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Officials have announced this year’s red snapper season dates, and a continued tight window for recreational fishing of the species is bound to make anglers unhappy.
The season opens June 1 at 12:01 a.m. and will close June 10 at 12:01 a.m. local time.
The federal-water red snapper bag limit is two fish per person per day with a 16-inch minimum total length size limit.
An announcement from NOAA Fisheries says the seasons are based on each fishery’s annual catch targets, which are actually less than their respective catch limits.
“Based on the annual catch targets and accounting for the red snapper harvest in state waters outside the federal season, the federal season for the private angling component will be 9 days and the federal season for the federally permitted for-hire component will be 46 days,” the announcement reads. Federally-permitted for-hire vessels may take part in snapper harvesting from June 1 until July 17.
Division of the recreational sector into an individual and for-hire components has been a thorn in the side of organizations like the Coastal Conservation Association, which filed suit against the plan but was shot down by a federal district court. The matter now goes to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which received briefs on the matter Wednesday.
“We believe there is simply too much at stake to not continue the fight on this issue,” said Bill Bird, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “The federal government clearly intends to carve up public marine resources and distribute them to businesses to use for their profit, and we believe that is a fundamentally wrong course of action. While it is very common for courts to give federal agencies discretion in interpreting the wishes of Congress, we believe NOAA Fisheries is far outside its bounds in this case. We are hopeful the Court of Appeals will examine the facts more critically, rather than simply deferring to NOAA Fisheries’ dubious judgment.”
In addition to filing the appeal, CCA is also actively supporting legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., H.R. 3094 – the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority Act – that will grant legal recognition to a PLAN adopted by the fish and wildlife agencies of all five Gulf states to assume management of the Gulf red snapper in federal waters. The bill currently has 28 bi-partisan co-sponsors and has the support of a coalition of organizations representing the saltwater recreational fishing and boating community.
