PONCE INLET, Fla. – Blink and you’ll miss it as the 2024 recreational south Atlantic red snapper season starts out — and ends, for that matter — on Friday.
The one-day red snapper season will technically end Saturday at 12:01 a.m. after lasting a full 24 hours, such as was announced by NOAA Fisheries.
With the season being just 24 hours this year, it turned into the Black Friday of the seas. It was the one day anglers could hit federal waters off the Atlantic coast of Central Florida to catch a red snapper and keep it.
“It is derby-style. It is absolutely chaotic,” said Haley Stephens, owner of Sea Spirit Fishing in Ponce Inlet, one of Volusia County’s largest fishing charters.
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The fish-focused government authority NOAA Fisheries says it takes data into account from the south Atlantic state-specific red snapper surveys, Southeast Region Headboat Survey and Marine Recreational Information Program before announcing the dates each year, which include guidance for the commercial sector. Harvest dates for commercial red snapper fishing in south Atlantic waters opened on July 8 and will close Jan. 1, 2025, “or when NOAA Fisheries projects that the commercial catch limit has been met, whichever occurs first,” the website states.
Not only is the recreational 2024 south Atlantic red snapper season just one-day long, but the recreational bag limit is one fish per person while the commercial trip limit is 75 pounds gutted, per the authority’s website.
More than 100 people were said to have accompanied Stephens’ charter on Friday as the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office estimated hundreds of vessels were spending the one-day fishing season some 20-30 miles off the coast.
Those crowds meant a busy day on the water for the sheriff’s office.
“It is very chaotic. I would say just out of Ponce here today there’s about 1,000 boats in one small area offshore,” said Deputy Matt Seltzer, adding the boats started heading offshore as early as 4 a.m.
“Everybody thinks just because offshore is so big, everybody goes to certain spots, and then you’ll have one spot with anywhere with 10 to 15, 20, 30 boats on it,” Seltzer said.
Stephens told News 6 that she would like to see NOAA Fisheries change the regulations in the future.
“We’re in the people business. Fishing is not something we can control with the heavy regulations,” Stephens said. “We see a lot of challenges with increased traffic on the water, a lot more fishing effort, close to multiple boats that are already going to be fishing on the spots that we normally fish every day by ourselves. (...) There’s boats up in North Carolina who couldn’t even fish today due to rough seas and there are so many different factors with our region of the south Atlantic.”
The American Sportfishing Association issued a statement Friday to express its disappointment with “NOAA Fisheries’ decision to once again reduce Atlantic red snapper harvest opportunities,” going on to claim that “scientific evidence (indicates) red snapper are more abundant now than they have been in most people’s lifetimes and that the fishery continues to improve ahead of expectations.”
Regardless of the short-lived season, there were several anglers on the Sea Spirit happy with their catch and ready to bring it home for dinner.
“Blacken it and have a nice fish sandwich,” said Ray Webb. “I got to feed the family!”
You’re not out of luck if you can’t get out there on Friday, though. Florida Gov. DeSantis in April announced a record 103-day Gulf red snapper recreational season for 2024.
Whereas the south Atlantic red snapper season is about as brief as it can get for recreational anglers, Florida’s 2024 private recreational Gulf red snapper season opened June 1 and runs consecutively until July 31.
This season applies to recreational anglers fishing from private vessels in Florida Gulf state and federal waters. For-hire operations that do not have a federal reef fish permit may also participate in the season but are limited to fishing for red snapper in Florida Gulf state waters only.
FWC | Gulf Recreational Red Snapper (excerpt)
Further on, the recreational Gulf season will reopen during the following dates:
- Sept. 1–2 (Sunday through Monday of Labor Day Weekend)
- Sept. 6–8
- Sept. 13–15
- Sept. 20–22
- Sept. 27–29
- Oct. 4–6
- Oct. 11–13
- Oct. 18–20
- Oct. 25–27
- Nov. 1–3
- Nov. 8–11 (Veterans Day Weekend)
- Nov. 15–17
- Nov. 22–24
- Nov. 28–30 (Thursday through Saturday of Thanksgiving Weekend)
Learn more from NOAA Fisheries and FWC.
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