Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; Fisheries for Dolphin and Wahoo

Samenvatting

On June 23, 1999, NMFS, under authority granted to the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, designated the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) as the council with the administrative lead in jointly preparing and amending a dolphin, Coryphaena hippurus, and wahoo, Acanthocybium solanderi, Fishery Management Plan (FMP) with the Gulf of Mexico (GMFMC) and Caribbean (CFMC) Fishery Management Councils. The New England (NEFMC) and Mid-Atlantic (MAFMC) Fishery Management Councils already indicated their preference not to manage the stocks directly in their area of jurisdiction, but to limit their participation in such an FMP to an advisory capacity to the SAFMC. Because of continued logistic delays in finalizing and implementing the jointly developed dolphin and wahoo FMP, and because of identified problems specific to the fishery in the SAFMC's area of jurisdiction (the US. Atlantic coast), on July 16, 2002, the SAFMC requested that the Secretary allow the SAFMC to withdraw from joint preparation of a dolphin and wahoo FMP, and that the Secretary re-designate the SAFMC as lead for a dolphin and wahoo FMP encom