The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
For immediate release: September 10, 2009
Contact: Lee Schlesinger, 850-487-0554
FWC acts to improve Atlantic vermilion snapper fishing
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) on Thursday approved rules that are consistent with new federal regulations to reduce overfishing of vermilion snapper in the Atlantic Ocean and improve fishing for this popular species in the future.
The latest update on the status of vermilion snapper in the Atlantic concluded that fishing pressure is too high to be sustainable. Consequently, regulations reducing the harvest of vermilion snapper by around 50 percent were recently implemented in Atlantic federal waters, which extend beyond three nautical miles from shore.
The federal regulations reduced the recreational bag limit for vermilion snapper in Atlantic waters from 10 fish to 5 fish daily per person, prohibit the captain and crew of for-hire vessels from keeping Atlantic vermilion snapper, and prohibit all harvest of vermilion snapper in Atlantic waters from Nov. 1 - March 31. The FWC decided to apply the same vermilion snapper regulations in Atlantic state waters (out to three nautical miles).
Matching Floridas rules with federal regulations will help speed the recovery of vermilion snapper stocks in the Atlantic so we can continue to have a healthy abundance of this species for anglers to enjoy in the years to come, said FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto. This action may also help prevent harvest overruns that could delay recovery of Atlantic vermilion stocks and result in even greater federal harvest restrictions in the future.
The FWCs new rules for vermilion snapper in Atlantic state waters take effect on Oct. 16.
