Saving Seafood

FLORIDA: Gov. DeSantis snaps back at red snapper setback

May 26, 2026 — The season almost began before a judge put the start on pause.

A defiant Gov. Ron DeSantis ripped a recent judicial decision throwing the near-term fate of Florida’s newly-expanded Atlantic Ocean red snapper season into doubt.

“This is a judge in Washington, D.C. Probably doesn’t know the first thing about fishing. And they’re doing this. It’s not a good decision,” DeSantis said in Jacksonville at Ribault High School.

On May 21, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, an appointee of former President Barack Obama who did his undergraduate work at Florida State University, issued an injunction blocking recreational fishing in Atlantic waters.

The block was ill-timed, issued one day before it was slated to start Friday, as the Judge sided with the Southeastern Fisheries Association.

DeSantis said the decision will be appealed, blasting “commercial fishermen” who “want it all for themselves” as he argued that there were plenty of fish in the sea.

Read the full article at Florida Politics

Trump, DeSantis herald extended Atlantic red snapper season

May 4, 2026 — President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday that federal regulators had approved a permit for Florida to temporarily take over management of recreational red snapper fishing off the Atlantic coast.

Under Florida’s earlier proposed plan, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would be allowed to manage Atlantic red snapper through 2028. The state’s plan would give Atlantic recreational anglers a 39-day red snapper fishing season this year, a massive spike compared to last year’s two-day season. Exempted fishing permits were also given to Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

As of Friday evening, NOAA Fisheries had not officially published its approval. Multiple agency spokespeople did not respond to requests for information on the permit approvals.

Read the full article at E&E News

FLORIDA: An expanded snapper season is proposed for Florida anglers

November 11, 2025 — Florida has formally asked federal officials for the authority to manage red snapper in the Atlantic Ocean, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission submitted an “Exempted Fishing Permit” to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seeking to allow the state to assume management of recreational red snapper in state and federal waters off Florida’s eastern coast starting in 2026.

“We know that we can do this effectively, and we know that this is something that could make a big difference for our recreational anglers, particularly in Northeast Florida,” DeSantis said Monday during an event at Amelia Island Marina in Fernandina Beach.

Read the full article at the Sun Sentinel

FLORIDA: Florida invests USD 1 million in fisheries recovery following hurricanes

October 30, 2024 — The U.S. state of Florida has awarded USD 1 million (EUR 924,274) to help the state’s struggling commercial fisheries and aquaculture sector recover from damage inflicted by a trio of hurricane landfalls.

“The [state’s] fishing industry took a direct hit from hurricanes Debby and Helene, and so did the hardworking Floridians who make their living on the water,” Governor Ron DeSantis said in a statement. “Today’s investments will help to rebuild critical waterside infrastructure and help get Floridians in the fishing and aquaculture industries back to full operations.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

FLORIDA: Gov. DeSantis announces $5 million for coral reef recovery, additional day to lobster mini-season

June 20, 2024 — Governor Ron DeSantis made a South Florida stop Wednesday to announce an additional $5 million in funding to create additional artificial reef habitats. He also announced an extra day for the spiny lobster mini-season exclusively for Florida residents.

The office of the governor says the funding will support the establishment of an innovative framework for installing, overseeing, and preserving artificial reef habitats in the Florida Keys.

Officials close to DeSantis said the governor had previously allocated $9.5 million to Florida’s Coral Reef Restoration and Recovery Initiative.

Read the full article at CBS News

FLORIDA: DeSantis says Florida makes preservation of coral reefs a top priority

June 20, 2024 — Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday in the Florida Keys that the has made conservation efforts a top priority and will continue to do so through continued appropriations for coral reef restoration.

“We have done, since I’ve been governor, historic investments and conservation efforts in making sure that Florida’s waterways are clean and making sure that we’re restoring the Everglades so water flows to Florida Bay like God intended,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis said that an important focus of the is coral reefs and supporting the restoration and protection of reefs. He added that no other administration in the history of the state of Florida has done more.

Read the full article at The Center Square

Gov. DeSantis plans to seek aid for the Big Bend’s fishing industry

September 2, 2023 — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday said the state will seek federal help for the fishing industry in the Big Bend region, as cleanup efforts moved into a second day from the devastation caused by Hurricane Idalia.

Meanwhile, the state reported its first confirmed death related to Idalia, while utility workers still had about 135,000 customer power outages to tackle from the Category 3 storm, many in sparsely populated areas of North Florida.

The governor’s plan to seek help from the U.S. Department of Commerce for the fishing industry followed White House approval of a separate request for a major disaster declaration.

Read the full article at WFSU

FLORIDA: ‘On the verge of being gone’: Commercial fishermen furious feds rejected DeSantis’ fishery disaster request

May 26, 2023 — Hurricane Ian destroyed nearly all of Lee County’s commercial fishing industry, but the feds denied Gov. DeSantis’ fishery disaster request.

Shocked, bewildered, frustrated, and abandoned are all adjectives ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska heard from commercial fishermen to describe a recent decision by NOAA to deny Gov. Ron DeSantis’ request to declare a federal fisheries disaster.

Are bad policies and poorly written federal statutes to blame? Or does it boil down to politics? That depends on who you ask. But, commercial fishermen across the state are sounding the alarm about the future of the commercial fishing industry and whether seafood that comes fresh from Florida can survive.

“This industry is really on the verge of being gone,” Casey Streeter said.

Streeter’s fish house on Matlacha was destroyed during Hurricane Ian, and his home in St. James City.

Read the full article at ABC News

DeSantis announces record 70-day Gulf red snapper season

May 7, 2023 — Thursday, Governor Ron DeSantis announced a record 70-day-long Gulf red snapper recreational season.

This will be the longest combined season since the state assumed control of red snapper. It includes both a 46-day summer season and a 24-day fall season.

Gulf red snapper season is a favorite among Florida fishers, and often brings fishers from across the country.

Read the full article at Fox 4

 

FLORIDA: Florida requests fisheries disaster declaration for Hurricane Ian, but could be in for a wait

December 12, 2022 — Fishing captains in the U.S. state of Florida and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are requesting a federal fisheries disaster declaration in the wake of Hurricane Ian – even as the state is still waiting on a determination on its request for a disaster declaration for Hurricane Sally in 2020.

DeSantis sent a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo – which oversees NOAA Fisheries – requesting a disaster declaration in the wake of Hurricane Ian, a category 4 hurricane that devasted the fishing industry along Florida’s coast in September 2022. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency has so far provided over USD 3.3 billion (EUR 3.1 billion) in federal grants, disaster loans, and flood insurance payments to both the state of Florida and Florida households, but that aid is not directed to Florida’s fisheries.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource