The new regulations would affect recreational vermilion snapper and shallow grouper catches and commercial fisheries. It is said that new federal regulations will drastically alter grouper fishing and vermilion snapper fishing in Atlantic waters from North Carolina to Key West. Among the most serious changes, Amendment 16 will impose a closed season for shallow-water grouper fishing from January 1 through April.
Under the new regulations the prohibition on recreational and commercial fishing for grouper covers 11 species in total. They are gag, black, red, scamp, rock hind, coney, misty, graysby, yellowfin, yellowmouth and tiger grouper. In Amendment 16 also there is a ban on recreational catches of vermilion snapper, a party boat favorite across much of the Florida Atlantic coast from November through March. And for the rest of the year, catch limits on grouper and vermilions have also changed.
The commercial sector will also see changes to their fishery. The closed shallow-water grouper season will apply to the commercial sector as well as recreational anglers. New commercial catch quotas top gag grouper at 352,940 pounds gutted weight. From January to June, the commercial quota of vermilion snapper will be 315,523 pounds gutted weight, and from July to December, 302,523 pounds.
The new regulation says commercial and recreational anglers will be required to carry on board and, when necessary, to use dehooking tools on release fish while fishing in these waters.
