The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council currently manages eight fisheries.  These fisheries include: coastal migratory pelagics, coral and live bottom habitat, dolphin and wahoo, golden crab, shrimp, snapper grouper, spiny lobster, and Sargassum. Of these eight fisheries, only one contains species that are considered overfished - snapper grouper.  Both the recreational and commercial snapper grouper fisheries are highly regulated and progress continues to be made as more species are removed from the overfished list each year. The other six fisheries are expected to continue into the future at productive sustainable levels.

Below is a list of Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) for the species managed by the Council and links to additional information.  The list includes the Council's comprehensive Habitat Plan describing essential fish habitat.  This document will serve as the foundation for the development of the Council's Fishery Ecosystem Plan.  For more information, visit the Council's Ecosystem Pages.

Fishery Management Plans

	Coastal Migratory Pelagics (Mackerels) Managed jointly with the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, this fishery management plan includes king and Spanish mackerel, cero mackerel, cobia, and little tunny.
	Coral The Coral, Coral Reef, and Live/Hardbottom Habitat Fishery Management Plan optimizes the benefits generated from the South Atlantic's coral resource while conserving the coral and coral reefs. The FMP prohibits harvest of these resources, with the exception of the limited harvest of soft coral by permit, that serve as essential fish habitat to many species.
	Dolphin/Wahoo Approved in 2004, the Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery Management Plan represents a precautionary approach to management. Recognizing the importance of the fishery to the recreational fishing community, the FMP establishes historical allocations for dolphin fish (mahi mahi) and wahoo between the commercial and recreational sectors, maintaining a healthy fishery.

	Ecosystem-Based Amendments The Council’s ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management builds on the biological, economic, and social information presented in the Fishery Ecosystem Plan, and provides the Council with the opportunity to evaluate needed actions across multiple fisheries and facilitate development of FMP amendments or measures that apply across FMPs.  The Council’s stakeholder-based process taps an extensive network of scientific, management, and fishery professionals within the region.
	Golden Crab This specialized deepwater commercial crab fishery was established in the early 1990s following the prohibition of fish traps in the snapper grouper fishery.  The Golden Crab FMP was developed cooperatively with fishermen to create a sustainable fishery through the establishment of a limited entry system, fishing zones, and protective measures for the crabs.
	Habitat Through a collaborative process among many regional partners, the Council consolidated the best available information on habitat essential to species managed in the South Atlantic region in to a Habitat Plan. The description and distribution of essential fish habitat in this document includes estuarine inshore habitats as well as adjacent offshore marine habitats such as coral, coral reefs, and live/hard bottom habitat, artificial reefs, Sargassum habitat, and the water column.
	Sargassum Approved in 2003, the management plan protects Sargassum, a free-floating seaweed found throughout the blue waters of the South Atlantic from extensive commercial harvest. Sargassum provides habitat to a wide variety of marine organisms including invertebrates, fish, sea turtles and marine birds.
	Shrimp The commercial shrimp fishery is one of the most economically important in the nation.  With the ability to close federal waters to protect spawning white shrimp, the requirement of BRDs to minimize bycatch, and the prohibition on rock shrimp trawling in Oculina coral areas, the Council has developed a successful management program for the shrimp fishery in the EEZ.
	Snapper Grouper Of the 88 species managed by the Council, 73 are included in the snapper/grouper complex.  Because of its mixed-species nature, this fishery is challenging to manage. Through the original FMP and subsequent amendments, the Council has addressed overcapacity, implemented measures to rebuild overfished species, and is moving forward with the use of Marine Protected Areas as a management tool for deepwater species.
	Spiny Lobster The FMP for Spiny Lobster in the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic manages spiny lobster from North Carolina to Texas. Since the commercial fishery and most of the recreational fishery occurs off South Florida and the Florida Keys, the FMP includes a mechanism to streamline the management process that involves both state and federal jurisdictions.