1 GULF OF MEXICO FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCIL 2 3 263RD MEETING 4 5 FULL COUNCIL SESSION 6 7 Hyatt Regency Birmingham Birmingham, Alabama 8 9 10 APRIL 5-6, 2017 11 12 VOTING MEMBERS 13 Kevin Anson...............................................Alabama 14 Leann Bosarge.........................................Mississippi 15 Patrick Banks...........................................Louisiana 16 Doug Boyd...................................................Texas 17 Roy Crabtree..................NMFS, SERO, St. Petersburg, Florida 18 Pamela Dana...............................................Florida 19 Dale Diaz.............................................Mississippi 20 Tom Frazer................................................Florida 21 Johnny Greene.............................................Alabama 22 Martha Guyas (designee for Nick Wiley)....................Florida 23 Kelly Lucas (designee for Jamie Miller)...............Mississippi 24 Campo Matens............................................Louisiana 25 Lance Robinson (designee for Robin Riechers)................Texas 26 John Sanchez..............................................Florida 27 Greg Stunz..................................................Texas 28 Ed Swindell.............................................Louisiana 29 David Walker..............................................Alabama 30 31 NON-VOTING MEMBERS 32 Dave Donaldson..............................................GSMFC 33 Leo Danaher..................................................USCG 34 35 STAFF 36 Steven Atran.............................Senior Fishery Biologist 37 Matt Freeman............................................Economist 38 John Froeschke.....................Fishery Biologist-Statistician 39 Douglas Gregory................................Executive Director 40 Karen Hoak...................Administrative & Financial Assistant 41 Morgan Kilgour..................................Fishery Biologist 42 Ava Lasseter.......................................Anthropologist 43 Mara Levy....................................NOAA General Counsel 44 Emily Muehlstein.......................Public Information Officer 45 Bernadine Roy......................................Office Manager 46 Camilla Shireman.........................Administrative Assistant 47 Carrie Simmons....................................Deputy Director 48 1 1 OTHER PARTICIPANTS 2 Kirk Abernathy.....................................Birmingham, AL 3 Greg Abrams.......................................Panama City, FL 4 Andreas Anastassakis.................................Bessemer, AL 5 Bill Arant.........................................Birmingham, AL 6 Darrel Arnold......................................Birmingham, AL 7 Roger Ball.........................................Birmingham, AL 8 Scott Bannon....................Alabama Marine Resources Division 9 Avery Bates..............Organized Seafood Association of Alabama 10 Dean Blanchard.....................................Grand Isle, LA 11 Randy Boggs......................................Orange Beach, AL 12 Ryan Bradley..............Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United 13 Eric Brazer.......................Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance 14 David Campbell.....................................Birmingham, AL 15 Shane Cantrell................................................CFA 16 Ted Childress......................................Birmingham, AL 17 Chris Conklin...............................................SAFMC 18 Russell Cunningham.................................Birmingham, AL 19 Scott Dagget....................................Madeira Beach, FL 20 Jason Delacruz.................................................FL 21 Tim Essington................................Lenfest, Seattle, WA 22 Price Evans...................................................... 23 Tracy Floyd......................................MDMR, Biloxi, MS 24 Susan Gerhart................................................NMFS 25 Buddy Guindon.......................................Galveston, TX 26 Ken Haddad................................................ASA, FL 27 Scott Hickman.......................................Galveston, TX 28 Tom Hilton.............................................Arcola, TX 29 Alison Johnson.............................................Oceana 30 Bill Kelly..............................................FKCFA, FL 31 Bobby Kelly......................................Orange Beach, AL 32 Randy Lauser..............................SOFA, Madeira Beach, FL 33 Richard Lewis......................................Birmingham, AL 34 Joe Nash.........................................Orange Beach, AL 35 Bart Niquet.......................................Panama City, FL 36 Chris Niquet......................................Panama City, FL 37 Bill Owens..........................................Galveston, TX 38 Wiley Parks........................................Montgomery, AL 39 Clay Porch..................................................SEFSC 40 David Rainer..............................................AL DCNR 41 Mike Rowell......................................Orange Beach, AL 42 Lee Shook..........................................Birmingham, AL 43 Jay Skinner........................................Birmingham, AL 44 Robert Spaeth.............................SOFA, Madeira Beach, FL 45 Bill Staff.......................................Orange Beach, AL 46 Mike Thierry...................................Dauphin Island, AL 47 Skipper Thierry................................Dauphin Island, AL 48 Mark Tryon........................................Gulf Breeze, FL 2 1 Russell Underwood.................................Panama City, FL 2 Thao Vu............MS Coalition for Vietnamese-American Fishermen 3 Stewart Webb.......................................Birmingham, AL 4 Bubba Wells........................................Birmingham, AL 5 Wayne Werner..........................................Alachua, FL 6 Johnny Williams.....................................Galveston, TX 7 David Williamson...................................Birmingham, AL 8 Dale Woodruff....................................Orange Beach, AL 9 10 - - - 11 3 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 3 Table of Contents................................................4 4 5 Table of Motions.................................................5 6 7 Call to Order, Announcements, and Introductions..................9 8 9 Adoption of Agenda and Approval of Minutes.......................10 10 11 Review of Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) Applications, if any ....11 12 13 Presentations....................................................11 14 Lenfest Ecosystem Task Force................................11 15 Alabama Law Enforcement Presentation........................24 16 17 Committee Reports................................................39 18 Administrative/Budget Committee Report......................39 19 Law Enforcement Committee Report............................40 20 Sustainable Fisheries Committee Report......................42 21 22 Public Comment...................................................50 23 24 Committee Reports (continued) ...................................107 25 Shrimp Committee Report.....................................107 26 Data Collection Committee Report............................110 27 Spiny Lobster Committee Report..............................125 28 Joint Coral/Habitat Protection & Restoration Report.........126 29 Reef Fish Committee Report..................................131 30 31 Supporting Agencies Update.......................................202 32 U.S. Coast Guard............................................202 33 SAFMC.......................................................204 34 Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission.....................205 35 36 Other Business...................................................206 37 Discussion of Pending Meeting with State Officials..........206 38 Discussion of Referendum....................................207 39 Discussion of Recreational Ad Hoc AP Meeting................208 40 41 Adjournment......................................................211 42 43 - - - 44 4 1 2 TABLE OF MOTIONS 3 4 PAGE 39: Motion to accept the revised language as stated in the 5 SOPPs. 6.4 Check Signatures: All checks issued will bear two 6 authorizing signatures, these signatures being two of either: 7 the Administrative Officer, the Executive Director, or the 8 Deputy Executive Director. All checks processed through 9 accounts payable for amounts greater than $5,000 must be 10 manually signed. The motion carried on page 40. 11 12 PAGE 42: Motion to instruct staff to develop an action to 13 require either descending devices or venting tools onboard 14 vessels possessing reef fish to reduce discard mortality. The 15 motion carried on page 45. 16 17 PAGE 108: Motion that the Texas closure out to 200 miles run 18 concurrent with the date the State of Texas recommends for the 19 2017 shrimp season. The motion carried on page 108. 20 21 PAGE 108: Motion to approve Shrimp Amendment 17B and that it be 22 forwarded to the Secretary of Commerce for review and 23 implementation, and deem the codified text as necessary and 24 appropriate, giving staff editorial license to make the 25 necessary changes in the document. The Council Chair is given 26 the authority to deem any changes to the codified text as 27 necessary and appropriate. The motion carried on page 110. 28 29 PAGE 125: Motion to make Alternative 2 the preferred 30 alternative in Action 2. Alternative 2 is prohibit the use of 31 traps for recreational