Florida Gov. Rick Scott and the Recreational Fishing Alliance are protesting a move by federal fishery management officials to reduce the red snapper recreational fishing season in the Gulf of Mexico. Scott sent a letter to U.S. CommerceSecretary Penny Pritzker on Thursday outlining his disappointment about the lack of flexibility the federal system allows for the management of the red snapper season and other stock fish.
“The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act lacks much-needed flexibility,” Scott wrote in his letter. “The recreational red snapper season in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico will be only a few days this year — assuming harvest is even allowed. Federal recreational season lengths have declined from 365 days per year to likely less than 11 days this year, all while anglers have watched red snapper become more abundant as the stock continually improves.”
The Recreational Fishing Alliance sent a national bulletin on April 10, announcing that the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery had “all but closed” to recreational anglers.
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