Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of America, and South Atlantic; Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic; Amendment 55

What it does

NMFS issues regulations to implement Amendment 55 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic (FMP), as prepared and submitted by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). This final rule removes yellowmouth grouper from the other South Atlantic shallow water grouper (other SASWG) complex and establishes a new scamp and yellowmouth grouper complex. This final rule establishes catch levels, sector management measures, and accountability measures (AM) for the new scamp and yellowmouth grouper complex and establishes catch levels for the revised other SASWG complex. In addition, Amendment 55 establishes a rebuilding plan, sector allocations, and status determination criteria (SDC) for the scamp and yellowmouth grouper complex. The purpose of this final rule and Amendment 55 is to rebuild the scamp and yellowmouth grouper stock and achieve optimum yield (OY) while minimizing to the extent practicable adverse social and economic effects.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What changed in the regulation

1 part of Title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

50 CFR 622

Wording on eCFR: the day before it took effect and from the day it took effect (first part listed).

Compared with

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has published 185 final rules in 2026 so far, compared with 184 in all of 2025.

Counted by the Tribune from Federal Register records since Jan. 1, 2025.

Before this

2 earlier Federal Register documents under regulation identifier 0648-BN30 since Jan. 1, 2025.

• Aug. 25, 2025 Proposed rule; request for comments. Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic; Amendment 55
• March 17, 2025 Announcement of availability of fishery management plan amendment; request for comments. Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic; Amendment 55

What happens next and when

This final rule is effective July 6, 2026.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Docket NOAA-NMFS-2024-0132 on Regulations.gov
• Title 50 on eCFR

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register