Amendment No. 8 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Spiny Lobster Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic.

This Amendment to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Spiny Lobster fishery in the U.S. Fishery Conservation Zone (FCZ) of the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic under the Jurisdiction of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council restricts imports of spiny lobster into the U.S. to minimum conservation standards in an effort to achieve an increase in the spawning biomass of the stock and increase long-term yields from the fishery. The major exporters to the United States are the Bahamas, Brazil, Honduras and Nicaragua. All of these exporting countries have some form of minimum size requirement, but they are not standardized and enforcement is severely lacking. Therefore, the NOAA Fisheries Service in coordination with the Caribbean, South Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Councils introduces minimum conservation standards on imports to curtail the flow of undersized lobster harvested in foreign countries.