The Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the precious corals fisheries of the western Pacific region was implemented in September 1983. It established the plan’s management unit species and management area, as well as classifying several known beds.

Precious Corals FMP Final Rule
*Precious Coral FMP Final Rule Correcting Amendment, 1997

The following tables contain management measures, including amendments, regulatory amendments, and framework actions.

 

AMENDMENTS

AmendmentFederal Register Notice / Effective dateDescription of Action
78/13/08
73 FR 47098		Designated the Au’au Channel bed as an established bed with a harvest quota for black coral of 5,000 kg every two years for Federal and state waters combined. Implemented a five year gold harvest moratorium for the entire region.
69/12/06
71 FR 53605		Included Federal waters around CNMI and the Pacific Remote Island Areas within the FMP’s management area. Extended existing requirements for Federal permits and logbooks to include all harvests of precious corals in EEZ waters in these areas.
52/24/04
69 FR 8336		Prepared in parallel with the Coral Reef FMP. Prohibits the harvest of Precious Coral Management Unit Species in the no-take marine protected areas established under the Coral Reef FMP, including areas around Rose Atoll in American Samoa, Kingman Reef, Jarvis Island, Howland Island, and Baker Island.
44/19/99
64 FR 19067

8/5/03 56 FR 14866		Addressed new requirements under the 1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA). Portions of the amendment that were immediately approved included designations of essential fish habitat, definitions of overfishing and descriptions of bycatch and of some fishing communities. Those provisions became effective on February 3,1999. Remaining provisions regarding < a href="https://www.wpcouncil.org/precious/Documents/FMP/Amendment4-FishingCommunities.pdf" Hawaii fishing communities became effective August 5, 2003.
310/19/98
63 FR 55809		Established a framework procedure for adjusting management measures in the fishery.
21/28/91
56 FR 3072		Defined overfishing for Established beds as: an Established bed shall be deemed overfished with respect to recruitment when the total spawning biomass (all species combined) has been reduced to 20% of its unfished condition. This definition applies to all species of precious corals and is based on cohort analysis of the pink coral, Corallium secundum.
17/21/88
50 FR 27519		Applied the management measures of the FMP to the Pacific Remote Island Areas by incorporating them into a single Exploratory Permit Area, expanded the management unit species to include all species of the genus Corallium, and outlined provisions for the issuance of experimental fishing permits designed to stimulate the domestic fishery

Regulatory Amendments

AmendmentFederal Register Notice / Effective dateDescription of Action
110/15/07
72 FR 59259		Removed an exemption allowing fishermen who reported black coral harvest to the State of Hawaii within five years prior to April 17, 2002 to harvest black coral at a minimum base diameter of 3/4 inch. All harvest of black corals must be done at a minimum of 1 inch base diameter or 48 inch minimum height

Framework Actions

FrameworkFederal Register Notice / Effective dateDescription of Action
13/18/02
67 FR 11941		Revised the definitions of “live coral” and “dead coral,” suspended the harvest of gold coral at Makapu’u Bed, applied minimum size restrictions only to live precious corals, prohibited the harvest of black coral with a stem diameter of less than one inch or a height of less than 48 inches (with certain exceptions), prohibited the use of non-selective fishing gear to harvest precious corals, and applied the minimum size restrictions for pink coral to all permit areas.