According to GMFMC it will convene its Law Enforcement Advisory Panel (LEAP) at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel, 300 Bourbon Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. It is said that the Panel will discuss and review an emergency rule to reduce sea turtle interactions with reef fish longline gear. The rule proposes to close the bottom longline fishery in waters less than 50 fathoms for the entire eastern Gulf of Mexico and will become effective immediately upon implementation.
A 2006-2007 NOAA Fisheries Service report states that the number of threatened loggerhead sea turtles that have been caught in the bottom longline fishery has exceeded authorized levels, and the Endangered Species Act requires the Council to take immediate action to reduce sea turtle takes. The proposed temporary emergency rule will reduce the fishing impacts on this threatened species until the Gulf Council can further develop Amendment 31 to its Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan which will address the issue in the long term.
It is told that the LEAP will finally receive a report of the status of recently completed management actions and scheduled activities and possibly provide reports on individual state and federal law enforcement activities. The LEAP consists of principal law enforcement officers in each of the Gulf States, as well as the NMFS, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s General Counsel for law enforcement.
The council also said that the meeting is open to the public and is physically accessible to people with disabilities. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional fishery management councils established by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976.
