JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Friday is the one day this year when anglers can fish for Atlantic red snapper recreationally.
The South Atlantic season is so short because the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says there is still an overfishing problem and red snapper populations are currently under rebuilding plans.
But some local fishermen disagree and say there’s an abundance of red snapper in the Atlantic waters.
Charlie Sakakini spends most of his days fishing.
“Fishing is my passion. Since 1996, I’ve been going fishing just about every single week that the weather permits,” he said. “In 2009 we had a perfect fishery. We had a perfect balance between the sharks, the grouper, the snapper, the black sea bass. We had a fantastic fishery. And then in 2010, they closed it.”
He’s talking about red snapper fishing.
A federal ban on fishing one of the most popular saltwater fish went into effect from Florida to the Carolinas in 2010 because of overfishing.
Charlie believes that’s not the case anymore.
“Everybody who fishes on the east coast of Florida knows what’s out there. You know, we spend two-thirds of the day getting away from red snapper so we can catch fish we can keep,” Sakakini said.
Because the Atlantic red snapper season is limited to just one day this year, docks are expected to be packed across town on Friday. The limit is one red snapper per person.
“We’re gonna get one day, one day to fish for red snapper. And not only is this ridiculous, but it’s unnecessary. It’s unnecessary, because we’ve got studies to show that they’re wrong on their figures and the red snapper population is doing fine,” said Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia who is co-sponsoring the Red Snapper Act (H.R. 4587.) The bill looks to stop NOAA closures on recreational red snapper fishing.
“I am asking [NOAA] to extend the season. And I’m asking them to revisit this rule, asking them to look into the information that is available from other sources that we feel like they’re not paying attention to and that they’re ignoring. This is important. You know, not only do people’s livelihoods depend on it, but for a lot of us who love to fish, that’s, that’s why we live on the coast,” he said.
In a bulletin, NOAA said it was implementing temporary regulations for the 2024 Atlantic red snapper season because too many red snapper are being caught and discarded dead.
In the last two years, anglers had two days to fish for red snapper. In 2018, anglers had six days.