Jax Boat Club
904.477.9794

NOAA officials want to hear from local recreational fisherman about opening a red snapper season off our Atlantic coast and in Georgia and the Carolinas.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is inclined to open a season for us this summer [for commercial fisherman too] As you know, they thought the red snapper population was going away but now it is rebuilding quickly.  We have all been saying this for years.  It has almost made Red Snapper a nuisance fish we are catching so many.

NOAA stopped Red snapper fishing off our coast in 2010, after the NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service concluded the species was over fished.  Many fishermen have disputed this with a loud voice and we have had a few mini-snapper seasons of a few days.

Public comments are due by June 15 but don’t wait, comment now electronically, at   regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2017-0148 and click on the “Comment Now” button.