NOAA Fisheries has opened a 25-day public comment period on four new state-led pilots for managing recreational red snapper, reigniting debate over how abundant the stock is in the South Atlantic.
“As an avid fisherman, I understand the adventure and thrill of the catch,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Eugenio Piñeiro Soler said in a release. “The EFPs [Exempted Fishing Permits] propose to open up more opportunities for our recreational fishermen, while supporting sustainable red snapper population levels. NOAA Fisheries is committed to improving our partnerships and collecting better recreational data to bolster science-based fisheries management.”
Advocates believe red snapper is far more populous than official estimates and have urged federal regulators to authorize higher quotas; however, opponents worry that the state pilots could put additional strain on a stock that has been subject to overfishing.
The states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina have applied for Exempted Fishing Permits, which would allow the states to control their respective recreational red snapper fisheries while testing new data collection methods and management strategies.
“Today’s announcement underscores NOAA’s dedication to innovative harvest strategies that represent a bold new paradigm for coastal prosperity, aligning sustainable fisheries management with the president’s charge to revitalize the economic core of our coastal regions,” NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs said in a release. “These state-led pilots have the potential to provide an important framework for improved data collection and enhanced management responsiveness, ensuring red snapper remains a cultural and economic cornerstone for the South Atlantic.”
A similar approach has been taken in the Gulf of Mexico – referred to as the Gulf of America by the Trump administration – with NOAA allowing states to manage their own recreational red snapper landings.
“Allowing state management of South Atlantic red snapper populations follows the successful blueprint from the Gulf of America that Committee Republicans advocated for and implemented during the first Trump administration,” U.S. Representative Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas), who chairs the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, said in a release. “The Exempted Fishing Permits will allow those who know best to manage and sustain red snapper populations, fostering a better fishing experience off the coast of the four states. This is great news for anglers, species and coastal economies alike.”
Florida has held up its management of recreational red snapper on its West coast in the Gulf of Mexico as a beacon of what state-led management can do and as evidence that NOAA should grant it control of recreational red snapper fishing on its East coast in the Atlantic. Under Florida’s control, Gulf red snapper fishing has expanded from three fishing days to 127 days. Its EFP application for the Atlantic coast fishery would expand fishing from the two days allowed in 2025 to a full 39-day season.
“State management and expansion of Gulf snapper season have been a major boon for our Gulf of America communities, allowing so many Floridians and visitors to enjoy the Red Snapper our waters have to offer,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in announcing the application in November 2025. “Just as it has on the Gulf coast, Florida’s management of Atlantic Red Snapper fishing will boost local economies along our Atlantic coast, supporting tackle and bait shops, hotels, restaurants, and the entire recreational fishing community.”
However, the Gulf of Mexico red snapper and the South Atlantic red snapper stocks are at drastically different levels, spurring concerns that the increased recreational fishing effort on the East Coast would have a much different impact than the Gulf programs. The South Atlantic red snapper fishery is federally designated as being subject to overfishing – a fact that area anglers and the lawmakers who represent them have heavily disputed. In a June letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, the governors of the states claimed that there is an “unprecedented abundance of red snapper” in the South Atlantic and that the stock is no longer overfished or undergoing overfishing, and quotas should be increased accordingly.
U.S. federal lawmakers also have funded an independent Great Red Snapper Count (GRSC) to produce an alternative assessment of the stock to NOAA Fisheries’ official assessment, and they’ve attempted to limit the agency’s control of the fishery until that count is completed.
On the other side, lawsuits from conservation groups have forced the agency to take steps to address the overfishing, and last year the agency released its plan setting a total annual catch limit (ACL) of just 509,000 fish. That prompted another strong push from the four Southern Atlantic states to limit NOAA Fisheries’ management of the recreational fishery, and later in the year all four submitted applications for EFPs.
The rapid push for state control in opposition to the U.S. government’s official data and regular management process has prompted statements of concern from some conservation groups and other lawmakers.
“Our fisheries should be managed in a science-based, sustainable way that benefits everyone – whether you fish for fun, on charter boats, or are a fisherman who makes their livelihood on the sea,” U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-California) said in a release. “Not every state has demonstrated that they are up to the task, but NOAA is willfully sidestepping and manipulating the law to give them blanket authorities. This is a regulatory shortcut that will undermine this fishery when what we need is something that will work for everyone in the long term."
In a separate statement, NGO Ocean Conservancy also questioned whether the states were ready to manage the fishery, pointing out that the EFP process was meant to support data collection and research, not to overrule NOAA Fisheries.
“We have serious concerns about the sustainability of this extraordinary approach. Just last year, NOAA’s analysis showed that a two-day recreational fishing season was needed to prevent overfishing, and now they’re proposing months-long seasons with unproven data collection systems. Something doesn’t add up,” Ocean Conservancy Senior Director of Fish Conservation Meredith Moore said in a release. “Moreover, this is a gross abuse of America’s national fishery law, the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Exempted fishing permits are meant to support research, not bypass the science-based protections that keep our fisheries healthy and abundant.”
