# Gulf Snapper season?



## bilgerat (Jan 21, 2015)

so when is the 2015 gulf snapper season ?


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## 2degrees (Jan 21, 2015)

lol


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## jscheller (Jan 22, 2015)

Probably never.  The Feds split the recreational allocation in half between recreational anglers and "for hire" or charter boats.  If we had only a few days last year, it will probably be less if at all this year.


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## biggabuck (Jan 23, 2015)

I heard only 2 days in 2015!!  What a joke


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## jscheller (Jan 23, 2015)

The Gulf Fisheries Managment Council shows the season opening on June first, that's a Monday, so a two day season on Monday and Tuesday would do a great job of keeping the majority of anglers from taking part in the season.


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## Capt. Mickey Locke (Feb 7, 2015)

Ive heard 1 day, Ive heard 30 days....that is for permitted charter Capts .....no one will really know until they get all there false information back. Either way were all gonna get screwed as usual.....


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## oops1 (Feb 7, 2015)

Fillet and release... Fillet and release


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## notnksnemor (Feb 9, 2015)

This is confusing.
It's titled 2014 open harvest season but lists a 2015 date.
Does it mean the state water open May 23rd?
Also, don't forget the Gulf reef fish survey. It's new for Florida this year.


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## Potlicker60 (Feb 10, 2015)

Does anybody see Big Brother.  It's pretty bad when they say, "Hey Mr. Taxpayer, you can go fishing by yourself on Day 1 of the season, but if want to fish on days 2-30, you are allowed to go if you have one of our approved, fee paying, captains on your boat."


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## BVasi (Feb 21, 2015)

Go to Texas in state waters you can keep 4 red snappers a day. State waters go out to nine nautical miles there, if you have a boat you can hit a couple rigs that are in state waters.


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## 2degrees (Mar 14, 2015)

So does anyone have the actual days for teh gulf coast snapper season?


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## Limitless (Mar 15, 2015)

In Federal waters it is Monday 1 June for that one day.  

FL FWC is holding public meetings for the state waters (9 miles) season, and is expected to announce a Saturday before Memorial Day until about mid July.

Up in the panhandle there's plenty of ARS in state waters.  The folks in the mid and south Gulf wont be so lucky.


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## FishingAddict (Mar 17, 2015)

Limitless said:


> In Federal waters it is Monday 1 June for that one day.
> 
> FL FWC is holding public meetings for the state waters (9 miles) season, and is expected to announce a Saturday before Memorial Day until about mid July.
> 
> Up in the panhandle there's plenty of ARS in state waters.  The folks in the mid and south Gulf wont be so lucky.



Do you have a source for this?  I can't find anything on it, but you are usually in the know.

The thing that kills me is that I think that the recreational fisherman should have first shot at the fish. 

For example- There are not enough Elk in the US to support a commercial harvest. So it's limited to recreational hunters only. 

Same should go with the fish. If the recreational people take so many red snapper that it's starts to approach the line of where they can't survive, then the commercial fisherman shouldn't be able to catch them and ship them to other states. 

That being said, the recreational and charter captains probably wouldn't be able to touch the population of red snapper's reproduction rate if they were only allowed to keep 2 a day and have a 6 month season...


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## 2degrees (Mar 17, 2015)

I think they should make them a sport fish.  Then we will see if Dardin supports conservation.


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## Limitless (Mar 18, 2015)

Fishing Addict:  The source was the press release below from FWC in February.  The last one was in St Pete on Monday.  The Director of the Snook & Gamefish Foundation was there and I talked to him last night.  He indicated that the sentiment seems to point to the proposed season being passed by the Commission.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is hosting several public workshops in March to gather public input on the Gulf of Mexico recreational red snapper season in state waters (from shore out to 9 nautical miles).

            The workshops are scheduled for the following locations (all are from 6 to 8 p.m. local time):

    March 9: Pensacola, Bayview Community Center, 2000 E. Lloyd St.
    March 10: Destin, Destin Community Center, 101 Stahlman Ave.
    March 11: Panama City, Gulf Coast State College, Student Union East, 2nd Floor Conference Room, 5230 W U.S. Highway 98
    March 12: Carrabelle, Carrabelle City Municipal Complex, 1001 Gray Ave.
    March 16: St. Petersburg, Fish & Wildlife Research Institute, 3rd floor #3A and 3B, 100 Eighth Ave. SE

            At the workshops, staff will gather public input on a proposed 2015 season that would start the Saturday before Memorial Day (May 23) and run through Sunday, July 12, resume for all of Labor Day weekend (Sept. 5-7) and finish with Saturdays and Sundays throughout September and October, with the last day of harvest being Sunday, Nov. 1. This proposed season would be 70 days. This season was the preferred option discussed by FWC Commissioners during their February meeting in Jacksonville.

            The 2014 season in Gulf state waters began the Saturday before Memorial Day and remained open through July 14 (a total of 52 days).

Staff will present workshop results to the Commission at its April meeting in Tallahassee. The Commission will take final action on setting the 2015 Gulf red snapper state season during the April meeting.

Red snapper is a popular species that has a strong economic impact for many coastal communities throughout Florida.

For more information, visit MyFWC.com/Fishing and click on “Saltwater,” “Rulemaking” and “Upcoming Public Workshops” or call 850-487-0554.


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## FishingAddict (Mar 18, 2015)

Limitless said:


> Fishing Addict:  The source was the press release below from FWC in February.  The last one was in St Pete on Monday.  The Director of the Snook & Gamefish Foundation was there and I talked to him last night.  He indicated that the sentiment seems to point to the proposed season being passed by the Commission.
> 
> The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is hosting several public workshops in March to gather public input on the Gulf of Mexico recreational red snapper season in state waters (from shore out to 9 nautical miles).
> 
> ...



Thank you! And I was wondering about the federal season? Do you have a source for the one? I can't find anything about it.


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## Limitless (Mar 19, 2015)

Still has to be approved by NOAA, but expected.  The Gulf Council is recommending a season starting 1 June until rec (non-charter) quota is hit.  It is anticipated that that will only take one day unless something like extreme weather severely limits fishing.  It is possible that the federal season could go a few days, but unlikely.  With sector separation dividing the rec quota between us and the charter fishermen, the individual rec quota will be used up quick.  Of course the Gulf council determines the quota not with accurate data, but more probably by "reading randomly tossed dried chicken bones" like the Shamans or old west Medicine men.


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## FishingAddict (Mar 19, 2015)

Limitless said:


> Of course the Gulf council determines the quota not with accurate data, but more probably by "reading randomly tossed dried chicken bones" like the Shamans or old west Medicine men.




I don't know whether I should laugh or cry at this statement...sooo true. 

I think it was the 2013 season where I did some calculating on how many red snapper each boat in florida caught in the 14 day season.

Using their numbers of pounds of red snapper caught and dividing it by how many boats are registered in Florida, it turns out that every boat in Florida caught an average of something like 20 pounds of red snapper (can't remember exactly).

Thats every bass boat, skiff, bay boat, sailing boat, jet ski, yatch, pontoon boat....not just offshore boats. 

Those Florida folks are efficient!


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## 2degrees (Mar 22, 2015)

Guy I keep thinking we are doing this wrong.  We need to embrace the red snapper conservation movement and help it spread.  The spot tailed bass is doing a lot better after the  comercial guys could not sell them.  If we push to have the red snapper a rec fish then we would see who is realy behind this crap.  I have no problem never eating red snapper at a red lobster again.


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## doomtrpr_z71 (Mar 22, 2015)

The whole snapper thing reminds me of the study the state of Florida had uga do on tates hel  Forrest. The study showed Lanier actually improved water flow during drought and the decline in oysters was due to the increased freshwater, changes in water ph, etc from the draining of the forest. Uga gave 10 recommendations to reduce incoming silt, freshwater etc. Florida instead decides on their own that that's not right and comes up with recommendations the exact opposite and implements those instead.


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## d-a (Mar 22, 2015)

2degrees said:


> Guy I keep thinking we are doing this wrong.  We need to embrace the red snapper conservation movement and help it spread.  The spot tailed bass is doing a lot better after the  comercial guys could not sell them.  If we push to have the red snapper a rec fish then we would see who is realy behind this crap.  I have no problem never eating red snapper at a red lobster again.



The way things are going I doubt you will see that anytime soon. Two reasons why.  First The states have all the control over the coastal waters that encompasses your spot tail bass. The red snapper occupy both state and federal waters through out the Gulf of Mexico. Second the commercial fishermen control 51% of Total allowable Catch (TAC) for red snapper. They will not give up that with out a fight. While small in numbers there very well organized and have the funding for lobbyists. 

Under Amendment 40 The recreational TAC (49%) is being split with the federally charter for hire boats(CFH) (around 1200 federally permitted boats total gulf wide) who have a projected 33 day season versus a recreational fishermens 1 day. If you pay to charter for 33 days you can keep 66 red Snapper. But if you fish on your own boat or a buddies boat you can only keep 2 red snapper. Sounds fair doesn't it. The CFH like the commercial fishermen are small in numbers and very organized. THE FEDERALLY PERMITTED CHARTER FOR HIRE ARE THE REASON FOR THE RECREATIONAL ONE DAY RED SNAPPER SEASON. Not the Comercial fishermen this time. 

d-a


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## How2fish (Apr 10, 2015)

This pushes every button I have...there are more and bigger Red Snapper and they are closer than at any time in the over 40 years I've been fishing for them..sorry had to vent...


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## Mechanicaldawg (Apr 13, 2015)

The Secretary of Commerce just signed off on Amendment 40.


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## Potlicker60 (Apr 17, 2015)

The Charter boys did well for themselves on this one.


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## d-a (Apr 17, 2015)

Potlicker60 said:


> The Charter boys did well for themselves on this one.



At the expense of the recreational fishermen. 

If I pay to fish all of the projected 40 (the CFH get) days on a charter boat I can keep 80 red snapper this year. If I go on my boat or a friends (7 projected days for recreational) boat I will only get to keep 14 red snapper.

Very fair it seems. 

d-a


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