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St. Thomas/St. John Grouper Seasonal Closure Reviewing Management Effectiveness María López-Mercer, NMFS SFD Caribbean Branch 190th CFMC Meeting August 11-12, 2026 Isla Verde, Puerto Rico U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | National Marine Fisheries Service

Reviewing Management Objectives Grouper-related Closures in St. Thomas/St. John ACTION OBJECTIVE & REGULATORY EVALUATION

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Review the effectiveness and necessity of the seasonal closure for black, red, tiger, yellowfin (Grouper Unit 4 [GU4]) and yellowedge groupers (GU5) in federal waters around St. Thomas/St. John, considering other management measures in place that restrict harvest of the stocks and protect the habitat supporting their spawning aggregations such as the Hind Bank MCD and Grammanik Bank. ○

Determine if the closure could be eliminated or adjusted to reduce administrative and economic burdens on domestic fishing while boosting industry productivity.

APPROACH TO GUIDE THE MANAGEMENT REVIEW PROCESS:

Strategic Conservation Framework ●

Review and incorporate new scientific data

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Adapt and adjust regulations, as needed

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Fully safeguard essential spawning aggregations and marine habitats

U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | National Marine Fisheries Service

E.O. 14276 DIRECTIVES

Restoring Seafood Competitiveness ●

Stabilize regional seafood markets.

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Improve sustainable access for domestic fisheries.

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Enhance overall economic profitability for local fishers.

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Prevent unnecessary or prolonged regulatory closures.

St. Thomas Marine Protected Areas & Closures Comparison Area / Closure Hind Bank Marine Conservation District

Establishment & Scope Established: 1990 (originally a Dec 1- Feb 28 seasonal closure) to protect red hind grouper (Amendment 1 Reef Fish FMP) Area: ~ 45 km² (38 km² EEZ fishable habitat)

Regulations & Gear

Full Closure: Year-round fishing closure and anchoring prohibition to protect critical habitats.

Objectives / Purpose ●

Conserve marine habitats & biodiversity.

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Protect spawning aggregations (e.g., red hind, yellowfin grouper).

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Restore extinct spawning aggregations (e.g., Nassau grouper).

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Protect unique coral habitat/species Orbicella annularis coral.

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Area is designated Essential Fish Habitat for both reef fish and corals.

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Protect documented yellowfin grouper and Nassau grouper spawning aggregations.

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Area is designated Essential Fish Habitat for reef fish.

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Eliminate directed fishing mortality during peak spawning periods.

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Rebuild overfished stocks, targeting a ~24% catch reduction annually.

Year-Round: Since 1999 (Amendment 1 Coral FMP)

Grammanik Bank Closure

Established: 2005 (Amendment 3, Reef Fish FMP) to protect yellowfin grouper Area: 1.5 km² Seasonal: Feb 1 – Apr 30

Grouper Unit 4 Seasonal Closure

Established: 2005 (Amendment 3, Reef Fish FMP) as part of rebuilding plan Area: Regional (STT/STJ EEZ) of which 567 km² is fishable habitat.

Seasonal Closure: No fishing for or possession of any species of fish, except HMS, within the area. Gear Restrictions: No pots, traps, gillnets, trammel nets, or bottom longlines year-round.

Target Species: Closure covers black, red, tiger, yellowfin, and yellowedge groupers.

Seasonal: Feb 1 – Apr 30

U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | National Marine Fisheries Service

St. Thomas Marine Protected Areas & Closures

Estimates of ﬁshable habitat areas (less or equal 100 ftms) in the U.S. Caribbean

In STT/STJ, 40.6% of ﬁshable habitat occurs in the EEZ

Refining GU4 Management Strategy: Overview and Rationale Purpose: Shift from regional prohibition to a targeted spatial management approach focusing on protected banks. Need: Evaluate whether the localized benefits of the protected Hind Bank MCD and Grammanik Bank effectively protect the grouper stocks (including the ESA-listed Nassau) or if the broader EEZ closure provides protection that the localized areas cannot.

Reduced Regulatory Burden

Targeting de minimis Impacts

Essential Fish Habitat Focus

Aligns with E.O. 14276 to reduce domestic ﬁshing burdens while maintaining sustainability.

Landings data (2012–2024) show black, tiger, and yellowedge grouper landings in St. Thomas/St. John are extremely low.

Grammanik Bank and Hind Bank MCD are critical, high-density spawning sites. Because most spawning occurs here, targeted protection may be more effective than broad regional closures.

Removing the EEZ-wide closure grants ﬁshers access outside protected banks, potentially increasing production and stabilizing markets without sacriﬁcing critical spawning protections.

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Averages run under 1,000 lbs per year.

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Seasonal closure should be evaluated in light of other spatial management areas that may be more effective at accomplishing Council’s objectives.

*MSA requires ACLs to prevent overﬁshing. Action must ensure catches are constrained to the ACL and ensure accountability.

U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | National Marine Fisheries Service

St. Thomas/St. John Commercial Landings of Grouper Unit 4 (2012-2024)

3,447 lbs Average Annual Landings (2012-2024) This represents approximately 9% of the total annual landings of all grouper species combined in the St. Thomas and St. John region.

Red grouper and yellowfin grouper comprise 91–100% of these annual landings, consistently representing the vast majority of the Grouper Unit 4 catch.

U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | National Marine Fisheries Service

Key Considerations: If the Council proceeds with exploring the removal of the grouper regional closure, the following ecological and management scenarios must be addressed to ensure sustainable fish populations.

Spatial Mismatch in Spawning:

Intensiﬁed Fishing at Boundaries:

Regulatory Discards:

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Is GU4/yellowedge spawning exclusive to Hind and/or Grammanik Banks?

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If spawning is dispersed, the broad regional closure serves as the primary safeguard.

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Page 7

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Localized closures inherently create “edge effects” that concentrate ﬁshing pressure.

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Removing the EEZ closure may increase pressure on protected bank perimeters.

Targeted research into potential habitat shifts would be beneﬁcial before action.

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If species-speciﬁc regulations remain post-removal, discard rates need to be accounted for as an additional mortality source.

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Will ﬁshers discard high rates of undersized or non-target species in newly opened areas?

Connectivity & Stability:

Effects on ESA-Listed Species:

Optimization & Management Tools:

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How much will ﬁshing mortality increase in non-spatially protected areas?

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Will removing the closure increase bycatch of the ESA-listed Nassau grouper?

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The original strategy assumed a 24% annual catch reduction; verifying site goals requires modeling.

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Impacts on critical Nassau habitat situated outside protected banks must be evaluated.

U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | National Marine Fisheries Service

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Consider optimizing through spatial/temporal modiﬁcations based on Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management.

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Consider minimum size limits to protect grouper species.

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Revise current ACLs based on improved reporting and more recent catches.

Commercial Landings & ACLs Grouper Unit 4 Stock Complex — St. Thomas / St. John FMP (Values in lbs whole weight)

ACL Monitoring Year 2023

Year(s) of Landings 2021

Landings (lb)

% of GU4 ACL (2,254 lb)

5,915

262%

ACL Monitoring Outcomes: NMFS determined that the ACL overages for all these years were due to enhanced reporting. Not all species in GU4 were in the catch report forms during the years used to set ACLs.

2024

2025

2026

2022

2022-2023 average 2022-2024 average

4,082

3,999

4,730

U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | National Marine Fisheries Service

181%

177%

210%

Accountability Measure: If NMFS determines the ACL was exceeded because data collection or monitoring improved rather than because landings increased, NMFS does not reduce the length of the fishing season. ACL Revisions Needed: CFMC has discussed revising these ACLs based on improved reporting and more recent catches.

Suggested Next Steps for Evaluation 01

Council & Advisory Panel Input

Evaluation of Trade-offs

Ecosystem & Habitat Use, Fishing

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Obtain clariﬁcation from the Council about action objectives

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Risk of reduced protection from closure removal that could increase ﬁshing pressure

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Get early input from the St. Thomas District Advisory Panel, SSC, EBFM TAP

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Potential economic beneﬁts from reducing administrative burdens and removing species from the FMP

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Get early input from USVI DFW

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Data-driven decision making to bridge knowledge gaps (e.g. spawning habitats, discard rates, ﬁshing activity) to ensure economic goals do not compromise stock sustainability or recovery of ESA-listed species, including the Nassau grouper

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Prioritize collection/analysis of critical scientiﬁc information on localized ecosystem function and species habitat use (e.g. NMFS MARFIN 26-27).

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Quantify discard rates and mortality during seasonal closures.

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Integrate ﬁshery-independent survey datasets (e.g., UVI TCRMP, NCRMP).

Key Evaluation Questions

Page 9

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Where does ﬁshing for species in the GU4/5 take place?

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Is commercial ﬁshing activity expected to increase if seasonal grouper closure is removed?

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How much recreational activity occurs in the area? What type of recreational ﬁshing and species are targeted?

U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | National Marine Fisheries Service

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Are there concerns about illegal ﬁshing in the areas? If yes, how will removing the grouper closure increase or decrease illegal ﬁshing?

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Are discards being recorded?

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How might the USVI territorial grouper seasonal closure change if the federal regulations change?

Potential Options Discussed The Council is requested to provide guidance on options. These are some options previously discussed.

Option 1. Eliminate the seasonal closure for groupers. Option 2. Eliminate the seasonal closure while adjusting existing area closures as needed to ensure conservation goals are still achieved. Option 3. Reduce the length of the grouper seasonal closure or apply it only to red grouper because landings of the other species are low. Option 4. Other

U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | National Marine Fisheries Service

Proposed Timeline

April 2026

August 2026

December 2026

April 2027

CFMC Meeting

Council prioritized this action as #1 from the EO 14276

Overview of action presented to the Council

Options Paper to be presented to the Council

Draft Public Hearing Draft to be presented to the Council

*Schedule Advisory Panel meetings