BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Anglers hoping to cast lines for Atlantic red snapper this Memorial Day weekend were dealt a last-minute blow after a federal court stepped in to block the season, just hours before it was set to begin, according to WKMG news partner WJXT.
On Thursday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction halting activities under exempted fishing permits, or EFPs, that had authorized the 2026 state recreational red snapper seasons in the South Atlantic. The ruling took effect immediately.
A federal judge granted the injunction after a fishing trade group and others sued to block the Trump administration’s plan to expand recreational access. The season had been scheduled to begin Memorial Day weekend and continue through June, before reopening during three October weekends.
The South Atlantic EFPs for Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina are no longer in effect until further order from the court.
“All recreational fishing under these South Atlantic EFPs is not authorized, including tomorrow’s start date of May 22, 2026, for Florida’s recreational red snapper season,” NOAA Fisheries said in a statement. “Contact your state agency for further details.”
Earlier this month, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that NOAA approved a 39-day recreational fishing season through an exempted fishing permit pilot program, which gives the state more authority over Atlantic recreational red snapper management.
The ruling does not affect the South Atlantic red snapper commercial season, which NOAA Fisheries said it will announce at a later date. NOAA also said it will announce whether there will be a 2026 federal recreational season for red snapper in the South Atlantic.
Friday, your Cape Canaveral Community Correspondent James Sparvero asked Fin and Fly Fishing Charters South Atlantic Red Snapper Season Closed Night Before Opening Day - Fin & Fly Fishing Charters Florida owner, Captain Jamie Glasner, how much cancelling what would have been a 39-day season hurts his business.
Fortunately for Glasner, he said the start of summer means he’ll be busy, regardless, but he also talked about the other benefits he said a longer season could have brought.
“A bigger, longer season definitely helps because then everybody doesn’t have to go right on opening day,” Glasner said.
Bob Zales’ group, the Southeastern Fisheries Association Southeastern Fisheries Association - Home out of Panama City, filed the lawsuit, he said, not to attack the rights of fishermen, but to prevent overfishing like in decades past.
“You have to be able to project how many anglers you think might want to go fishing,” Zales told Sparvero. “You have to be able to project the number of fish that you think might be harvested during that period of time.”