Red Snapper season open each weekend in July

Break out that fishing tackle again and fuel up the boat; it’s time to go red snapper fishing. Alabama anglers who love to catch the tasty reef fish recently received a reprieve from Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley and Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Commissioner N. Gunter Guy Jr.

Gov. Bentley, Commissioner Guy and Alabama Marine Resources Division Director Chris Blankenship finalized plans recently to open red snapper fishing in state waters on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in July, just in time for two of the largest fishing tournaments in the state and nation. Anglers will also be able to catch gray triggerfish, another species with the season currently closed in federal waters.

“The state red snapper season will be open during three of the biggest weekends for fishing: The Fourth of July weekend, the Roy Martin Dauphin Island Young Anglers Tournament and the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo,” Governor Bentley said. “Red snapper fishing is popular along the Alabama Gulf Coast, and the extra fishing days are good for the Gulf Coast economy. I welcome fishermen to take advantage of the additional opportunities for red snapper fishing in our waters.”

Blankenship said Governor Bentley and Commissioner Guy felt the short federal season had restricted Alabama anglers from enjoying the plentiful resources of reef fish, including red snapper and gray triggerfish, that exist off the Alabama Gulf Coast. The abundance of those reef fish populations can be attributed to Alabama’s extensive artificial reef program.

“The nine-day season was so short,” Blankenship said. “Even though we did catch a lot of fish during that season, we felt we had adequate snapper resources in state waters to allow us to have an additional season.”

Blankenship said Marine Resources Division (MRD) personnel were conducting another project, assessing the invasive lionfish population off the Alabama coast, when the divers reported a significant number of red snapper and triggerfish on the nearshore reefs.

“The pictures our divers sent back showed there were a pretty good number of legal-sized snapper within 3 miles,” he said. “Between that and the short federal season, we felt it was a good time to open those state waters to let our fishermen catch some red snapper from state waters that we did have authority to open.”

Although the federal government recognizes the boundary of Alabama state waters at 3 miles, the Alabama Legislature passed a bill that would extend state waters to 9 miles for purposes of fisheries management. Therefore, Marine Resources is adding a caveat to those who fish in waters between 3 and 9 miles out.

“The federal government hasn’t recognized that yet,” Blankenship said of the expanded state waters. “But the Governor and Commissioner felt that since that extension passed the Alabama Legislature that those are Alabama waters for red snapper fishing.

“We do want to make it clear to the public that, although Marine Resources is recognizing the 9-mile state waters area for red snapper and gray triggerfish, federal authorities may not.”

However, Blankenship hopes Alabama anglers will abide by the 9-mile boundary and won’t venture into undisputed federal waters to fish for red snapper.

“Persons possessing red snapper or gray triggerfish outside of 9 miles will be in violation of both state and federal law and will be subject to citations from both Alabama Marine Resources and federal authorities,” Blankenship said. “My concern with opening red snapper season on weekends in July is that I don’t want people to go out in federal waters, where most of the red snapper are located, and try to bring those back into Alabama. The reason we’re opening out to 9 miles is we feel people ought to be able to catch snapper in our state waters.”

Blankenship said the reason the snapper season will be open on the weekends in July is because of an estimate of the number of fish available within that 9-mile boundary. The daily bag limit will be two red snapper per angler with a 16-inch minimum total length. The gray triggerfish daily bag limit is two per person with a minimum fork length of 14 inches.

“The reason we’re opening weekends only is that we estimated we would be able to have between 12 and 15 days for the season in state waters,” he said. “The Commissioner wanted to do that on weekends so it would have the biggest economic impact, and the majority of people would have the opportunity to go instead of having the season for two consecutive weeks.”

An added benefit of opening the snapper season on weekends in July is the data collection that will be available during the Roy Martin Young Anglers Tournament on July 12 and the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo (ADSFR) on July 18-20, both events at Dauphin Island.

“With snapper season open during the young anglers tournament and the deep sea rodeo, we’ll be able to get a lot of data from those fish in state waters that we need to successfully manage our fishery,” Blankenship said. “I’ve talked with Dr. Bob Shipp (ADSFR judge) and Dr. Sean Powers (ADSFR assistant judge) from the University of South Alabama, and they are excited about the information we’ll be able to get from the rodeo.”

Marine Resources was able to gather a great deal of information during the nine-day federal season with the new red snapper reporting system that was enacted prior to the June season. The mandatory reporting system included four ways to comply – smartphone app, online at www.outdooralabama.com, toll-free telephone number at 1-844-REDSNAP (1-844-733-7627) and drop-boxes at boat ramps from Bayou La Batre to Orange Beach.

“I appreciate the reports we received from the public,” Blankenship said. “For the charter-boat industry, the compliance rate was 85 percent. We’re following up with some of those boats to get the other information. Some of our observers at the marinas noted a few trips that didn’t get reported, but I think part of it was that they were running so many trips that they just forgot. So we’re following up to get the correct information from the charter boats.

“The compliance with the recreational anglers was between 60 and 65 percent. This is mandatory, but for the first year we’re pretty happy with the compliance overall. We were trying to get the word out in a short period of time.”

Blankenship said the vast majority of the anglers used the smartphone app. Almost 1,500 trips were reported through the app, 450 were reported by phone, a little more than 300 reports were put in drop-boxes and 150 entered their catches online.

“We had a few technical difficulties on opening day, but we got it straightened out quickly,” he said. “The system overall worked very well. This will give us our own data to compare with the federal data. With our system, we’ll be able to show what is really landed in Alabama. This will give us truer numbers if we get regional management and we get our own quotas to manage. We will be able to use our own landing information to set the season length and bag limits, which would be a big benefit for us.”

Commissioner Guy said the MRD red snapper reporting system will also be required during the special July season. During the 9-day federal season, the snapper reporting system indicated around 33,000 red snapper were landed in Alabama. With an average weight of a little more than 9 pounds per red snapper, the total catch landed in Alabama was a little more than 300,000 pounds.

“We will continue to work with the federal government and the other Gulf States to responsibly manage this great fishery in federal waters while also allowing proper management in Alabama waters,” said Commissioner Guy. “Governor Bentley and the Department of Conservation appreciate the participation of our fishermen in the Marine Resources Division Red Snapper Reporting Program. The information from this program is vital to improving the access of our citizens to the red snapper fishery.”

As for Blankenship, he has plans for the upcoming weekend with his family: “We’re going to go catch some red snapper, grill them and watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July.”

David Rainer is an outdoors columnist for the Alabama Department of Conservation of Natural Resources.