On November 28, 2011, Holly Binns, Chad Hanson, and Sera Drevenak of the Pew Environment Group’s Southeast Fish Conservation Campaign offered their comments on the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Coastal Migratory Pelagic Amendment 18. 

Amendment 18 is intended to establish a system of annual catch limits and accountability measures for species managed in the Coastal Migration Pelagic fishery management plan in compliance with the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and National Standard 1 guidelines.

While supportive of the Amendment in general, the authors were concerned about the removal of four species (cero, little tunny, dolphinfish and bluefish) that have relatively high levels of landings from federal management without adequate scientific justification. Therefore, we strongly urge disapproval for that specific element of the Amendment only - Section 2.1, Action 1 (Modification to the Fishery Management Unit).