This emergency rule will be effective from May 18, 2009 through Ocotber 28, 2009. NOAA Fisheries Service has implemented this rule to minimse the sea turtle bycatch in the Gulf of Mexico bottom longline reef fish fishery. It is told that the rule will require the commercial reef fish longline fleet to fish seaward of a line approximating the 50-fathom contour in the Gulf of Mexico. Current regulations require this fleet to fish seaward of 20-fathoms.
This rule has been requested by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council after a NOAA observer study documented the reef fish longline fleet was incidentally catching and killing too many loggerhead sea turtles. It is true that this emergency rule is temporary and will primarily affect longline fishermen who target shallow-water grouper species, such as red grouper. It prohibits all reef fish longline fishing east of 85 degrees 30 minutes west longitude in the Gulf of Mexico after the quotas for deep water grouper and tilefish are reached.
Roy Crabtree, NOAA’s Fisheries Service southeast regional administrator, opined that the association is working closely with the council and constituents to find more permanent solutions to protect sea turtles affected by this fishing gear. It is said that loggerhead sea turtles are listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. NOAA’s Fisheries Service is implementing the emergency rule in accordance with both the Endangered Species Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
