During the past year, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council has developed several fishery plans ready to be implemented by the Secretary of Commerce, after review. These plans affect almost every member of SFA because of their importance to Gulf coast and Florida Keys fisheries. The main purpose of the Council is to develop such management plans, as provided for by the US 200-mile limit law. The Council's Advisory Panel, made up of industry consumer, recreational, and environmental interests, is influential and helpful by providing input towards development of these plans.
Public hearings are also very useful in finalizing a plan.
A good example of this process is the plan for reef fish. The public hearings during 1979 generated enough valid objections that several regulatory measures were deleted and others added. The Gulf Council has identified two other fisheries which may require plans if management problems warrant plan development. These fisheries are tropical reef fish and squid. The Council also accepted a complete profile of the coastal herring fishery, but has suspended any plan development.