad Hoc Recreational Red Snapper Advisory Panel (AP), which was created to assist the Council with improving the management of red snapper and minimizing bycatch in the private and for-hire recreational red snapper fisheries.
The Advisory Panel is schedule to meet on October 20 and 21, to further develop four of its prior 27 recommendations namely:
* Regional management of recreational red snapper fishing;
* Recreational reef fish permitting system with red snapper endorsement;
* Limited access privilege programs in the for-hire and private recreational sectors; and
* Catch cards and fish tag systems.
It is informed that the Reef Fish Management Committee will also hear an update on the ESA Biological Opinion regarding new sea turtle bycatch estimates. The Committee will review the final Aquaculture FMP. The FMP, which began as a Generic Aquaculture Amendment, has been under development for more than five years and will provide a regional permitting process for regulating aquaculture in the federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico to ensure such operations are environmentally sound, sustainable, and provide maximum benefits to the nation.
