October 31, 2017 — Reversing course, NOAA Fisheries said it will allow anglers in the South Atlantic to catch red snapper for the first time in three years.
Calling it an “emergency action,” the fisheries service said it would create two mini-seasons over the next two weekends for recreational anglers in federally controlled waters off the coast of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Commercial fishermen may be allowed to catch red snapper until Dec. 31.
“NOAA Fisheries has determined that the limited harvest in 2017 is not expected to result in overfishing and will not prevent the continued rebuilding of the red snapper population,” the agency said in a statement released late Friday.
Coming only four months after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross extended the red snapper season in the Gulf of Mexico, the decision revived a long-simmering debate about how much fishing should be permitted and the federal government’s management of the popular species (Greenwire, Sept. 20).