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Rutherford Announces the Start of Red Snapper Season

July 11, 2019

Five-day recreational season begins July 12th

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman John Rutherford (FL-04) announces the start of the 2019 South Atlantic red snapper season. Starting Friday, July 12th, recreational anglers will have two consecutive weekends to fish for red snapper.

"The long-awaited South Atlantic red snapper season is finally here, and I encourage everyone to take advantage of the great outdoors and go fishing," said Rutherford. "However, I am disappointed that the season is only five days, despite numerous appeals for a longer season. That's why I am proud to have secured funding in recently passed legislation to improve the data which federal regulators use to determine fishing days. Better data leads to longer seasons for our recreational and commercial anglers."

Improved data collection has a proven track record of expanding access to red snapper fisheries. In 2014, the Gulf of Mexico red snapper season was nine days, but after five years and increased funding to improve data collection, the Gulf now has 62 days. In the Fiscal Year 2020 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill, Congressman Rutherford successfully included $1.5 million for the South Atlantic to improve their data used for determining the length of seasons.

The recreational South Atlantic red snapper season will be open July 12th-14th and July 19th-20th. The bag limit is one fish per person, per day, with no minimum or maximum size limit. Anglers can help improve data collection by using MyFishCount, an app and web-portal that allows fishermen to voluntarily report their catches. To learn more or to download the app, please visit: https://www.myfishcount.com.

For more information on the South Atlantic red snapper season, click here.

Issues:Congress