In 2008, the Caribbean Fishery Management Council (CFMC) established an Annual Catch Limit (ACL) Plan Development Group to prepare a draft comprehensive amendment to the spiny lobster, queen conch, and reef fish Fishery Management Plans in order to comply with the new requirements for catch limits and accountability measures. The goal is to review and update the status determination criteria and assemble new information on the status of stocks, using qualitative and quantitative approaches to set annual catch limits and establish accountability measures.

Annual catch limits are currently being developed in amendments to the Queen Conch FMP and the Reef Fish FMP. The Council has to establish ACLs by 2010 for the stocks and stock complexes that are subject to overfishing. Current regulations already prohibit the take of Nassau and Goliath grouper in the U.S. Caribbean. For queen conch, action is only required for the fishery in St. Croix, as current regulations prohibit the take of queen conch in the EEZ off Puerto Rico and St. Thomas/St. John.

Other actions being considered include: methods for modifying the reef fish fishery management unit; setting recreational ACLs; methods for accounting for uncertainty; alternative methods for monitoring and enforcement; permits; and allowable fishing gear. The Council recently held scoping meetings regarding the proposed actions for implementing annual catch limits.

It is not yet clear whether the proposed amendments will comply with all the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and data-poor stocks pose a difficult challenge for scientists and managers trying to set the Acceptable Biological Catch and Annual Catch Limits.

The Council conducted a series of public scoping meetings in late April and early May to take comment on the proposed alternatives being considered for ACL amendments. No specific schedule for amending the FMPs to comply with the ACL requirements has been provided at this time. The Council has just concluded meetings in the Virgin Islands and will meet again in September.