Today, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) issued a Declaration of Emergency to close the commercial Greater Amberjack season at 12:01 a.m. on September 11, 2025. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries has announced that the commercial season for the harvest of Greater Amberjack will close in federal waters at 12:01 am on September 2, 2025, and remain closed until the start of the regularly scheduled 2026 season, currently January 1, 2026.
This closure is necessary because NOAA Fisheries projected that the commercial annual catch target of 93,930 pounds whole weight would be met on September 2, 2025.
After the closure, no person shall commercially harvest, possess, purchase, barter, trade, sell, or attempt to purchase, barter, trade, or sell Greater Amberjack. Nothing shall prohibit the sale of Greater Amberjack legally taken prior to the closure providing that all commercial dealers possessing Greater Amberjack taken legally prior to the closure shall maintain appropriate records.
Recreational Amberjack season will remain open through October 31.