It has been a long, tiring summer for those who have a taste for the tasty white fillets of Centropomus undecimalis, the common snook. The season has been closed on the west coast since May 1 to protect spawners, but it reopens Monday and continues through November. ...more

August 29, 2008

According to surveys conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service, American anglers caught some 468 million saltwater fish of all species last year. Of those, 272 million, or 58 percent, were released alive. ...more

July 23, 2008

So much for public input. Despite testimony from dozens of offshore skippers who, without exception, reported gag grouper numbers at very high levels, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council last week voted to tighten harvest regulations on the popular reef species. Grouper harvest would be shut down from Jan. 15 to April 15, and the bag limit dropped from five fish to one if the rule gets final approval this spring. The overall grouper bag limit would drop to three fish of all species. ...more

February 3, 2008

Commercial mullet netters, who saw their catches cut more than 60 percent by the 1995 net-ban amendment, have requested that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission ease harvest regulations now that the fish have recovered to healthy levels statewide. ...more

January 27, 2008