NOAA Fisheries Bulletin FF19-2019 announces the opening of recreational and commercial red snapper seasons in South Atlantic federal waters.

North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries Proclamation FF 22-2019 addresses the commercial season for red snapper.

Under NOAA’s rules, the recreation sector will open for harvest on the following days:

– July 12, 13, and 14, 2019 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) – The recreational season opens at 12:01 a.m., local time, on July 12, 2019, and closes at 12:01 a.m., local time, on July 15, 2019.

– July 19 and 20, 2019 (Friday and Saturday) – The recreational season opens again at 12:01 a.m., local time, on July 19, 2019, and closes at 12:01 a.m., local time, on July 21, 2019.

The 2019 season is one day shorter than 2018 in order to avoid exceeding the recreational catch limit.

The 2019 recreational annual catch limit is 29,656 fish. The recreational bag limit is one red snapper per person per day. This applies to private and charterboat/headboat vessels (the captain and crew on for-hire vessels may retain the recreational bag limit).

The commercial sector opened for harvest at 12:01 a.m., local time, on July 8, 2019, and will close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on January 1, 2020, unless the commercial annual catch limit is met or projected to be met before this date.

The NOAA commercial annual catch limit is 124,815 pounds whole weight (12,854 fish). The commercial trip limit is 75 pounds gutted weight.

The state’s proclamation opens the red snapper commercial season at the same time as the federal bulletin, July 8. The state sets the commercial trip limit as “75 pounds (gutted weight) of red snapper per trip or per day, whichever is more restrictive.”

No minimum or maximum size limit for the recreational or the commercial sectors is set by the proclamations.

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