JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — What was supposed to be Florida’s longest Atlantic Red Snapper season since 2009 has been thrown into chaos just before the season’s opening on Friday.
A federal judge halted the state’s plans for a 39-day Red Snapper season after siding with commercial fishing groups that challenged the legality of federal permits issued to Florida and three other southern states that made the extended season possible.
For fishing boat captains like George Smiley, who came out to take advantage of the extended season Friday morning, the news came as a huge disappointment.
“For them to take that away from you while you slept was unheard of,” said Smiley.
In response to the ruling, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission responded by opening up state waters to Red Snapper fishing “until further notice”.
The move will allow anglers to catch up to two Red Snappers of at least 20 inches in length within three nautical miles of Florida’s Atlantic Coast.
Speaking in Jacksonville, Governor Ron DeSantis accused the federal judge of trying to “throw sand in the gears” of the state’s plans, and the excitement of an untold number of people who had hoped to take advantage of the extended season.
“There’s a lot of people that, that may have been the determining factor in them doing Memorial Day weekend on the East coast of Florida. Maybe they would have gone somewhere else,” said DeSantis. ”I just think it’s really disrespectful to try to pull the rug out from under them, especially given there’s so many fish in the sea. It’s amazing how many of these fish are there.”
The Governor said he expects the ruling to be appealed.
As the court battle plays out, Fishermen like Smiley will have to make do with fishing the less-abundant state waters and hope the state prevails.
“There’s a lot of other stuff that you can be monitoring other than the type of fish, you know, that can be not caught in the ocean,” said Smiley.
Governor DeSantis also made it clear that state officials will have no role in patrolling or enforcing Red Snapper fishing in federal waters.
If the ruling is overturned, FWC said it’s committed to reestablishing the extended Atlantic red snapper season in federal waters.
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