1. Update on Ongoing Caribbean Reef Fish and Spiny Lobster Endangered Species Act Section 7 Consultations
Jennifer Lee
Sea Turtle and Fisheries Coordination Branch
Southeast Regional Office
December 14, 2016

2. Consultation Background
In late 2014, we reinitiated consultation on the 2012 reef fish and spiny lobster fisheries because 5 new coral species had been listed under the ESA that may be affected:
Rough cactus (Mycetophyllia ferox)
Pillar coral (Dendrogyra cylindrus)
Lobed star coral (Orbicella annularis)
Mountainous coral (O. faveolata)
Boulder coral (O. franksi)
Since the initial reinitiation request, NMFS has published two additional final listing rules, requiring expansion of the consultation to analyze several new listed species that are likely to be adversely affected:
North Atlantic Green Sea Turtle Distinct Population Segment (DPS)
South Atlantic Green Sea Turtle DPS
Nassau Grouper

3. Consultation Status and Next Steps
New opinions will replace the active 2012 reef fish and spiny lobster opinions entirely, and include analyses of all listed species in action area, not just the newly listed species triggering the consultation.
For each listed species likely to be adversely affected, we generally:
Examine the types of interactions that occur when exposed to each fishing gear.
Consider factors affecting the likelihood, frequency, and severity of exposure.
Evaluate and quantify effects (i.e., number of individuals of each species and the fate) using the best available information.
Focus to date has been on updating literature and best available science to incorporate information not available during the last consultation and analysis of the additional coral species.
Over the next couple months we will focus on analyzing the new species, particularly Nassau grouper, and also wrapping up other analyses.
We anticipate completing the Reef Fish FMP consultation sometime in Spring 2017 and the Spiny Lobster FMP consultation shortly thereafter.
PRD staffing transition: For those of you that know A. Herndon, he accepted a new position within PRD and no longer works on fisheries consultations. Andy was the reef fish lead consultation biologist and retained responsibility for working on the reef consultation until September.

4. Nassau Grouper Status and Concerns
Listed as threatened; most serious threats to the status and recovery of Nassau grouper: fishing on spawning aggregations and inadequate law enforcement protecting spawning aggregations.
Protection of spawning aggregation sites is considered a high priority.
Bycatch/Discard data sources?
Spawning aggregations (reconstituted or novel) in Bajo de Sico in western Puerto Rico and in the Grammanik Bank, south of St. Thomas, USVI are the only documented sites for the Nassau grouper under U.S. jurisdiction.
Newer research suggests that spawning activity in these areas may extend beyond the established seasonal fishery closures depending upon lunar cycles.
In June , you received a presentation from Adam Brame on the recent listing of the species as threatened. I encourage to look back at that as well as review the listing rule and recent presentations the Council has received on Nassau grouper spawning aggregations. Nassau are listed as threatened, with fishing on spawning aggregations and inadequate law enforcement protecting spawning aggregations most serious threats to the status and recovery of Nassau grouper. Consequently protection of spawning aggregation sites is considered a high priority. Because you may not have another meeting for another few months, I want to review a couple key points about their status and to point out a potential concern we have.
Fishing restrictions in Grammanik Bank include a prohibition on fishing for and possession of any fish, except highly migratory species, from February 1 to April 30 of each year. Fishing restrictions in Bajo de Sico include a prohibition on fishing for or possession of Caribbean Council-managed reef fish from October 1 to March 31, each year. Thus, at Bajo Di Sico the seasonal protection that prohibits fishing of reef fish species expires March 31, and at Grammanik Bank the seasonal protection ends on April 30.
The presence of Nassau grouper at both spawning aggregation sites extends beyond the duration of the seasonal closure at these sites. Therefore the timing of these seasonal regulations is not covering part of the Nassau grouper reproductive season at these two spawning aggregation sites. Recent tagging studies of two grouper species (Nemeth et al 2008a) as well as passive acoustic recordings of sounds produced, along with reproductive behaviors at areas near the GB in the USVI, established the timing of the aggregation can extend into May depending upon the lunar cycle of each month (Rowell, unpublished data). At Bajo de Sico (BDS) PR, the timing of spawning was determined to be from February through March (Schärer et al. 2012b, 2013b) based on one year's passive acoustic data. Both of these extend later than the season reported for the historic Nassau spawning aggregation in the USVI at the Red Hind Bank (Olsen and LaPlace 1978) as well as that of other Caribbean locations (Colin 1992, Starr et al. 2007, Whaylen et al. 2008).
Regulations prohibit harvest and possession, but bycatch may be an issue.

5. Who Can I Talk to Later?
To later provide or receive information, ask questions, etc., about the Reef Fish and Spiny Lobster FMP on-going consultations (or any other Protected Resources topic), please contact:
Jennifer Lee
Fishery Biologist and SERO’s Protected Resources Liaison to Southeast Fishery Management Councils
SERO, PRD, Sea Turtle and Fisheries Coordination Branch
Phone: (727)