HARLINGEN — A Texas deal with U.S. fisheries regulators should double the offshore red snapper season this year.
The deal means private recreational anglers in federal waters will see a projected 82-day red snapper season, Texas officials said.
The red snapper season will begin June 1 under an agreement between the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The season will be an increase of 40 days over last year’s season.
The agreement is a modified version of the Red Snapper Exempted Fishing Permit application submitted to NMFS earlier this year. It will allow TPWD to establish the opening and closing of the red snapper fishery in federal waters off the Texas coast for private recreational anglers fishing from their own vessels in 2018 and 2019.
Based on current harvest quota estimates, TPWD projects an 82-day red snapper season in federal waters, while state waters (out to nine nautical miles) are expected to remain open year-round.
Bag and size limits will remain unchanged under the permit — two fish per person daily with a 16-inch minimum size limit in federal waters, and four fish per person daily with a 15-inch minimum in state waters.
The federally permitted for-hire sector, which allows recreational anglers to fish from charter boats or headboats, will remain in its current management structure set by the federal government. NMFS is yet to announce the opening and closing dates of the for-hire sector.
In 2017, NMFS invited each of the states on the Gulf of Mexico to apply for an EFP that, if approved, would authorize the states to manage recreational red snapper harvest in federal waters of the gulf.
Texas submitted its application for an EFP in February 2018 and subsequently held three public meetings along the coast and set up a web portal online for official public comment.
The public overwhelmingly supported the original EFP application and the combination of the private recreational angler sector with the for-hire sector. Under this scenario, anglers were projected to receive up to 104 fishing days in federal waters.
While NMFS accepted the EFP allowing TPWD to manage the red snapper fishery, it rejected the application’s plan to combine all recreational anglers into one user group.
• Red snapper can grow to about 40 inches, weigh up to 50 pounds and live more than 50 years.
• They begin to reproduce when they are about 2 years old, spawning from May to October along rocky ledges or coral reefs.
• One 24-inch female red snapper (about 8 years old) produces as many fish as 212 17-inch females (about 5 years old). Most red snapper caught in the Gulf today are only between four and six years old.
• Economically, red snapper are among the most valuable fish in the Gulf. In 2011, commercial fishermen from the five Gulf states landed more than 3.2 million pounds of red snapper, sold dockside for $11.5 million.
• Red snapper is also a favorite food. There are more than 1 million recipes for red snapper online.
• Sport fishermen love to pursue them as well. In 2011, 3.1 million recreational anglers took more than 22 million fishing trips in the Gulf of Mexico targeting red snapper and other species. These fishing trips are a boon to the local economy.
Source: Ocean Conservancy
