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Basic Recreational Saltwater Fishing Regulations

This is a brief summary of regulations governing the taking of saltwater species in Florida for personal use. It is not intended, or designed to provide specific information on commercial harvesting of these species. The failure to include complete laws, rules, and regulations in this summary does not relieve persons from abiding by those laws, rules or regulations. State waters extend to 3 nautical miles on the Atlantic and 9 nautical miles on the Gulf. Federal rules apply beyond state waters. For species that do not have an established bag limit, more than 100 pounds or 2 fish per person, per day (whichever is greater), is considered commercial quantities. A saltwater products license and commercial vessel registration is required to harvest commercial quantities of unregulated species.

What you Must Know Before You Go

Florida Residents
When applying for a saltwater fishing license, you are considered to be a Florida Resident if you are:

-- Any person who has resided in Florida for six continuous months prior to applying for a resident license and who claims Florida as their primary residence.

-- Any member of the U.S. Armed Forces who is stationed in this state.

-- Gold Sportsman’s License (One-Year License includes Hunting, Saltwater Fishing and Freshwater Fishing Licenses; and Type I Wildlife Management Area, Archery, Muzzleloading Gun, Turkey and Florida Waterfowl, Snook, Crawfish Permits)… $83.50. Florida residents may buy a lifetime saltwater fishing license or a lifetime sportsman license. Holders of lifetime saltwater fishing licenses may fish in saltwater for life and will pay no additional fees. The lifetime license includes the taking of snook or crawfish – which would otherwise require a separate fee. A lifetime sportsman license allows holders to fish in freshwater or saltwater and to hunt in Florida. Both of these licenses require holders to obey fishing or hunting laws in effect at any given time.

Costs for these types of licenses

*For complete info visit: http://myfwc.com/license/

Am I exempt from purchasing a saltwater fishing license?

How does my license purchase help Florida's marine resources? (PDF)

Other Saltwater License and Permit Information

For more information or for applications for Lifetime licenses contact your county tax collector's office or the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

You Do Not Need a License If You Are:

-- A child under 16 years of age.

-- A Florida resident saltwater fishing for recreational purposes from land or a structure fixed to the land--a pier, bridge, dock, floating dock, jetty or similar structure.

-- Fishing from a for-hire vessel--guide, charter, party boat--that has a valid vessel license.

-- A holder of a valid saltwater products license.

-- A Florida resident--65 years old or older and you possess either a Resident Senior Citizen Hunting and Fishing Certificate or proof of age and residency.

-- A Florida resident who is a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, who is not stationed in this state, while on leave for 30 days or less, upon submission of orders. This does not include family members.

-- Any person who has been accepted as a client for development services by the Department of Children and Family Services, provided the department furnishes proof thereof.

-- A nonresident fishing for recreational purposes from a pier that has a valid pier saltwater fishing license.

-- Fishing from a boat that has a valid recreational vessel saltwater fishing license.

-- A Florida resident who is fishing for mullet in freshwater--with a valid Florida freshwater license.

-- A Florida resident fishing for saltwater fish in freshwater from land or from a structure fixed to the land.

-- A Florida resident certified as totally and permanently disabled, who possesses a Florida Resident Disabled Person Hunting and Fishing Certificate. Applicants need to provide a certification of total and permanent disability from the United Stases Armed Forces, Railroad Retirement Board, Florida Worker's Compensation or the United States Veterans Administration. Alternatively, current documentation for the Social Security Administration for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Supplemental Security Disability Income (SSDI) benefits also will be accepted.

Recreational Gear

Additional regional gear restrictions may apply in your county. Call the local DLE offices listed here.

Hook-and-Line Gear

Hook-and-line anglers must tend their gear at all times to prevent people, marine life, and shore life from becoming entangled in the line or injured by the hook. Also, it is against the law to intentionally discard any monofilament netting or line into or onto state waters. Monofilament line can entangle birds, marine mammals, marine turtles, and fish, often injuring or killing them.

Nets

The following types of nets may be used for recreational purposes in Florida waters:

-- Bully nets (for lobster only) no greater than 3 feet in diameter.

-- Frame nets and push nets (for shrimp only) no greater than 16 feet in perimeter.

-- Hand held landing or dip nets no greater than 96 inches in perimeter.

-- Cast nets measuring 14 feet or less stretched length (stretched length is defined as the distance from the horn at the center of the net with the net gathered and pulled taut, to the lead line). Cast nets may be used as harvesting gear for the following species only: black drum, bluefish, cobia, flounder, mullet, Florida pompano, red drum, sheepshead, shrimp, Spanish mackerel, spotted seatrout, weakfish, and unregulated species.

-- Beach or haul seines measuring no larger than 500 square feet of mesh area, no larger than 2 inches stretched mesh size, not constructed of monofilament, and legibly marked at both ends with the harvester’s name and address, if a Florida resident. Non-residents using beach or haul seines for recreational purposes are required to have a commercial saltwater products license and legibly mark the seine at both ends with the harvester’s saltwater products license number. Beach or haul seines may be used as harvesting gear for the following species only: black drum, bluefish, cobia, flounder, mullet, Florida pompano, red drum, sheepshead, shrimp, Spanish mackerel, spotted seatrout, weakfish, and unregulated species.

Explosives, etc.

The use of powerheads, explosives, chemicals, or the discharge of firearms into the water to kill or harvest marine life is prohibited in state waters.

Points on Possesion

Many anglers are unsure or unaware of how bag and possession limits affect them during fishing trips which exceed one fishing day. Bag limits are daily limits for the 24 hour period beginning at midnight and ending the following midnight. These bag limits may not be exceeded at any time and are not considered "per trip" limits. What's important in this definition is that once you have caught and possess the bag limit for a species, you may not harvest any more of this species until the next daily period. Taking the catch to shore and then going back to harvest another daily bag limit is illegal.

But what if you were fishing in the Bahamas? In this instance, you are subject to the environmental laws of the Bahamas and a violation of their rules may constitute a violation of U.S. Federal laws. Contact the U.S. Coast Guard and Bahamian officials for current information

Or what about camping on an island in state waters? Are you able to possess an equal number of bag limits as the number of days fished? In this case you are restricted to one daily bag limit regardless of the number of days fished.

Other scenarios might be that you are camping on the mainland, staying in a motel, at your beach house, in transit over land from an extended fishing trip, etc. Under these circumstances, the possession of multiple daily bag limits depends on the species you intend to keep and more importantly, the location where you possess the fish. The following table provides you with the information needed to:

1) determine whether or not you can possess more than one daily bag limit (on land) for an individual species when fishing for multiple days

2) the locations where it would be prohibited to possess the fish in excess of one daily bag limit

Tarpon - has no daily bag limit, but it is illegal to posses more than two tarpon at any time. Any tarpon possessed must have tarpon tag affixed.

Reef fish (snappers and groupers included within the aggregate bag limit, hogfish, Atlantic coast red porgy, and Atlantic coast black sea bass)- Any person who has fished for more than one day may possess double the daily bag limit once such person has departed the fishing site and is no longer within 100 yards of any state waters, docks, fishing piers, or other fishing sites. Additionally, any person who has fished aboard a charter vessel or headboat on a trip that spans more than 24 hours may possess double the daily bag limit provided that the vessel has a sleeping berth for each passenger aboard the vessel and each passenger possesses a receipt issued on behalf of the vessel that verifies the length of the trip.

If further clarification is required, please contact your regional FWC office.

Spearing

Spearing is defined as "the catching or taking of a fish by bowhunting, gigging, spearfishing, or any device used to capture a fish by piercing its body. Spearing does not include the catching or taking of a fish by a hook with hook and line gear or by snagging (snatch hooking)". The use of powerheads, bangsticks, and rebreathers remains prohibited. The following is a list of species which are prohibited for harvest by spearing. Any other species not listed which are managed by the Commission, and those not managed by the Commission are allowed to be harvested by spearing:

Billfish (all species), Bonefish, Nassau Grouper, Pompano, Spotted Eagle Ray, Tarpon, Spotted Seatrout, African Pompano, Sturgeon, Goliath Grouper, Red Drum, Permit , Manta Ray, Snook, Weakfish, Tripletail, Sharks, Blue Crab, Stone Crab, Lobster. Also: Families of ornamental reef fish (surgeonfish, trumpetfish, angelfish, butterflyfish, porcupinefish, cornetfish, squirrelfish, trunkfish, damselfish, parrotfish, pipefish, seahorse, puffers, triggerfish except gray and ocean)

You May NOT Spearfish (excluding bowhunting and gigging):

-- Effective July 1, 2001, Spearfishing of marine and freshwater species in freshwater is prohibited. Possesion of a spear gun in or on freshwater is also prohibited.

-- Within 100 yards of a public swimming beach, any commercial or public fishing pier, or any part of a bridge from which public fishing is allowed.

-- Within 100 feet of any part of a jetty that is above the surface of the sea--except for the last 500 yards of a jetty that extends more than 1,500 yards from the shoreline.

-- In Collier County and in Monroe County from Long Key north to the Dade County line.

-- For any fish for which spearing is expressly prohibited by law.

-- In any body of water under the jurisdiction of the Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Recreation and Parks. (Possession of spearfishing equipment is prohibited in these areas, unless it is unloaded and properly stored.) Fishermen who catch and/or sell fish harvested by spearing are subject to the same rules and limitations that other fishermen in the state are required to follow.

Regional Field Offices

Northeast Region
Ocala, 352-732-1225 Titusville, 321-383-2740

South Region
Miami, 305-956-2500
West Palm Beach, 561-625-5122
Jupiter, 561-624-6935

Special Enforcement Area
Marathon, 305-289-2320

Southwest Region
Tampa, 813-272-2516
Lakeland, 863-648-3203
Fort Myers, 239-332-6971

North Central Region
Jacksonville, 904-270-2500
Lake City, 386-758-0529
Crystal River, 352-447-1633

Northwest Region
Panama City, 850-233-5150
Carrabelle, 850-697-3741
Penasacola, 850-595-8978 In emergencies or if state fisheries, wildlife, or boating laws are being violated--call 1-888-404-FWCC (3922) or for cellular phone user throughout the state, dial #FWC or *FWC depending on your location, or hailed on VHF Channel 16.

RESOURCE HOTLINES

Marine Fish Kills: 800-636-0511
Enviro-Line: 800-828-9338
To Purchase Fishing Licenses: 888-347-4356
Division of Law Enforcement: 888-404-3922
Fish and Wildlife Research Institute 727-896-8626 www.floridamarine.org
Fish Tags: 800-367-4461
TO REPORT WILDLIFE LAW VIOLATIONS, call Wildlife Alert Network, 888-404-FWCC (3922)

FOR CURRENT FEDERAL REGULATUIONS AND INFORMATION

Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council www.gulfcouncil.org
South Atlantic Fishery Management Council www.safmc.net
National Marine Fisheries Service www.nmfs.noaa.gov

The Division of Law Enforcement (DLE)
The Division of Law Enforcement patrols Florida's coastal waters to provide assistance to boaters and anglers as well as to enforce Florida's saltwater fishing and boating laws. FWC officers assist boaters who are in distress, provide advice and direction to those who are traveling Florida's coastline and waterways, and may issue citations for violations of state and federal fishing, wildlife and boating laws.

Tallahassee Headquarters
Bureau of Field Operations, 850-488-9924