The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has modified
the red snapper season to allow for fishing on Fridays, Saturdays and
Sundays from Oct. 1 to Nov. 22.
Friday’s announcement, released initially by Congressman Allen Boyd’s
office, came on the heels of a large outcry from fishermen who had
their business significantly curtailed because of BP’s Deepwater Horizon
oil spill, which closed Gulf fisheries. The red snapper season began
June 1 and was set to end July 23.
As the spill has been contained, fishing waters have been reopened.
Vast areas have been opened in the last two weeks, but not in time for
the end of snapper season. Extension of the season has been widely
debated and included a hearing in Pensacola with the Gulf Fisheries
Council earlier this week.
The extension of the season has had several political supporters, including Boyd, D-Monticello.
“Ever since the BP oil disaster, the fishing communities of the Gulf
have been living with tremendous uncertainty about their futures,” Boyd
wrote in a statement released Friday. “While I would have preferred
there to be more days included in the extension, the decision by NOAA to
extend red snapper season through November is welcomed news to the many
fishermen that rely on access to gulf waters to support their
livelihood.”
