The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, during its August meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, elected a new Chair and Vice Chair for the 2012-2013 Council year.

Doug Boyd of Texas, who was appointed to the Council in 2010, was elected Chair. Kevin Anson was elected Vice-Chair.

10/25/2012 10:56 AM EDT

The Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in New Orleans authorized BP to proceed with a plan to cap and plug the containment dome.

In 2010, the 40-foot-tall containment dome was used as a part of an attempt to capture oil and allow it to flow through a pipe to a barge on the surface. The technique was unsuccessful and the equipment was moved away from the well head and riser and set in its current position approximately 500 meters from the original Macando well head.

In August, the Council directed staff to take draft Reef Fish Amendment 37 out for public hearings. See page 6 for hearing dates and locations. The latest stock assessment update for gray triggerfish indicates that the stock is both overfished (population too low) and experiencing overfishing (rate of removal too high). Because of this, the Council is working on an amendment that looks at modifying the rebuilding plan for gray triggerfish. The amendment also considers making changes to management measures that will allow the stock to rebuild as fishing continues.

The Council’s preferred alternatives so far are as follows:

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will convene a webinar of the Standing and Special Reef Fish Scientific and Statistical Committees (SSC).

DATES: The webinar will convene at 1 p.m. on Thursday, November 8, 2012 and will conclude approximately 5 p.m.

The meeting will be held via webinar and is accessible by computers (Windows or Mac), or by iPhone, iPad, or Android device with the GoToMeeting app available from the App Store or Google Play. A registration link to sign up for the webinar will be available on the Council Web site.

The Gulf Council will discuss this data reporting document at their meeting next week (October 29th at 10:30 AM for the Data Collection Committee) and (November 1 at 1:30 PM before the full council). 

Modifications to Federally-Permitted For-Hire Reporting Requirements Scoping Document The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) is considering alternatives that could change the method and frequency of fishery data reporting by charter and headboat fishermen. The Council is considering changes that could require electronic reporting for fishermen in the reef fish, red drum, spiny lobster, and coastal migratory pelagic fisheries. The Council recognizes that improving data reporting in these fisheries could reduce the chance that the ACLs are exceeded and AMs are triggered.

The recreational harvest season for gag grouper in most Gulf of Mexico waters and vermilion snapper in the Atlantic Ocean will close on Nov. 1. These closures are intended to reduce overfishing and increase the population of gag grouper and vermilion snapper.

The U.S. Coast Guard has matched samples of a recently detected oil sheen in the Gulf of Mexico to oil from BP’s infamous Macondo well. The site of the sheen is close to the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig.

The sheen was reported by BP in mid-September about 50 miles off of Louisiana. The coast guard has now confirmed that test samples indicate that the sheen correlates to oil that originated from BP's Macondo Well.

NMFS proposes to implement management measures described in Amendment 38 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP) prepared by the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) Fishery Management Council (Council). If implemented, this rule would modify post-season accountability measures (AMs) that affect shallow-water grouper species (SWG), change the trigger for AMs, and revise the Gulf reef fish framework procedure. The intent of this proposed rule is to achieve optimum yield (OY) while ensuring the fishery resources are utilized efficiently.

Written comments must be received on or before November 19, 2012.

NMFS issues this final rule to implement management measures described in Amendment 34 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP) prepared by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council). This rule removes the income qualification requirements for renewal of Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) commercial reef fish permits and increases the maximum crew size to four for dual-permitted vessels (i.e. vessels that possess both a charter vessel/headboat permit for Gulf reef fish and a commercial vessel permit for Gulf reef fish) that are fishing commercially. The intent of this rule is to remove permit requirements that NMFS views as no longer applicable to current commercial fishing practices and to improve safety-at-sea in the Gulf reef fish fishery.

This rule is effective November 19, 2012.

Remote operated vehicles deployed from the offshore construction vessel Skandi Neptune collected oil samples on Wednesday (10-17-12) from the underwater site of the Deepwater Horizon incident to determine the source of a surface sheen discovered last month.

The samples were taken after the ROV video showed apparent oil globules leaking from the containment dome at approximately 15 globules per minute, which is estimated to be less than 100 gallons per day.