End of Year Reminders for Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program Participants in the Gulf of Mexico

Key Messages:

• NOAA Fisheries is sending this reminder to ensure IFQ participants are informed about end of year maintenance and restrictions and 2025 start of year information.
• This bulletin contains information on the 2025 IFQ quotas.
• This bulletin provides additional information on the IFQ system functions and requirements to ensure participants clearly understand how to participate in the program.

IFQ End of Year Maintenance Period and the 2025 Quotas:

What do I need to know about the end of year maintenance period? 

• NOAA Fisheries will shut down the Catch Shares online system for maintenance on December 31, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. EST.  Dealers and IFQ fishermen are reminded that all electronic transactions for the 2024 fishing year must be completed before this time. 
• Online IFQ functions will resume on January 1, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. EST. 
• You may still submit an advanced notice of landing during the 20-hour maintenance window by using your vessel monitoring system or by calling the 24/7 Call Service at (866) 425-7627 and selecting option 1.  However, only landing transactions completed prior to 6:00 p.m. EST, December 31, 2024, will count toward your 2024 allocation. 
• Please ensure any share transfers are completed before the online system maintenance outage (December 31, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. EST through January 1, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. EST).  Any transfers initiated by the transferor but not accepted by the transferee will be canceled and the shares will remain in the transferor’s account.

What happens to the unused allocation left in my account?

• Any allocation remaining in your shareholder or vessel accounts on December 31, 2024, at 6:00 p.m., EST, expires.  The system removes expired allocations from the shareholder and vessel accounts.

What else do I need to know about my 2025 allocation and allocation transfers?

• On January 1, 2025, the 2025 allocation will be issued to the shareholder accounts.  To use this allocation to harvest IFQ species, you must transfer sufficient allocation to your vessel account prior to completing a landing transaction.  To transfer allocation to your vessel account, log in to your shareholder account.  On the menu bar, select Allocation, then select Transfer Allocation and follow the instructions.
• When transferring allocation to another shareholder’s vessel account, use the vessel’s Coast Guard documentation or state registration number in the search box.  Many vessels have similar names and this will ensure the correct vessel receives the allocation.
   

What are the 2025 quotas for each IFQ share category?

What are the 2025 multi-use allocation percentages and how are they determined?

• The gag and red grouper multi-use allocation percentages may change each year based on the annual catch limits and quotas for red grouper and gag.  The percentages are calculated based on a formulaic process involving the annual catch limits and annual catch targets of both species. Since gag is in a rebuilding plan, regulations established in Amendment 56 to the Reef Fish FMP require that red grouper multi-use allocation be set to zero.  As such, for 2025, red grouper multi-use allocation will be 0% of your total red grouper allocation, while gag multi-use allocation will be 73.5% of your total gag allocation.

Will there be any changes in 2025?

• There are several IFQ amendments being discussed by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council):
  • Amendment 58A to the Reef Fish FMP
    • This amendment contains modifications to the shallow-water grouper complex catch limits and management measures based on a recent stock assessment for scamp and yellowmouth grouper. The shallow-water grouper complex includes scamp, yellowmouth grouper, black grouper, and yellowfin grouper. The assessment resulted in decreased catch limits for scamp and yellowmouth grouper.  As there were no changes for black grouper and yellowfin grouper, the other Shallow-water Grouper share category must be modified. The Council is recommending two new share categories to replace the Shallow-water Grouper category.  The Council is also considering changes to the shallow-water and deep-water grouper flexibility measures due to the share category changes.  Due to the timing of development and implementation of Amendment 58A, the Council decided to begin work on a separate framework action that would revise catch limits for the shallow-water grouper complex for a short time period starting in 2026 while the Council works to finalize and implement Amendment 58A. 
  • Amendment 58B to the Reef Fish FMP
    • This amendment contains modifications to the deep-water grouper complex catch limits and management measures for yellowedge grouper, warsaw grouper, snowy grouper, and speckled hind.  Only yellowedge grouper was included in a recent stock assessment.  It was determined to be undergoing overfishing, but not overfished.  This action would update the overfishing limit, acceptable biological catch, annual catch limits, sector allocations, and accountability measures for deep-water grouper.
  • Amendments 59 & 60 to the Reef Fish FMP
    • These amendments address concerns raised in the reviews of the IFQ programs.
    • Amendment 59 involves requirements for participation in the IFQ program and sets the new programs’ goals.
    • Amendment 60 investigates share and allocation distributional issues.
    • Both amendments are in the draft and scoping phase where the Council is gathering ideas about how to solve a fishery problem or address a need.  The Council seeks input from the industry to identify issues, potential impacts, and reasonable solutions when developing the actions and alternatives.

Are there any new features in the Catch Shares Online System?

• There are several new views available in the online system, including “Landings Summary by Year”, “Landings Summary by Species”, “Landings Summary by Vessel” and “Ex-Vessel Rolling Average”, which can be found by clicking on the “Landings” tab in the top blue banner and selecting from the dropdown menu.

• New views were added to allow shareholders to quickly view information in a different way, rather than search through the landings ledgers.  The Landings Summary by Year view (below) allows you to select a year from the dropdown menu and view landings data (pounds and total value) by species for that year.

• The Landings Summary by Species view (below) shows annual landings by species for shareholder accounts.  A user would select a species from the dropdown menu to see the landings and total value paid for each year.

• In the Landings Summary by Vessel view (below), a shareholder selects their vessel and the year, and the data grid shows their landings and total value paid for each species. 

• The Ex-Vessel Rolling Average view (below) shows an average ex-vessel price compiled from the last three months of ex-vessel prices reported, excluding values of $0.01/lb.  Creating this additional view is one way in which IFQ Program staff are trying to improve IFQ marketplace information transparency. 

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