Coral, Coral Reefs, and Live/Hardbottom Habitats of the South Atlantic and the Shrimp Fishery of the South Atlantic Region; Amendments 11/12
Key claim: If approved, NOAA would create a shrimp fishery access area along the eastern edge of the Oculina Bank coral protection zone so rock shrimp boats can trawl historic grounds again while trying to limit damage to deep-water corals.
Abstract
(Proposed Rule · Commerce Department, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 11 to the Fishery Management Plan for Coral, Coral Reefs, and Live/Hardbottom Habitats of the South Atlantic (Coral FMP) and Amendment 12 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Shrimp Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (Shrimp FMP; jointly Amendments 11/12) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. If approved, Amendments 11/12 would establish a shrimp fishery access area (SFAA) along the eastern boundary of the northern extension of the Oculina Bank Habitat Area of Particular Concern (OHAPC) where trawling for rock shrimp is currently prohibited. The purpose of Amendments 11/12 is to reinstate access to historic rock shrimp fishing grounds, achieve optimum yield (OY) in the rock shrimp fishery, while minimizing impacts to deep-water corals in the OHAPC.
Why this matters
The Oculina Bank off Florida is one of the few U.S. deep-water coral ecosystems with a long-standing trawl closure, and reopening even a narrow strip tests how NOAA balances habitat protection against access to historic fishing grounds. For the rock shrimp fleet it could restore commercially important area; for consumers and coral conservation the trade-off is incremental supply versus incremental habitat risk.