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The Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Division has introduced there will likely be one other interim measure on the gag grouper leisure season this week. The leisure season this yr was already a shorter season after NOAA Fisheries had delayed the opening of the season from the unique June 1st to September 1st. The measure is the early closure of gag grouper harvest in federal waters within the Gulf of Mexico at 12:01 a.m., native time, on October 19, 2023. This cuts the season brief from the initially deliberate finish on November 10, 2023.
After the closure goes into impact on October nineteenth, the federal gag grouper leisure season will keep closed for the rest of 2023 and on till it reopens in 2024. The early closure is because of preliminary experiences to NOAA Fisheries of higher-than-expected catches of gag grouper. With these charges, the NOAA projections say that the annual catch restrict of 403,759 kilos will likely be reached on October 19, 2023, therefore the early closure announcement.
Key Messages of Gag Grouper Federal Season Closure:
- What/When/The place – Leisure harvest of gag in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) will shut at 12:01 a.m., native time, on October 19, 2023.
- Gag leisure harvest will likely be closed till the 2024 fishing season opens.
- Interim measures to scale back overfishing of gag said that the leisure season would start on September 1, 2023, and finish on November 10, 2023, until NOAA Fisheries tasks that the gag leisure annual catch restrict could be met earlier than that date.
- Projections of leisure catch and energy information point out the leisure Gulf gag annual catch restrict of 403,759 kilos gutted weight will likely be reached on October 19, 2023.
- Preliminary experiences point out excessive catch charges of gag this yr, partly due to adjustments within the season begin from June 1 to September 1.
- In accordance with the laws, NOAA Fisheries should shut harvest when the leisure annual catch restrict has been met or is projected to be met.
- Shortening the season may additionally mitigate the potential for a quota overage, which might lead to a discount within the annual catch restrict, annual catch goal, and season size for the 2024 gag leisure season.
- Throughout the leisure closure, the bag and possession restrict is zero for gag in or from federal waters of the Gulf.
- The prohibition on possession of Gulf gag additionally applies in Gulf state waters for a vessel issued a legitimate federal constitution vessel/headboat allow for Gulf reef fish.
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