Generic Sustainable Fisheries Act Amendment.

This generic Amendment to all seven Fisheries Management Plans for specific fisheries (Stone Crab, shrimp, Spiny Lobster, Coastal Migratory Pelagic Resources, Coral and Coral Reef, Red Drum and Reef Fish) of the Gulf of Mexico and partly in the South Atlantic addresses principally the new provisions of Section 303(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, with the exception of the provision for identifying and describing essential fish habitat, which is addressed in a separate generic amendment to the FMPs listed above. In addressing the new provisions of the Act, the Council finds that the management measures of all of its FMPs are already in compliance with most of the new provisions. The principal changes to the FMPs relate to specification of overfishing criteria and rebuilding periods, and of bycatch measures. The amendment section on overfishing criteria and rebuilding periods serves two purposes. For those stocks that National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) identified as overfished in 1997, the amendment includes management measures to restore those stocks and specific rebuilding periods based on the current criteria specified in each FMP as provided for in Section 304(e) of the Act. The section also specifies new overfishing criteria and rebuilding schedules based on the guidelines for National Standard 1 as set forth in 50 CFR 600.310. These new criteria will serve as the basis for the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) to judge whether additional stocks should be classified as overfished or approaching an overfished state. Should the Secretary reach that conclusion, as provided for in Section 304(e), he or she will immediately notify the Council and request that action be taken to end overfishing by subsequent amendment, based on the new criteria approved in this Amendment.