There are mixed emotions from recreational anglers over the July 11-12 red snapper season in the South Atlantic. On one hand, booming populations of snapper make the bag limit of one fish per person a cinch. There’s excitement over the parties snapper trips have become, as boaters pack in as many licensed anglers as possible to bring home a few more fish.
On the other hand, there is growing frustration over the ridiculously short seasons of recent years and NOAA Fisheries’ rigid adherence to management measures that are driven by flawed data. This frustration has erupted into a groundswell, and the states are taking steps that will potentially lead to future state management of the species.
South Carolina Establishes State Seasons
This spring, South Carolina created recreational state seasons for the 55-species grouper-snapper complex within state waters. These species—which include angler favorites like black sea bass and all the grouper and snapper species, including red snapper—have previously been solely under federal management in the South Atlantic.
State waters extend to just 3 miles off the coast for South Atlantic states (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida). Most of the popular angler targets in the grouper-snapper complex exist primarily in federal waters outside the 3-mile boundary.
Why would the South Carolina legislature create seasons for which there is very limited demand within its jurisdiction?
The short answer: It’s a small step toward wresting control of management from NOAA Fisheries.
Small Steps Toward State Management of Red Snapper
South Atlantic anglers are comparing their scant one-day or two-day seasons to the Gulf, where state management has opened access to the fishery. The South Atlantic states are moving to emulate the trajectory taken by Gulf states to gain control of their fisheries.
With state seasons passed into law, South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources must now come up with the mechanisms to collect recreational catch data on these species, which is crucial, according to Ted Venker with the Coastal Conservation Association.
Venker said Florida, Georgia and South Carolina are now on a path to actively manage these resources. The Georgia legislature set aside budget in its 2026 budget to establish a reef/migratory fish data collection program. Florida obtained exempted fishing permits and is currently using them to conduct extensive studies of red snapper off its Atlantic Coast.
“It may seem like it doesn’t do much now, but it is an important domino that has to fall first,” said Venker. “There is a lot going on to wrest control from the feds beyond this bill. This is just one piece of the puzzle, and in that regard this is a lot like how it went in the Gulf – lots of little steps finally got us where we wanted to go.”
The Governors’ Red Snapper Letter
In the last few months, elected officials from South Atlantic States have piled on with the effort to either lengthen red snapper seasons or hand control over to the states. Most notably, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster delivered a scathing joint letter to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick seeking Exempted Fishing Permits and eventual state control of red snapper seasons and limits.
“Unfortunately, decades of inaction by career bureaucrats within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), combined with actions in the waning hours of the Biden Administration to cut-off public access to the fishery, have hampered access for our recreational angling communities from exercising their God-given right to fish and support their local economies and way of life,” reads the letter.
The governors pointed to flawed data used by federal fisheries managers to set draconian regulations that hurt coastal communities economically.
“For too long, management of red snapper has failed to keep track with the successful growth of the stock. Although fishermen have seen explosive growth in the number of red snapper, harvest opportunities have dwindled, and NOAA Fisheries has threatened to prohibit all snapper-grouper fishing along a portion of our coastline as a part of Amendment 59.”
The prohibition referenced in the letter was a proposed bottom-fishing closure during the winter months off the Atlantic Coast of northern Florida. In NOAA’s final rule, that closure was withdrawn, but South Atlantic anglers are still left with a scant two-day season for red snapper.
