Saving Fishing Jobs Act of 2011 - Amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, with respect to multispecies fishing permits in the Gulf of Mexico, to remove a provision limiting the eligible signers (fishermen constituting more than 50% of the permit holders, or holding more than 50% of the allocation in the fishery) of a petition to the Secretary of Commerce requesting that the appropriate Regional Fishery Management Council or Councils be authorized to initiate the development of a limited access privilege program to only those participants who have substantially fished the species proposed to be included in the program.
Sets forth procedures for the Secretary to: (1) certify a fishery management plan (or amendment) requested by a percentage of eligible fisherman to establish a limited access privilege program to harvest in fisheries under the authority of the New England, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, or Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council; (2) terminate such a program in effect on or established after enactment of this Act for a fishery under the authority of such Councils when, within specified periods, the number of eligible fishermen is at least 15% less than the number of such fishermen previously in the fishery; and (3) collect fees, including observer costs, pursuant to modified fee-setting requirements for such programs.
Directs the appropriate Council, within a one-year period, to develop an alternative fishery management plan for any such terminated program.