The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) is charged with developing plans to end overfishing - fishing at unsustainably high rates - by deadlines in 2010 and 2011.

The federal Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires science-based limits on numbers of fish caught annually and rules to end overfishing. The 13-member, appointed council manages 98 species of finfish, corals and crustaceans in coastal federal waters between three and 200 miles off North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida's east coast. It meets publicly four times a year throughout the Southeast.

The council is composed of recreational and commercial fishermen, state fishery managers and other experts. The council's science advisers conduct in-depth analyses, and collect information from other state and federal agencies, researchers and the public.

For more information on the The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council's proposed management measures and upcoming public hearings in November, please visit the SAFMC web site.