April 3, 2026 — Florida’s spiny lobster season closed April 1 across both state and federal waters, bringing a halt to commercial and recreational harvests as the fishery enters its annual spring shutdown.
The closure, set by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, applies fleetwide and marks the start of a four-month pause during the species’ peak spawning period.
March 31, 2026 — Florida’s recreational and commercial spiny lobster harvest seasons in both state and federal waters will close April 1, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The season will reopen Aug. 6, while the annual two-day recreational sport season is scheduled for July 29 and 30, which falls on the last Wednesday and Thursday of July this year.
The special sport season allows both residents and visitors to harvest spiny lobster before the regular season begins, but state wildlife officials remind boaters and divers that bag limits and restrictions vary depending on where they are harvesting.
The daily bag limit is six lobsters per person in Monroe County and Biscayne National Park. In the rest of Florida, the daily limit is 12 lobsters per person.
On the water, possession limits match the daily bag limit. Off the water, the possession limit is equal to the daily bag limit on July 29 and doubles on July 30.
February 19, 2026 — Development is booming in Florida’s Space Coast, the heart of America’s space industry. But environmental groups and commercial fishers say ecosystems and fishing businesses are suffering amid the nation’s astral ambitions.
The number of annual launches in Florida has more than tripled in the last five years, and the space industry’s biggest players are expected to increase their launch cadence. More rockets launching from Kennedy Space Center in central Florida may also mean more noise, port closures, air and water pollution, ocean acidification, and falling space debris — repercussions space companies and some Florida GOP lawmakers are asking locals to accept as a part of life on the Space Coast.
“Everybody thinks, ‘OK, we’re going to Mars, we’re going to the moon,’” said Bob Zales, executive director of the Southeastern Fisheries Association. “They don’t really think about the impact to the environment and to the people that live and work over there.”
At Kennedy Space Center, the environmental stakes are high. The complex sits inside of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and is sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean and Indian River Lagoon system. The region is an eco-tourism hot spot and houses some of Florida’s most treasured species, including manatees, dolphins, whales, sea turtles and shorebirds.
February 18, 2026 — Florida’s Atlantic Coast could see its longest red snapper season in more than 15 years if federal regulators approve a proposal to shift management of the fishery to the state.
According to a Feb. 12 article by Action News JAX, Florida and three other Southern states have petitioned the federal government to test state-led management of Atlantic red snapper. If approved, Florida’s plan would establish a 30-day season beginning in May, followed by three additional three-day openings in the fall. This would be a significant expansion compared to the short, highly restricted season anglers have faced for nearly two decades.
Charter captain Adam Petnuch of Reel Dream Fishing Charter in St. Augustine told Action News he has fished the South Atlantic for more than a decade and have never seen a full-length red snapper season.
February 17, 2026 — The Trump administration is taking steps toward shifting regulatory authority over red snapper in Atlantic Ocean federal waters to states, a move that some state leaders have argued is necessary to sustain their sportfishing economies.
NOAA Fisheries announced Wednesday it would open a 25-day comment period on “exempted fishing permits” for Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
The permits would allow the states to “test new data collection methods and strategies for state-led management of the recreational red snapper fishery,” the agency said.
February 13, 2026 — Today, NOAA Fisheries announced that they are accepting public comments on applications for Exempted Fishing Permits (EFPs) from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
These permits propose to extend recreational fishing seasons for vulnerable red snapper in the South Atlantic. Overfishing drove the red snapper population to just 11 percent of its historical abundance; in response, seasons were reduced as part of a rebuilding plan set to last through 2044.
February 13, 2026 — Florida’s Atlantic Coast could see the longest Red Snapper season since 2009 this year, if the federal government signs off on a plan to shift management of the fishery over to the state.
Charter Fishing Captain Adam Petnuch with Reel Dream Fishing Charters in St. Augustine has been fishing the Southern Atlantic for more than a decade, and not once in that span of time has he had the chance to see a full-length Red Snapper season.
“It’s a very good eating fish and the thing about it is the abundance. It is such an abundant source of fish for us over here,” Petnuch said.
February 11, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries announced today a major collaborative step toward boosting red snapper recreational fishing opportunities in the South Atlantic. The agency invites public comments on applications for Exempted Fishing Permits (EFPs) from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The EFPs are designed to test new data collection methods and strategies for state-led management of the recreational red snapper fishery.
This 25-day public comment period marks an important step in NOAA’s review and consideration of management strategies for the recreational harvest of red snapper, which will balance sustainability and economic benefits. These actions are also expected to increase opportunities for American recreational fishermen.
January 30, 2026 — They gather there most mornings around 7 a.m., weather-worn hands picking at plates of hashbrowns and cups of coffee scattered across two shoved-together tables. Many of their families have lived in Eastpoint, just outside Apalachicola on the Florida Panhandle, for four or five generations.
Their conversation flows from grandchildren to deer hunting with an ease conveying their decades of friendship. Then it turns to the topic captivating their community: Apalachicola Bay reopening for oyster harvesting after a five-year hiatus.
“I’ve seen more excitement out of older people this month than I’ve seen in years,” said Owen Golden, 75, his eyes crinkling behind wire-rimmed glasses.
Apalachicola Bay opened Jan. 1 for a brief season lasting through the end of February. It’s the first time the bay has opened for commercial harvesting since 2020, when the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission closed the area due to declining oyster reefs.
January 15, 2026 — A House hearing on a bipartisan bill promoting the use of decommissioned offshore oil rigs as artificial reefs instead devolved into a contentious partisan squabble Tuesday as lawmakers debated the merits of offshore drilling and the Trump administration’s oversight of it.
The Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources hearing was intended to discuss H.R. 5745, the “Marine Fisheries Habitat Protection Act,” sponsored by Rep. Mike Ezell (R-Miss.). The bill would expand the use of old offshore oil platforms as artificial reefs by streamlining a decades-old permitting process for doing so in federal waters along the five Gulf Coast states — Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
But the hearing detoured into a debate over offshore drilling, and assertions by some Democrats that the proposal amounts to a financial and regulatory giveaway for the oil and gas industry, and is an “extreme waiver of responsibilities” for their infrastructure.