Rules & Regulations

Atlantic Snook Harvest Season to Reopen – NOT!

OK – HOLD ON A MINUTE!

As I was writing the post below about the news release I received from the FWC about reopening the Atlantic snook harvest season I discovered that it DOES NOT apply to us here in the Florida Keys.  I sometimes find their news releases and the NOAA Fishery Bulletins difficult to read.  They are very tricky with the wording and if you are not extra careful, you can come away from reading them with some serious mis-information.

Here is what the very last paragraph of the news release says:

In addition, the current harvest prohibition of snook in all of Florida’s Gulf, Everglades National Park and Monroe County state and federal waters will remain in effect until Sept. 1, 2011.  Anglers may still catch and release snook during snook harvest closures, and the FWC encourages everyone to handle and release these fish carefully to help ensure their survival upon release.

So in plain English, if you fish on the Gulf Coast or anywhere in the Florida Keys you are out of luck, it’s catch and release only.  If you are on the Atlantic side north of Monroe County, congratulations, you may have snook for dinner after Sept. 17th.  Read on…..

The FWC – Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has decided to reopen the recreational snook harvest season on September 17th in Florida’s Atlantic waters and maintain the catch and release fishery in Gulf waters.  Since January it has been only catch and release in all state waters due to our unusually cold winter last year.

Their data has shown that snook off Florida’s Atlantic coast was not as severely impacted as they originally thought.

Here is what you need to know:

• Recreational harvest season will be open Sept. 17 through Dec. 15, 2010
• Bag limit: One snook per recreational angler per day
• Slot limit: 28-32 in. total length
• Recreational harvest will not reopen next year until Sept. 1, 2011.

Red Snapper to Reopen for Eight Weekends This Fall

FWC has agreed to reopen the recreational harvest season for red snapper in Gulf of

Mexico state waters for eight straight three-day weekends this fall.  It is expected that the federal waters will have the same.

The season was only open this year from June 1st through July 24th this year because of closures due to the Gulf Coast oil spill.  They discovered that recreational fishing for red snapper by private and charter boats was much less than anticipated and therefore the recreational red snapper quota was not met.

Details:

Two red snapper greater than 16 in. total length may be kept per angler per day.

There will be eight open season weekends this fall.  Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays between Oct. 1st until Nov. 21st, 2010.

Read the full FWC News Release Here

Gulf of Mexico Recreational Greater Amberjack Fishery To Remain Open Through mid-October 2010

NOAA originally anticipated that the annual catch limits and recreational quotas for the Greater Amberjack fishery would be met by July or August this year but due to the Gulf Coast oil spill and other factors, summertime fishing was down.  Therefore, they re-analyzed their data and have decided to leave the fishery open at least through mid-October 2010.

Read the full fishery bulletin here

NOAA Re-opening More of the Gulf

Effective today, September 2nd at 6pm, NOAA is reopening 5,130 square miles of area that was previously closed due to the oil spill in the Gulf.  The area that is closed due to the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill has now been reduced to cover only 18% of the Gulf of Mexico.

Read the complete Fishery Bulletin here

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