Labor Day ending date looks more and more likely
With up to 13 days remaining for Gulf of Mexico anglers to catch red snapper, it’s starting to look more and more likely the extended federal season will make it all the way to its official closing on Labor Day.
According to the most recent figures released by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ LA Creel program Thursday afternoon, 764,283 pounds of snapper have been harvested by state anglers through July 30.
Louisiana’s self-imposed cutoff number is 1.04 million pounds for 2017 — leaving about 275,000 pounds to go with 13 potential days remaining during the extended season, which is subject to cancellation before Labor Day if that limit is reached earlier.
Last week’s harvest total through July 23 was 736,159 pounds.
Louisiana is part of an agreement reached earlier this summer with the four other Gulf states and the U.S. Department of Commerce that allows recreational anglers to fish 200 miles from the Louisiana coast for red snapper for up to 39 days. The extended season opened June 16 and will continue for now on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 4.
Under the agreement with Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, there will be no red snapper fishing in state waters Mondays through Thursdays, except on Labor Day.
