Options Paper Public Hearing Draft: Amendment 2 to the Fishery Management Plan for Shallow-Water Reef Fish of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Caribbean Fishery Management Council

The Fishery Management Plan for the Shallow-Water Reef Fish Fishery of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (FMP), prepared by the Caribbean Fishery Management Council (Council) under the authority of the Magnuson Act, became effective in September 1985. The FMP established a management program for shallow-water reef fish resources within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Council's area of jurisdiction. Because the preponderance of fishery resources occur in waters under the authority of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the management program was extended to the shoreline with agreement that the island governments would adopt compatible regulations. Some regulations are yet to be fully implemented. The actions proposed in Amendment 2 address continuing and growing concerns by the council over scarce resources, the need to protect important species when they aggregate for spawning, and the need to extend protection to other reef-associated species not presently in the management unit. Of some 350 species of shallow-water reef fish in the Caribbean, about 180 are landed throughout the region and collectively comprise the most important fishery in the islands. The management unit currently includes the 64 most commonly landed species that dominate the catch from the shoreline to the edge of the insular platform. At greater depths at the edge of the platform, another fishery occurs -- the deep-water reef fish fishery.