NOAA Fisheries recently released Amendment 59 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic. Among its key proposals, the amendment seeks to prohibit bottom fishing for 55 species, including red snapper, along a significant portion of Florida’s Atlantic coast for three months each year. This proposed Secretarial Amendment was prepared as part of a legal settlement requiring NOAA Fisheries to address alleged overfishing of red snapper in the South Atlantic, driven primarily by recreational discards.
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has expressed frustration over the lack of reliable data on recreational fishing efforts and the current status of the red snapper population in the region. Despite these concerns, NOAA is advocating for substantial management actions based on information acknowledged to be uncertain or inaccurate. The agency’s publication of this Secretarial Amendment bypasses the usual fishery management process and relies on a stock assessment update that has not been reviewed by the Council.
The situation surrounding South Atlantic red snapper has become one of the most contentious fisheries management issues in the U.S. The release of this amendment underscores systemic failures in federal fisheries management. If NOAA must circumvent the Council because stakeholders cannot trust or act on the data provided, the system is broken. A lack of timely and reliable stock assessment information, coupled with eroding trust between anglers and federal management, further highlights these issues.
Key Proposals in Amendment 59
1. Raising the Recreational Annual Catch Limit
The current recreational annual catch limit for red snapper is 29,656 fish. A recent, fast-tracked assessment (SEDAR 73), which includes data through 2024, proposes increasing this limit to 85,000 fish. The South Atlantic Council has long requested such updates, and it remains to be seen how NOAA managed to produce this assessment in time to support the amendment.
2. Changes to the Fishing Season
Currently, the fishing year runs from January 1 to December 31, with recreational fishing permitted on weekends (Friday through Sunday). The proposed rule would redefine the fishing year as May 1 to April 30 and restrict recreational fishing weekends to Saturday and Sunday only. Starting in the 2025-2026 fishing year, the recreational fishing season would begin on the second Saturday in July.
3. Snapper-Grouper Discard Reduction Season
From December 1 to February 28, recreational and for-hire anglers would be prohibited from fishing for, harvesting, or possessing species within the South Atlantic snapper-grouper fishery management unit using hook-and-line gear. This measure affects 55 species and amounts to a three-month closure of bottom fishing from the Florida-Georgia border to Cape Canaveral, Florida. NOAA estimates this would reduce recreational discards by 24%.
4. Season Length Adjustments
Under these measures, the recreational fishing season could increase from the current 1-2 days to 5-9 days.
Amendment 59 was published in the Federal Register on January 10, with a 60-day public comment period. It is hoped that the State of Florida and the new Administration will engage on this critical issue. We will continue to provide updates as they become available.