NOAA Fisheries has opened a public comment period on Amendment 62, a multi-year plan that would increase red grouper catch limits for the Gulf of Mexico by 53 percent in the first year.
At the same time, the Gulf Council is pushing forward with a follow-up plan that would establish a three-year pilot program that would set aside some of the commercial catch for the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program.
“The most recent stock assessment of Gulf red grouper found that catch limits could be increased substantially without harm to the stock,” NOAA Fisheries said in its announcement.
The 2025 stock assessment relied on the Florida State Reef Fish Survey (SRFS), which extrapolated from private recreational landings and discard estimates with charter vessel catch information, and showed that the stock was not overfished or subject to overfishing, according to the Gulf Council’s Scientific and Statistics Committee.
Under Amendment 62, the annual catch limit (ACL) for red grouper would increase every year from 2026 through 2028, as would the commercial quota. The plan sets an ACL of 6.62 million pounds gutted weight for 2026, with a corresponding commercial quota of 4.28 million pounds. That’s a 53 percent increase from the current commercial quota of 2.94 percent.
For 2027, the ACL would rise to 7.45 million pounds with a corresponding commercial quota of 4.83 million pounds. For 2028, the ACL would rise to 8.28 million pounds, while the commercial quota would rise to 5.37 million pounds.
Recreational annual catch targets would also rise each year, though the recreational sector’s share of the ACL would decrease from prior years. Previously, the recreational sector was allocated 40.7 percent of the ACL. Under Amendment 62, they would be limited to 31.8 percent of the total red grouper ACL.
NOAA Fisheries will accept public comments on Amendment 62 through 6 August.
However, further changers to the red grouper fishery are under consideration, with the Gulf Council taking final action on Amendment 63 at its June meeting.
Amendment 63 would create a three-year commercial quota pool that would be distributed to participants in the Grouper/Tilefish Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program. Under the program, 50 percent of the quota above 4.28 million pounds of gutted weight would be allocated to the pool. In alignment with the quotas laid out in Amendment 62, that would result in 275,000 pounds for the commercial quota pool in 2027 and 545,000 pounds for 2028 and 2029.
“Half of the quota pool would be distributed to active red grouper fishermen without red grouper shares and half would be distributed to active fishermen with red grouper shares,” the council said. “Allocation would be distributed proportionally based on red grouper landings within each pool. Annual allocation from the quota pool would be in a new allocation category and would be non-transferable.”
The Gulf Council said it would be transmitting the amendment to the Secretary of Commerce for consideration “as soon as practicable.”
