Description: Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), as defined in Presidential Executive Order 13158, means any area of the marine environment that has been reserved by federal, state, territorial, tribal, or local laws or regulations to provide lasting protection for all or part of the natural and cultural resources therein. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) further defines marine protected areas within its jurisdiction as a network of specific areas of marine environments reserved and managed for the primary purpose of aiding in the recovery of overfished stocks and to insure the persistence of healthy fish stocks, fisheries, and habitats. Such areas may be over natural or artificial bottom and may include prohibition of harvest on a permanent or lesser time period to accomplish needed conservation goals. The SAFMC proposes nine management actions to amend the current Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The primary purpose of these actions is to employ a collaborative approach to identify Marine Protected Area (MPA) sites with the potential to protect a portion of the population and habitat of slow growing, long-lived deepwater snapper grouper species (speckled hind, snowy grouper, Warsaw grouper, yellowedge grouper, misty grouper, golden tilefish, and blueline tilefish) from directed fishing pressure to achieve a more natural sex ratio, age, and size structure within the proposed MPAs, while minimizing adverse social and economic impacts. Eight of the actions would establish Type 2 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs); one off southern North Carolina, three off South Carolina, one off Georgia, and three off Florida. The MPAs are intended to be used in concert with traditional management measures to enhance the optimum size, age, and genetic structure of slow growing, long-lived deepwater snapper grouper species. For the purposes of Amendment 14, the Council is proposing "Type 2" MPAs where no person may fish for a South Atlantic snapper grouper in an MPA and no person may possess a South Atlantic snapper grouper in an MPA. However, the prohibition on possession does not apply to a person aboard a vessel that is in transit with fishing gear appropriately stowed. The ninth action would prohibit use of shark bottom longlines in the Type 2 MPAs to protect deepwater species and their habitat.
More information is available at <http://www.safmc.net/MPAInformationPage/tabid/469/Default.aspx>
Description: Designation of an area as a SMZ allows for gear restrictions in the area to prevent overexploitation. Many of these areas have been established through cooperation with fishing organizations and local governments and serve as a means to promote localized conservation and positive fishing experiences. A total of 85 SMZs have been designated off North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
Copyright Text: NOAA Coastal Services Center, SAFMC, FWRI
Description: These data represent the geographic area described in Title 50 CFR Part 622.224 (b) (2), Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic, Subpart K— Coral, Coral Reefs, and Live/Hard Bottom Habitats of the South Atlantic Region, Area closures to protect South Atlantic corals, Oculina Bank Experimental Closed Area as of 1/29/14
Description: This GIS data set represents the use restrictions within Oculina Bank Habitat Area of Particular Concern (HAPC). On July 17, 2015, NMFS published a final rule in the Federal Register (80 FR 42423) to implement provisions for Amendment 8, that expands portions of the northern and western boundaries of the Oculina Bank HAPC and allows transit through the Oculina Bank HAPC by fishing vessels with rock shrimp onboard; modifies vessel monitoring systems (VMS) requirements for rock shrimp fishermen transiting through the Oculina Bank HAPC. https://federalregister.gov/a/2015-17617.The Amendment 8 final rule contained some incorrect waypoints for the Oculina Bank Habitat Area of Particular Concern (HAPC)(Oculina Bank HAPC) as well as incorrect language regarding the gear stowage requirements for vessels with rock shrimp onboard transiting through the Oculina Bank HAPC. https://federalregister.gov/a/2015-25488
Copyright Text: Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
Description: The Shrimp Fishery Access Areas will allow royal red shrimp fishing vessels with a rock shrimp limited access endorsement and equipped with an approved VMS to continue to operate in the historical royal red shrimp fishing areas without added costs.
Description: The Golden Crab Fishery Access Areas within the Deepwater Coral HAPCs will allow golden crab fishing vessels to continue to use presently allowed gear in their historic fishing areas.
Description: The Council’s Habitat and Coral Advisory Panels proposed these areas at the October 2004 meeting and the Council approved the proposal at their December 2004 meeting. Management measures proposed by the SAFMC to help protect these sensitive habitats received approval from NOAA Fisheries Service and the Secretary of Commerce and became effective July 22, 2010. Five areas, located off the southeastern coast of the U.S. and encompassing more than 23,000 square miles (about the size of the State of West Virginia) have been designated Coral Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (Coral HAPCs). The designation affords added protection to the areas that house an invaluable array of fish and invertebrate species, some of which may have biomedical applications in the treatment of human diseases.
Description: The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is establishing five snapper-grouper spawning SMZs in the South Atlantic off North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. This final rule prohibits fishing for or harvest of snapper-grouper species year-round in the spawning SMZs. The final rule establishes other restrictions in the spawning SMZs, including transiting with snapper-grouper species on board and anchoring.
Description: Commercial regulations of commonly caught South Atlantic Snapper Grouper Species. Red snapper, Nassau grouper, warsaw grouper, speckled hind, and goliath grouper remain closed to harvest or possession in South Atlantic federal waters. Updated August 31, 2018
Description: Summary of recreational regulations for the South Atlantic Snapper Grouper complex. Red snapper, Nassau grouper, warsaw grouper, speckled hind, and goliath grouper remain closed to harvest or possession in South Atlantic federal waters. Updated September1, 2018
Description: The restrictions for black sea bass pots, fish traps, roller rigs, octocoral harvest, spiny lobster closed areas, golden crab closed areas, pelagic sargassum harvest, and longline prohibited areas were combined into one feature class.
Description: These data represent the geographic area described in Title 50 CFR Part 622.182 (c), Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic, Subpart I—Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region, Gear restricted areas, Powerhead Prohibited Area as of 1/30/2014.
Name: Golden Crab Fishing Zones and Closed Fishery Management Areas
Display Field: FMC
Type: Feature Layer
Geometry Type: esriGeometryPolygon
Description: These data represent the geographic area described in Title 50 CFR Part 622, Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic, Subpart L - Golden Crab Fishery of the South Atlantic Region as of 1/22/14.
Description: These data represent the geographic area described in Title 50 CFR Part 622.182 (d) Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic, Subpart I—Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region, Gear restricted areas, Sea bass pot prohibited area as of 2/5/2014.
Description: These data represent the geographic area described in Title 50 CFR Part 622.182 (b) Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic, Subpart I—Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region, Gear restricted areas, Longline Prohibited Areas as of 1/23/2014.
Name: Pelagic Sargassum Habitat Area & Seasonal Restrictions
Display Field: AREA_NAME
Type: Feature Layer
Geometry Type: esriGeometryPolygon
Description: These data represent the geographic area described in Title 50 CFR Part 622.301 (a), Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic, Subpart N — Pelagic Sargassum Habitat of the South Atlantic Region, Area and seasonal restrictions, Pelagic sargassum area and seasonal restrictions as of 2/3/2014.
Name: Spiny LobsterTrap Gear Fishery Management Areas
Display Field: LOBSTER_ID
Type: Feature Layer
Geometry Type: esriGeometryPolygon
Description: These data represent the 50 CFR Part 640.22, Spiny lobster fishery of the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic as designated by Federal Register Vol. 77, No. 44168, July 27, 2012 (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-07-27/pdf/2012-18303.pdf). Rules and regulations following the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sf/pdfs/Final_Spiny_Lobster_Amend_11_April_05_2012.pdf.
Copyright Text: National Marine Fisheries Service, South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council