Protect Access to Bottomfishing in the South Atlantic

South Atlantic red snapper have rebounded so much that scientists and fishermen both believe the stock is more abundant today than any living person has ever seen.

Despite this success, NOAA Fisheries has proposed a 3-month bottom fishing ban in Florida to limit angler interactions with red snapper. Amendment 59 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic would prohibit fishing for 55 species of reef fish in federally-managed waters from the Florida / Georgia border to southern Brevard County from December 1 through the end of February each year. During the proposed closures, all recreational hook-and-line fishing (including trolling) would be prohibited for 55 species, which would include snappers, groupers, jacks, sea basses, porgies, triggerfish, as well as hogfish, tilefishes, and grunts.

Large area and seasonal closures to all bottom fishing would be devastating to the recreational fishing industry, coastal communities and anglers.

In addition to prohibiting bottom fishing, the Amendment also includes removal of the overfished and experiencing overfishing designations for South Atlantic red snapper. While removing the overfished and undergoing overfishing designations for red snapper is a positive step and reflects what anglers have been observing for years, NOAA Fisheries’ proposed bottomfishing closure is based on notoriously unreliable estimates of fish released by recreational anglers.

Luckily, better information about the South Atlantic red snapper stock is being collected right now through an unprecedented scientific study known as the South Atlantic Great Red Snapper Count. NOAA must rescind the closures until the results of this survey are incorporated into the next stock assessment and can be used to better inform management moving forward.

ASA’s Government Affairs team has worked tirelessly with Members of Congress, state and federal agencies, fisheries management councils, and industry stakeholders to avoid past attempts to implement bottomfishing closures in the South Atlantic and find solutions that improve data and harvest access for red snapper.

To better explain this issue, ASA created a one-pager for the recreational fishing community – click here to learn more.

ASA has also supported the bipartisan Red Snapper Act (H.R. 470), sponsored by Reps. John Rutherford (R-FL), Darren Soto (D-FL), and Sen Rick Scott (R-FL), which would prevent NOAA from making sweeping management decisions until the ongoing South Atlantic Great Red Snapper Count is complete and new information can be integrated into the stock assessment. The Red Snapper Act has 16 additional cosponsors in the House.

The Great Red Snapper Count is an independent study funded by Congress that will deliver new, reliable data on abundance, genomics, and mortality of the red snapper stock in 2025.

NOAA Fisheries is accepting public input on the Amendment until March 17, 2025. To submit your public comment, click the button below and open the “Submit Public Comment” button at the top of the Federal Register Webpage. Feel free to use the provided talking points to draft your comment.

NOAA is also offering multiple in-person public events to hear from stakeholders and partners. Below is a list of dates, times and locations where you can show up and make your voice heard: