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Hot Topic: Red Snapper

As of the 2020 season, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission sets seasons, bag and size limits, and other management measures for private recreational red snapper fishing in Louisiana’s state and federal waters (out to 200 nautical miles) adjacent to our coast. The public is able to provide input on these measures.

 

Current Season and Regulations

 The 2024 private recreational Red Snapper season will begin on Monday, April 15, 2024, in both state and federal waters. The season will run seven days a week with a daily bag limit of four fish per person and a 16-inch total minimum length limit. The season will remain open until recreational landings approach or reach Louisiana’s annual private recreational allocation of 934,587 pounds.

*Season dates and bag limits are subject to change during the year.

Resident and Nonresident Recreational Anglers

  • Must possess valid Louisiana basic and Saltwater Recreational Fishing Licenses as well as a Recreational Offshore Landing Permit(free of charge) to fish for or possess Red Snapper, as well as other offshore species. 
  • Anglers can get a ROLP via the ROLP website. Once you have registered, save an electronic copy on your mobile device or print a copy of your ROLP indicating your valid ROLP and carry it on your person along with applicable licenses while fishing offshore. 
  • Anglers on a paid charter trip, do not need a ROLP, but a ROLP is required for Charter Captains.
  • Recreational anglers onboard a vessel that fish for or possess Gulf reef fish in Gulf of Mexico federal waters must possess onboard and use (1) non-stainless steel circle hooks, (2) a dehooking device, and (3) a descending device or venting tool. Additional information about these requirements can be found on the LDWF website or the printed version of the 2024 Louisiana Recreational Fishing Regulations.

 State For-Hire/Charter Vessels

Those who do not have a Federal Gulf of Mexico Charter Vessel/Headboat Reef Fish Permit:

  • State for-hire charter captains (those who do not have a federal Gulf of Mexico charter/headboat permit for reef fish) are not allowed to fish in federal waters. 
  • Must also possess a Recreational Offshore Landing Permit (free of charge) to fish for or possess Red Snapper, as well as other offshore species.
  • May only fish for Red Snapper in state waters (within the nine nautical mile boundary established for reef fish), when the Louisiana recreational Red Snapper season is open. 

Federal For-Hire/Charter Vessels

  • Vessels with federal reef fish for-hire permits will remain under federal regulations and may only fish during federally established seasons. 
  • May only fish in federal waters during the federal for-hire season – Check the Gulf Council website for dates in the coming weeks. 
  • If a federal for-hire charter captain also holds a Louisiana charter license, he/she may also fish state waters only when the federal for-hire charter season overlaps with the Louisiana season. 

Voluntary Surveys and Catch Reporting

    • All recreational offshore anglers will be subject to periodic, random LA Creel dockside surveys and associated phone/email effort surveys, as has been the case since 2014 when LA Creel began. While these surveys are voluntary, we strongly urge your participation, as this will be the primary method for tracking harvest. The accuracy and reliability of harvest estimates depend on angler participation in LA Creel, so LDWF needs as many anglers as possible to complete both dockside and phone/email surveys.
    • Those who fish for Red Snapper will also have the option to electronically report their catch via the ROLP mobile and desktop version of the ROLP website. LDWF hopes that voluntary use of electronic reporting will provide the Department with a larger sample size than standard dockside and telephone sampling, possibly improving the quality of recreational landings data to make future management recommendations. If you opt into voluntary electronic reporting, you may also be contacted to participate in LA Creel.

Reducing Barotrauma

LDWF also encourages anglers to reduce barotrauma while fishing for red snapper and other reef fish by using descending devices to return fish to a survivable depth before being released.

Please note that the DESCEND Act of 2020 requires commercial and recreational vessels (including for-hire) to have a venting tool or descending device rigged and ready to use when fishing for reef fish in Gulf of Mexico federal waters. These new requirements went into effect January 13, 2022. 

 

Recreational Landings Update

LDWF tracks recreational landings of saltwater fish through LA Creel. LDWF provides these landings data to NOAA Fisheries to estimate Gulf-wide harvests. All landings, whether from state or federal waters are counted toward the harvest quota.

Near-real-time landings data allow managers to close fishing seasons when actual landings approach the allowed harvest quota for a given year. This also allows managers more flexibility to respond to weather or other environmental events that are not predictable and provides improved data for stock assessments so that changes in the stock are better understood.

2024 Recreational Red Snapper Landings Data

Week Beginning Date         End   Date       State Charter Private Total Week's Percentage of Allocation Running Total Running Percentage of Allocation
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Average Weekly Landings 0 0 0 0    

2024 recreational red snapper landings.

These landings data (in pounds) are preliminary and subject to change. Weather conditions and other factors could impact landings rates and change when landings reach Louisiana’s quota.

Background

At one time depleted, the Gulf of Mexico red snapper population has been recovering quickly. However, as the population grew, recreational fishing seasons in federal waters got shorter. This was due to a number of reasons including increased catch rates, ­increased recreational fishing effort, extended state fishing seasons, larger fish, and insufficient monitoring of recreational landings.

In response to this issue, fishery managers have been working to find new solutions for responsibly managing the recreational red snapper fishery and increasing opportunities for recreational fishermen to harvest red snapper. One of the most widely supported solutions has been for the federal government to give the individual Gulf states authority to manage the recreational fisheries in both state and federal waters off their coasts. State management of the private recreational red snapper fishery allows states more flexibility to manage their fisheries to their recreational fishermen’s preferences and provide recreational fishermen better access to red snapper fishing in the Gulf. In April 2019, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council delegated management authority for private recreational red snapper fishing to each state beginning with the 2020 season.

Under these management changes, red snapper technically remains a federally managed species and federal limits on how much can be harvested (quota) still apply. Each Gulf state is allocated the portion of the private recreational red snapper quota; Louisiana’s share is 19.12%. Any Gulf state that exceeds its quota in a season to pay it back the following year or, if there is an underage, the state can carry over uncaught quota the following season.

LDWF is currently working on addition solutions including increasing scientific sampling of red snapper and securing additional artificial reefs in red snapper habitat.

Increasing scientific sampling of red snapper

While the current level of scientific sampling of reef fish off Louisiana provides adequate data to assess red snapper on a Gulf-wide basis, it is insufficient to provide enough data to perform a sound Louisiana-specific stock assessment for red snapper. Currently, NOAA Fisheries mostly samples outer natural banks and bottom breaks. As part of the annual Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (SEAMAP), LDWF conducts vertical line surveys to gather data on red snapper at oil and gas platforms and artificial reefs off Louisiana and provides data from these surveys to NOAA Fisheries to use in their stock assessments for red snapper. However, the coverage of critical reef fish habitats needs to be improved to better understand the red snapper population off of Louisiana’s coast. While current stock assessments incorporate information from oil and gas platforms and artificial reefs, both through existing scientific sampling and recreational and commercial catch data, additional scientific sampling will increase the ability to observe changes in the age structure and biomass of reef fish on those habitats.

In 2018, the Louisiana Legislature mandated that LDWF provide an absolute abundance estimate for harvest-sized red snapper (16 inches total length or larger) in Louisiana and adjacent federal waters. LDWF has contracted with LGL Limited (an environmental research and consulting firm) to implement a robust research protocol and study design that will result in a scientifically defensible total abundance estimate of red snapper in Louisiana and adjacent federal waters. Researchers conducted hydroacoustic, video, mark/recapture, and biological surveys at 106 sampling sites in the Gulf off of Louisiana. The final report was presented to LDWF in July of 2022.

Securing additional artificial reefs in red snapper habitat

In recent years, there has been a decrease in donations of oil and gas structures to the Louisiana Artificial Reef Program. A moratorium on accepting structures as Special Artificial Reef Sites (SARS) may have contributed to this decline. However, in April 2017, the Artificial Reef Council revoked the SARS moratorium at LDWF’s request. This action will allow LDWF greater flexibility to take advantage of unique opportunities to reef decommissioned oil and gas structures in-place, rather than moving them tens of miles into a planning area. LDWF will focus on oil and gas structures in known red snapper habitat but lifting this moratorium will also allow for preservation of important offshore habitat for other valuable fisheries species. In addition, LDWF will continue to urge oil and gas companies to use less lethal methods (e.g., cutting rather than explosives), where and when appropriate, to sever the legs of their structures below the mudline to reduce mortality of fish in the area.

 

Current Stock Status and Assessments

Updated NOAA Fisheries Stock Assessment

In April 2018, NOAA Fisheries released an updated stock assessment for Gulf red snapper. According to this latest assessment, the Gulf red snapper stock is no longer overfished and overfishing is not occurring, but it has not yet rebuilt to the established Gulf-wide biomass target. The Gulf red snapper stock continues to increase; however, a healthy population requires an appropriate mix of fish of different ages. The Gulf red snapper population still contains too few older (greater than 20 years) individuals. Red snapper can live a long time (almost 60 years), and the older red snapper females produce more, higher quality eggs. Restrictions on harvest of red snapper are designed not only to increase red snapper abundance but also to allow red snapper to reach older, potentially more productive ages so the population can fully rebuild.

Sea Grant Population Estimate Project

With a growing red snapper population, fishermen are seeing more and larger red snapper in the Gulf and have challenged the results of recent stock assessments. In response, Congress awarded Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant $10 million for a two-year project to independently estimate the abundance of red snapper in U.S. waters of the Gulf using state-of-the-art technology. From 2017 to 2019, fisheries experts from the Gulf and beyond, including LDWF, participated in this project, dubbed the Great Red Snapper Count. The final report from the study including the following results:

  • Potentially two-thirds of the Gulf red snapper population is located in the vast low relief areas of the Gulf of Mexico, which are not target areas for fisheries.
  • When considering this newly estimated low relief population, the study estimates approximately three times as many red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico than were estimated in the most recent assessment completed through the collaborative Southeast Data Assessment and Review process in 2018.
  • The abundance estimates for high relief natural and artificial structures, where most fishing occurs, are similar to that of the 2018 assessment.

This confirms what some scientists, managers, and fishermen have long suspected but did not have the means to prove until now. NOAA Fisheries is incorporating these data into an interim analysis to help inform quotas and management measures for the 2021 Gulf red snapper season. NOAA Fisheries next full, operational assessment for Gulf red snapper is scheduled to begin in late 2022 and be completed in 2023. The Great Red Snapper Count will be an important input in this stock assessment along with other fishery independent and fishery dependent data. 

LDWF Estimation Of Total Red Snapper Abundance In Louisiana And Adjacent Federal Waters

In 2018, the Louisiana Legislature mandated that LDWF provide an absolute abundance estimate for harvest-sized red snapper (16 inches total length or larger) in Louisiana and adjacent federal waters. In November of 2019, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) entered into a Contract with LGL Ecological Research Associates, Inc. (LGL) in order to estimate the total abundance of age 2+ Red Snapper off Louisiana and in adjacent federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). 

One requirement of the study was to be comparable with the “Great Red Snapper Count”, or GRSC, (mentioned above). As acknowledged by Stunz et al. (2021), in the GRSC, unusual complications prevented their full scope of sampling for Louisiana to be accomplished, especially in central and western Louisiana. Therefore, a Louisiana-specific study was needed, and accomplished the necessary sampling and estimation off Louisiana during the period from November 1, 2019 - June 30, 2021.

The results of the final report by LGL estimate overall Red Snapper abundance off  Louisiana at about 8.4 million age 2+ Red Snapper (74.8 million pounds), with the 95% credible limits ranging from about 6.4 to 11.0 million age 2+ Red Snapper. Most of this abundance occurred over uncharacterized bottom (89%), followed by standing platforms (9%), natural banks (1%), and artificial reefs (1%).

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s (Gulf Council) Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC), when setting an Overfishing Limit and Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) for GoM Red Snapper, used estimates from the LGL study off Louisiana in place of the estimates for Louisiana in the GRSC during its March 2022 deliberations.  New catch limits for GoM Red Snapper are expected in late 2022 based upon the new abundance information for Red Snapper in the LGL and GRSC reports.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Do red snapper stock assessments include data collected on red snapper populations at oil and gas platforms and artificial reefs located off Louisiana?

Yes, federal stock assessments include both fisheries dependent (harvest by fishermen) and independent data (biological information gathered by scientists) collected from these structures.

  • Through LA Creel, LDWF closely monitors recreational landings of red snapper. The majority of red snapper landed in Louisiana are caught at platforms and other artificial structures. LDWF provides these landings data to NOAA Fisheries. Similarly, a portion of commercial landings come from oil and gas platforms as well as artificial reefs. Commercial landings are monitored through LDWF trip tickets and reporting to NOAA Fisheries. These landings data (fisheries dependent data) are a critical part of their stock assessments.
  • LDWF participates in annual SEAMAP surveys. Under this program, researchers across the Gulf sample different types of habitat with four types of fishing gear to capture fish samples at various life stages. Researchers use vertical lines to sample reef fish like red snapper at oil and gas platforms, artificial reefs, and natural hard bottom areas in the Gulf, including Louisiana waters. From 2011 to 2018, 1,162 vertical line drops have caught more than 4,500 red snappers. Red snapper are also sampled in SEAMAP groundfish and bottom longline surveys. Population and other biological data collected from these surveys (fisheries independent data) are supplied to NOAA Fisheries to help them estimate populations of red snapper and other reef fish (through stock assessments).

As the red snapper population in the Gulf grew, why did the private recreational red snapper seasons in federal waters get shorter?

Several factors affected the length of the federal season:

  • Catch rates more than doubled since 2007 due to an increase in numbers of both fishermen and fish.
  • The average red snapper is now more than twice the average size in 2007, increasing from 3.3 pounds (2007) to 8.11 pounds (2018). Catching larger fish means that fishermen harvest their annual quota (measured in pounds) more quickly.
  • The Council and NOAA Fisheries established a 20% buffer on the recreational quota. This means that the annual recreational catch quota was decreased by 20%. The intention of the buffer was to decrease the chance of overfishing as it was not possible for NOAA Fisheries to predict what the actual harvest would be in advance of the season. (Note that the buffer was not applied to Louisiana’s 2018 and 2019 EFP seasons; the Commission can choose whether or not to fish with a buffer during the 2020 season and beyond.)
  • If recreational harvests exceeded the annual quota, any excess was deducted from the quota for the following fishing season. This is called a payback provision.
  • As states extended their recreational red snapper seasons starting around 2012, a large fraction of the total harvest came from state waters. NOAA Fisheries had to account for this harvest when setting federal seasons. For example, when they set the 2017 recreational red snapper season, they estimated that 81% of the annual catch target would be caught during state seasons, leaving less than 600,000 pounds for the private recreational federal season.

How is the total catch of Gulf red snapper allocated between the recreational and commercial fishing sectors?

In 1990, Amendment 1 to the Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan allocated the total catch of Gulf red snapper to the recreational and commercial fishing sectors at 49% and 51%, respectively, based on 1979-1987 Marine Recreational Fishery Statistics Survey and commercial landings data. The Council changed this allocation to 51.5% recreational and 48.5% commercial for the 2016 season, but the courts overturned that action. The allocation has now reverted back to the original 49% recreational and 51% commercial split. The Council will be discussing allocation again after the results of the Great Red Snapper Count are released and the Government Accountability Office report on allocation is published.