Offshore Fishing

For the first time in a long time, there’s some rare good news on the red snapper front in the Gulf of Mexico.[…]

Pending approval and acceptance by the four other Gulf state’s fisheries directors and the U.S. Department of Commerce, recreational anglers in Louisiana will get an extended 27-day weekends-only recreational red snapper season in federal waters this summer starting Saturday, June 17 and going through Labor Day.[…]

Exactly two weeks after touting a pilot study praised by the governor that would have awarded 150 randomly selected anglers the opportunity to catch 25,000 pounds of Gulf red snapper — and just days after that same plan was torched by the Louisiana legislature in a resolution calling for the study to be scrapped — the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries announced it was deferring the controversial program until August.[…]

Forget that tired old tie and pair of socks: Get your dad a nice red snapper rig this Father’s Day — because it looks like he might be able to use it all summer long this year in federal waters.[…]

LouisianaSportsman.com has learned negotiations are currently ongoing between the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. House of Representatives and the five Gulf states to potentially expand the just-concluded three-day 2017 recreational red snapper season in federal waters.[…]

A two-year pilot program announced last week by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries that would award 150 randomly-selected offshore anglers unlimited access to 25,000 pounds annually of Gulf red snapper — which has been roundly criticized by fishing-rights advocates — is not an attempt to ultimately impose individual fishing quotas on the statewide recreational angling community.[…]

A two-year pilot program unveiled Thursday afternoon that the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries contends could ultimately lead to state management of red snapper met with sharp criticism from conservation groups representing recreational anglers.[…]