A group of House lawmakers is seeking to preempt a NOAA rule that would ban seasonal groundfishing for 55 South Atlantic species as part of a broader effort to recover the red snapper.
The legislation from Florida Reps. John Rutherford (R) and Darren Soto (D) follows NOAA’s publication last week of a draft rule to impose a December-to-February closure for a number of popular species — including black sea bass, red grouper, vermillion snapper, gag, scamp, greater amberjack and gray triggerfish — that are incidentally caught off Florida’s Atlantic coast by recreational fishermen.
“A recreational fishing closure would be devastating for our coastal economies in the South Atlantic and destroy the way of life for charter captains, anglers, and local businesses,” Rutherford’s office said in a press release.
According to NOAA, the rule would help rebuild red snapper stocks by implementing an annual “discard reduction season” between Cape Canaveral and the Florida-Georgia border.
