Late last week, state managers officially conceded all Gulf red snapper regulations to mirror federal regulations when the FWC surrendered its last holdout—length of season. The red snapper season in Florida waters will now run from June 1 through Sept. 30.

“Red snapper are considered to be overfished and undergoing overfishing in the Gulf,” said FWC Commissioner Dwight Stephenson. “Shortening the fishing season in Gulf state waters will help rebuild red snapper populations and hopefully minimize the need for further fishing restrictions.”

In the early part of 2008, red snapper regulations in Gulf state waters were four fish per person, a 16-inch minimum length, and a season that ran from April 15 through Oct. 31. In February 2009, only the minimum length remains. (The commercial red snapper minimum length has since dropped to 13 inches.) For both Gulf and state waters, the recreational daily bag limit is two fish, topped off with a mere four-month season.

Maybe now, federal regulators won’t prematurely close the red snapper season to Florida anglers in Gulf federal waters (at least 9 miles offshore). NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service closed red snapper fishing in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico on August 5 last year.

A prime reason behind the closure, as stated by the National Marine Fisheries Service, was that states like Texas and Florida would not follow step with the federal measures. Measures federal regulators deemed vital, but scientists like Dr. Bob Shipp of the University of South Alabama, and nearly all red snapper fishermen, consider excessive.