Captain Favorite's Fishing Forum: March 10, 2014

 Snook to reopen in Gulf state waters

• The recreational harvest season for one of Florida’s premier game fish, snook, reopened on March 1 in Florida’s Gulf of Mexico state and adjacent federal waters, including Everglades National Park and Monroe County. The season will remain open through April 30.
• In the Gulf, anglers may keep one snook per day that is not less than 28 or more than 33 inches total length, which is measured from the most forward point of the head with the mouth closed to the farthest tip of the tail with the tail compressed or squeezed while the fish is lying on its side. A snook permit is required to keep snook, along with a saltwater fishing license unless exempt from the license requirements. Only hook-and-line gear is allowed when targeting or harvesting snook.
• It is illegal to buy or sell snook.

Gulf reef fish workshops scheduled for March

• The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is hosting several public workshops in early March to gather public input on a proposal that would improve recreational reef fish data collection.
• The proposal would create a mandatory permit or registry system for Gulf of Mexico recreational anglers who target reef fish like red snapper, grouper, amberjack and gray triggerfish. This system will help researchers better define the number of offshore anglers and help them contact these anglers to gather additional data. Get your voice heard on this important topic by attending an in-person workshop or a phone conference.

Swordfish management pays off in expanded fishing opportunities effective Feb. 13

• Swordfish management is a success story. Overfished in the 1980s and ’90s, the swordfish stock has since been fully rebuilt, thanks to domestic and international conservation measures.
• Recently, NOAA Fisheries Highly Migratory Species Division created a new open-access commercial swordfish fishery in federal waters to provide additional commercial swordfish harvest opportunities using gears that minimize bycatch.
• The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) approved several changes to state rules recently, many of which will allow fishermen who participate in this new commercial fishery to land and sell their catch in Florida. Recently adopted changes will go into effect Feb. 13.
• Several changes to state rules are also consistent with existing federal rules, including a change to the cleithrum-to-keel (see image below) minimum size limit for recreational and commercial swordfish harvest.
• For more information visit the website at http://myfwc.com/news/news-releases/2014/february/06/swordfish.

• The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) approved changes at the February Commission meeting that will allow for-hire captain and crew to retain recreational bag limits of vermilion snapper, groupers and golden tilefish in state waters of the Atlantic (including all of Monroe County for grouper species and golden tilefish).
• This change will make state regulations consistent with Atlantic federal regulations and will go into effect as soon as possible.
• Similar changes to federal rules became effective Jan. 27. The federal rule was modified because it was not effectively limiting harvest of vermilion snapper and gag grouper as originally intended and it was causing confusion because captain and crew of for-hire vessels could keep recreational bag limits of some snapper and grouper species, but not others. Additional harvest of these species by captain and crew is expected to be negligible and not negatively impact fish stocks.

• To learn more about this change, visit MyFWC.com/Commission and click on “Commission Meetings.” To learn more about snapper and grouper recreational regulations, visit MyFWC.com/Fishing and click on “Saltwater Fishing,” “Recreational Regulations” and “Overview” under the “Reef Fish” header.