Tab N, No. 4 5/25/2017 Coral Habitat Areas Considered for Management in the Gulf of Mexico Draft Options for Amendment 9 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Coral and Coral Reefs of the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. Waters May 2017 This is a publication of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council Pursuant to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Award No. NA15NMF4410011. This page intentionally left blank Gulf of Mexico Coral Amendment 9 Responsible Agencies: National Marine Fisheries Service Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management (Lead Agency) Council Southeast Regional Office 2203 North Lois Avenue, Suite 1100 263 13th Avenue South Tampa, Florida 33607 St. Petersburg, Florida 33701 813-348-1630 727-824-5305 813-348-1711 (fax) 727-824-5308 (fax) http://www.gulfcouncil.org http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov Contact: Morgan Kilgour Contact: Cynthia Meyer [email protected] [email protected] Type of Action ( ) Administrative ( ) Legislative (X) Draft ( ) Final Coral Amendment 9 i Coral Protection Areas ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS DOCUMENT ACL annual catch limit ACT annual catch target AM accountability measure AP advisory panel CIOERT NOAA Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research and Technology Council Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council DSCRTP NOAA Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program EA Environmental Assessment EEZ exclusive economic zone EFH Essential Fish Habitat EIS Environmental Impact Statement ELB electronic logbook FAC Florida Administrative Code Federal shrimp permit federal commercial Gulf shrimp moratorium permit FGBNMS Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary FKNMS Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary FMP Fishery Management Plan FMU fishery management unit FWC Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission GMFMC Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council Gulf Gulf of Mexico HAPC habitat area of particular concern IPT interdisciplinary plan team Magnuson-Stevens Act Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act MFMT maximum fishing mortality threshold MSST minimum stock size threshold MSY maximum sustainable yield nm nautical mile NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration OFL overfishing limit OY optimum yield ROV remotely operated vehicle SEIS Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement SERO Southeast Regional Office of NMFS SSC Scientific and Statistical Committee South Atlantic Council South Atlantic Fishery Management Council USGS United States Geological Survey VMS vessel monitoring systems WFS West Florida Shelf Coral Amendment 9 ii Coral Protection Areas TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations Used in this Document ............................................................................................ ii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. iv List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. v Fishery Impact Statement .............................................................................................................. vi Chapter 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Purpose and Need ................................................................................................................. 1 1.3 History of Management ........................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2. Management Alternatives ............................................................................................ 6 2.1 Action 1. Incorporation of deep-water octocoral species into the fishery management unit (FMU) ................................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Action 2. Establish management benchmarks for octocoral species. ................................ 12 2.3 Action 3. Modify existing HAPC boundary for regulations in Pulley Ridge ................... 14 2.4 Action 4. New Areas for HAPC Status in the Southeastern Gulf of Mexico .................... 21 2.5 Action 5. New Areas for HAPC Status in the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico .................... 25 2.6 Action 6. New Areas for HAPC Status in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico ................... 33 2.7 Action 7. New Areas for HAPC Status in the Southwestern Gulf of Mexico ................... 37 2.8 Action 8. New areas for HAPC status not recommended to have fishing regulation ....... 41 2.9 Action 9. Prohibit dredging in all Existing HAPCS That have Fishing Regulations ........ 49 Chapter 3. References .................................................................................................................. 50 Appendix A. Coral Working Group Summary ............................................................................ 54 Appendix B. Depth Charts for Gulf Octocorals ........................................................................... 60 Coral Amendment 9 iii Coral Protection Areas LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1.1. Areas identified as priority for HAPC consideration in the Gulf of Mexico. ........... 3 Table 1.1.2. Existing National Marine Sanctuaries, Marine Reserves, and HAPCs in the Gulf. 1 Table 2.1.1 Depth range of octocorals in the Gulf of Mexico as reported by the NOAA Deep-sea coral database. ................................................................................................................................. 7 Table 2.1.2. Historic number of octocoral colonies commercially harvested, average price per colony, annual estiamted value, and fishery participants as reported to the FWC from 2011 through 2016. ................................................................................................................................ 10 Table. 2.1.3. Commercial octocoral harvest in 2015, by region, as reported to the FWC. ......... 10 Table 2.3.1. Sites proposed in Action 3 for Pulley Ridge with the area of each proposed alternative. ..................................................................................................................................... 16 Table 2.4.1. Sites proposed in Action 4 for Long Mound, Many Mounds and North Reed with the area of each proposed alternative. ........................................................................................... 22 Table 2.5.1. Sites proposed in Action 5 for the northeastern HAPCs with the area of each proposed alternative. ..................................................................................................................... 29 Table 2.6.1. Sites proposed in Action 5 for the proposed HAPCs AT 047, AT 357, and Green Canyon 852 with the area of each proposed alternative. .............................................................. 34 Table 2.7.1. Sites proposed in Action 7 for the proposed HAPCs Harte Bank and Southern Bank with the area of each proposed alternative. ................................................................................... 38 Table 2.8.1. Sites proposed in Action 5 for the proposed deep-water HAPCs in Action 8 with the area of each proposed alternative. ........................................................................................... 43 Coral Amendment 9 iv Coral Protection Areas LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1.1. The four quadrants used to divide the Gulf for Actions 3-7. ................................... 6 Figure 2.3.1. The existing Pulley Ridge North HAPC, Pulley Ridge South HAPC (with regulations), and the recommended expansion of Pulley Ridge South, labeled Pulley Ridge South Portion A. ...................................................................................................................................... 14 Figure 2.3.2. The random 1 km (approximately 0.5 nm) blocks surveyed with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) during 2012-2015 R/V Walton Smith cruises at Pulley Ridge (figure from Reed et al. 2017). ................................................................................................................................... 18 Figure 2.3.3. VMS data overlaid on the existing and proposed expansions of Pulley Ridge. .... 20 Figure 2.4.1. Fishing data overlaid on the proposed HAPCs Long Mound, North Reed, and Many Mounds. .............................................................................................................................. 23 Figure 2.5.1. VMS data overlaid on the proposed HAPCs Mississippi Canyon 118, Viosca Knoll 862/906, Alabama Alps Reef, Viosca Knoll 826, L&W Pinnacles and Scamp Reef, and Roughtongue Reef. ....................................................................................................................... 28 Figure 2.5.2. ELB data overlaid on the proposed HAPCs Mississippi Canyon 118, Viosca Knoll 862/906, Alabama Alps Reef, Viosca Knoll 826, L&W Pinnacles and Scamp Reef, and Roughtongue Reef. These data .................................................................................................... 29 Figure 2.6.1. Fishing data overlaid on the proposed HAPCs AT 047, AT 357, and Green Canyon 852. .................................................................................................................................. 36 Figure 2.7.1. VMS data overlaid