Pages from South Atlantic SSC Report April 2017: Review of SEDAR 53 Red Grouper

The Committee is asked to review the Red Grouper Standard assessment prepared through SEDAR 53 and provide fishing level recommendations. Red Grouper was assessed in SEDAR 19, and was determined to be overfished and experiencing overfishing. This led to the Council developing a rebuilding plan in Amendment 24. Rebuilding began in 2011 and ends in 2020. The SSC set ABC equal to the yield at the F value which results in a 70% chance of the stock rebuilding to SSBMSY by 2020 (FRebuild). The Council chose the yield at 75% of FMSY for the rebuilding plan since this value was below FRebuild. The yield at FMSY was set as the OFL for the stock. The projections for Red Grouper in SEDAR 19 predicted the stock rebuilding to SSBMSY with a 50% probability by 2016 and an 81% probability by 2020 under the chosen rebuilding strategy.