

The National Marine Fisheries Service received an application for an EFP from Texas A&M University.
The applicant was awarded a grant to study speckled hind in the U.S. South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. If granted, the EFP would allow harvest of speckled hind in the federal waters of the South Atlantic. The applicant requested and was granted an EFP from NOAA Fisheries on March 22, 2021, to increase the number of samples for the project. That EFP expires on August 31, 2022. Since being awarded the grant, the applicant has struggled to obtain the projected number of samples. The additional samples would be used to assess speckled hind population structure, connectivity, and life history.
The EFP would be valid from the date of issuance of the EFP through August 31, 2024.