Photo by FWC staff.
Submit your photos by emailing them to Saltwater@MyFWC.com. Learn
more about our photo guidelines.
Red Snapper – Gulf
July 20 is last day of Florida state and
federal recreational season 2018
Information: The recreational red snapper season for both
Gulf state and federal waters will close July 21, with the last day of harvest
being open July 20. This season includes those fishing from private
recreational vessels (must sign up for the Gulf Reef Fish Survey and have Gulf
Reef Fish Angler on license), and for-hire operations that do not have a
federal reef fish permit (may only target snapper in state waters and must have
State Gulf Reef Fish Charter on license). Use the iAngler Gulf Red Snapper and
iAngler Gulf Red Snapper Charter apps on your mobile device to share your catch
data with FWC. See information below for more on the Gulf Reef Fish Survey and
on the iAngler apps. The Gulf federal for-hire season (for charters with
federal reef fish permits only) is June 1 through July 21.
Note: Red snapper harvest from Atlantic federal waters is currently
closed. NOAA Fisheries is expected to announce Atlantic red snapper season
dates later this summer.
Links for more information:
Snappers [MyFWC.com]
iAngler
Gulf Red Snapper [GulfRedSnapper.org]
Gulf
Red Snapper App [Facebook.com]
Gulf Reef Fish Survey [MyFWC.com]
Scallops
Season starts July 1 in Franklin-NW Taylor
and Levy-Hernando counties; July 20-29 in Pasco County
Information: The bay scallop season starts July 1 in all
state waters from Franklin County through the Fenholloway River in Taylor
County (includes Carrabelle, Lanark and St. Marks) and from Levy through
Hernando counties (includes Cedar Key, Crystal River and Homosassa). The season
will remain open in these areas through Sept. 24. Please do not discard scallop
shells in inshore waters commonly used for recreational activities such as the
Homosassa or Crystal Rivers.
In Pasco County, the 2018 trial season will be open July
20-29.
Links for more information:
Scallops [MyFWC.com]
Shark-fishing from shore public workshops
Share your management input on this
important issue
Information: The
FWC needs your input on future management of the shore-based shark fishery.
Share your input by attending a workshop in person or by sending us comments
online at MyFWC.com/SaltwaterComments.
Workshops
will begin at 6 p.m. local time:
-
July 18:
Bradenton, State College of
Florida, Library and Learning Center – Together Manatee Community Room, 5840 26th
Street West
-
July 19:
Ft. Myers, Joseph P
D’Alessandro Office Complex, Room 165 C & D, 2295 Victoria Avenue
-
August 6:
Panama City, Gulf Coast State
College, The Russell C. Holley and Herbert p. Holley Language and Literature Building, Sarzin Lecture Hall, 5230 West US Highway
98
-
August 7:
Pensacola, Sanders
Beach-Corinne Jones Resource Center – Parks & Recreation Department, City
of Pensacola, 913 South I Street
-
August 20:
Daytona Beach, Piggotte Community Center, Reception Hall Room, 504 Big
Tree Road
-
August 21:
Jacksonville, Jacksonville University, J. Henry
Gooding Building – Swisher Auditorium, 2800 University Blvd North
-
August 27:
Melbourne Beach, Melbourne Beach Community Center, 509 Ocean Avenue
-
August 28:
West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Department of Planning, Zoning
& Building – The Vista Center, 2300 North Jog Road
-
August 29:
Miami, Miami City Hall – Commission Main Chambers, 3500 Pan
American Drive
-
August 30:
Marathon, City of Key Colony Beach – City Hall, 600 W. Ocean Drive
Links for more information:
Workshops [MyFWC.com]
Sheepshead
Regulations change
July 1
Information: Starting
July 1, the following changes will be in effect:
- The
recreational bag limit will be lowered to 8 fish per person, per day,
year-round.
- There
will be a recreational vessel limit of 50 fish per vessel, per trip during
March and April.
- FWC’s
recreational and commercial regulations for this species will extend into
federal waters (including the new bag and vessel limits).
Links for more information:
Sheepshead [MyFWC.com]
Tripletail
Regulations change
July 1
Information: Starting
July 1, the following changes will be in effect:
- The minimum size limit will increase to 18
inches total length.
- FWC’s recreational and commercial regulations
for this species will extend into federal waters (including only allowing the
use of hook-and-line gear and the new size limit).
Links for more information:
Tripletail [MyFWC.com]
Commission meeting – June
Information:
The FWC Commission listened to public testimony on and discussed several marine
fisheries management items at the June 19-20 meeting in Sarasota. Please visit
MyFWC.com and click on “FWC Commission Meetings” and the link for the June
meeting to see
the agenda.
Draft rule discussions (these items will be brought back to the
September meeting for a final decision):
-
Trap
fisheries: Staff reviewed public feedback recently gathered at workshops
across the state and presented a series of draft rules to modify the stone
crab, blue crab, and spiny lobster trap fishery regulations. Approved draft
changes include: creating a mandatory, no-cost annual recreational blue crab and stone crab trap registration
for trap fishers age 16 and older and requiring trap identification numbers to
be placed on recreational traps; increasing the time allowed for commercial
lobster fishers to remove spiny lobster traps from the water after the season
ends from five days to 10 days; and starting the commercial spiny lobster trap
soak period the Saturday following the recreational mini-season (which occurs
the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday of July). To share your input on these potential changes, visit MyFWC.com/SaltwaterComments. The changes to the spiny lobster
trap soak period will go into effect prior to the 2018 season via executive
order.
-
Live food
shrimp: Demand for food shrimp sold alive has been expanding in recent
years. Current regulations require commercially harvested food shrimp to be
iced. This proposed rule change will exclude live food shrimp from seafood
icing requirements and establish regulations specific to handling of
commercially harvested food shrimp sold alive.
Discussions:
-
Coral
reefs: Review and panel discussion on status of Florida coral reefs,
response to the current disease event, update on restoration efforts, and an
overview of state and federal management partners.
- Federal
fishery management update
Links for more information:
Agenda
[MyFWC.com]
News
Releases [MyFWC.com]
2018 Lionfish Challenge
Find a tagged fish, win up to $5,000
Information: The 2018 Lionfish Challenge runs through Sept.
3 and rewards lionfish harvesters with prizes for removing lionfish. This
year’s program includes a new tagged-lionfish component. Catch an FWC-tagged
lionfish and win up to $5,000. Other prizes will be awarded for lionfish
removal, tagged or not. Participants who remove the most lionfish in the
recreational and commercial categories will be crowned the 2018 Recreational
Lionfish King/Queen and the Commercial Champion. Remove and submit 25 lionfish
before spiny lobster mini-season (July 25-26, 2018) and receive a commemorative
coin that allows you to take one extra spiny lobster in addition to your bag limit
daily. You must have the coin in your possession at the time of your spiny
lobster harvest. Register today or learn more about the program at MyFWC.com/Lionfish.
Links for more information:
Lionfish Challenge [MyFWC.com]
Challenge
Promotional Video [YouTube.com/FWCSaltwaterFishing]
Gag – 4-county region
Recreational harvest in 4-county Gulf
region closes July 1
Information: The recreational gag grouper season in state
waters off Franklin, Wakulla, Taylor and Jefferson counties closes July 1, with
the last day of harvest being June 30. The season off these counties will
reopen Sept. 1 through Dec. 31.
All other state and all federal Gulf of Mexico waters opened
to recreational harvest June 1 and will remain open through Dec. 31.
Monroe County follows Atlantic regulations and is open from
May 1 - Dec. 31.
Links for more information:
Grouper [MyFWC.com]
Spiny lobster mini-season (sport season)
July 25-26 recreational season
Information: Spiny
lobster will be open to recreational harvest in state waters July 25 and 26 for
the recreational mini-season season and will open for regular recreational and
commercial harvest Aug. 6.
During the 2-day mini-season season, the recreational daily
bag and on-the-water possession limit is six per person in Monroe County and
Biscayne National Park, and is 12 per person in all other areas in Florida. Off
the water, the possession limit is equal to the daily bag limit on the first
day and is double the daily bag limit on the second day.
Want to take an extra spiny lobster per day during the mini-season?
Participate in the Lionfish Challenge. Remove 25 or more lionfish from Florida
waters before the mini-season to qualify and receive your coin that allows you
to take an extra lobster. See 2018 Lionfish Challenge section for more
information.
Spiny lobster must have a carapace larger than 3 inches and
when caught by diving, must be measured in the water. The carapace is measured
beginning at the forward edge between the rostral horns, excluding any soft
tissue, and proceeding along the middle to the rear edge of the carapace.
Night diving for spiny lobster is prohibited during the
mini-season in state waters off Monroe County.
Harvest is prohibited during the mini-season in John
Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and during the both the mini-season and the regular
season in the Everglades National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, the lobster
sanctuary in Biscayne Bay/Card Sound and the no-take areas of the Florida Keys
National Marine Sanctuary.
Links for more information:
Spiny Lobster [MyFWC.com]
How to measure a spiny lobster
[MyFWC.com]
Gulf Reef Fish Survey
Attention Gulf Anglers
Information: Fish for reef fish in the Gulf? Make sure you
sign up for or renew your participation in the Gulf Reef Fish Survey.
Registration for this survey is required if you fish from a private vessel for
the following reef species in the Gulf (excluding Monroe County): red and vermilion
snapper; gag, red, and black grouper; greater and lesser amberjack; banded
rudderfish; almaco jack; and gray triggerfish.
To sign up or renew online, visit GoOutdoorsFlorida.com.
If you are NOT a Gulf reef fish angler and don’t plan on
fishing for these reef species in the Gulf this year, please do not sign up or
renew your participation in the Gulf Reef Fish Survey. By only sampling anglers
who plan on fishing for those species, Florida is improving recreational data
collection. Questions? Contact us at Marine@MyFWC.com.
Just a reminder – renewing the Gulf Reef Fish Survey does
not renew your fishing license, so if needed, remember to renew that as well!
Thank you for helping Florida collect more timely and precise
data on Gulf reef fish harvest.
Links for more information:
Gulf Reef Fish Survey [MyFWC.com]
iAngler Gulf Red Snapper apps
Download on your mobile device
today and share your data
Information: Charge your phone and download the new iAngler
Gulf Red Snapper app (Google Play and App Store) before going out to target
Gulf red snapper this year, that way you can report your catch info from your
boat or after you return. If you are
fishing with a hired guide or charter captain, ask your captain to report your
trip for you using the iAngler Gulf Red Snapper Charter app.
Learn more about the season, the survey and the app at
MyFWC.com/Snappers.
Links for more information:
iAngler
Gulf Red Snapper [GulfRedSnapper.org]
Gulf
Red Snapper App [Facebook.com]
Gulf Reef Fish State For-hire Program
Sign up for new program before targeting red snapper
Information: For-hire operations who do not have a federal
reef fish permit but target reef fish such as red snapper in state waters must
sign up for the Gulf Reef Fish State For-hire Program before targeting the
species listed below. To sign up, visit any tax collector’s office and ask to
have the no-cost State Gulf Reef Fish Charter added to your license. State Gulf
Reef Fish Charter must be on your license if you plan to target any of the
following species in Gulf state waters: red and vermilion snapper; gag, red,
and black grouper; greater and lesser amberjack; banded rudderfish; almaco
jack; and gray triggerfish.
Links for more information:
Gulf Reef Fish State Charters
[MyFWC.com]
Information: FWC is
collecting feedback on several fisheries issues including shore-based shark
fishing, trap fisheries, shrimp, and bay scallops.
Provide comments on
these or other fisheries online at MyFWC.com/SaltwaterComments.
Link for more
information:
Saltwater Comments [MyFWC.com]
Saltwater Angler Recognition Programs
Catch a Florida Memory today
Information: These three programs encourage ethical
angling while earning rewards for your efforts.
- Saltwater
Fish Life List: A list of 71 different species. Can you catch them all?
- Saltwater
Reel Big Fish: Recognition for extraordinarily-sized catches.
- Saltwater
Grand Slams: Earn rewards for catching three different specified species
in a 24-hour period.
Link for more information:
CatchaFloridaMemory.com
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