What the new regulations will mean to pier fishers...

Beginning August 26, 2019
A Reef Fish Endorsement will be available for purchase for recreational licenses beginning August 26, 2019. Commercial license sales will begin on September 16, 2019. The Reef Fish Endorsement will be required for any person possessing, taking or attempting to take any gulf reef fish species listed in Rule 220-3-.46 (see below). This endorsement is required for all resident and non-resident anglers 16 years of age and older, and includes disabled, veterans appreciation, 65 and older, lifetime license holders, pier licenses, annual saltwater licenses, trip licenses, commercial fishermen, and charter boats.
Gulf Reef Fish Species Listed in Rule 220-3-.46
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• Gray (mangrove) snapper, Lutjanus griseus

Regulation Changes:
Cobia

• 36 inches fork length minimum

Spotted Sea Trout

• Slot limit: 15 inches total length, but not over 22 inches total length
• 6 per person, per day with one over 22 inches total length allowed

Flounder

• 14 inches total length (recreational and commercial)
• Recreational creel limit is 5 per person, per day
• Commercial creel limit is 40 per person, per day and 40 per vessel
• Closed season for flounder is November 1 through November 30, 2019, for both recreational and commercial anglers.

Hook Requirements

• Gulf Reef Fish: non-stainless steel circle hooks when using natural bait
• Sharks: non-offset, non-stainless steel circle hooks when using natural bait

Besides the obvious size and creel changes (for cobia, speckled trout and flounder) this means anyone LEGALLY retaining Grey (mangrove) snapper must 1. have a "Reef Fish Endorsement" and 2. use non stainless circle hooks when using natural bait (live or dead bait).

That would seem to mean if you are using a treble hook (say targeting speckled trout or redfish), then legally ANY mangrove snapper you catch (even over 12") must be returned to the water whether you have the Reef Fish Endorsement or not.

It seems most of the shark fishers in the pier events have been using non-stainless circle hooks anyway since there are so many undersized sharks landed.

Pier#r is this the same as the Salt Water Registry we have been filling out for years?

No.
These regulations are entirely new and different

Is everyone going to have to pay? Have you seen the cost?

I understand the cost of the "Reef fish Endorsement" will be $10 per year.
I am NOT going to buy one, and next year plan to approach the Conservation Advisory Board in an attempt to get a 'from shore' and/or 'inshore' exemption for landing "reef fish" such as grey ("mangrove") snapper.

Meaning any of the aforesaid reef fish you catch this license year will be returned ?

What reason was given for the November closure for flounder or was it just arbitrary?
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I would imagine that as long as you are targeting non-reef fish, then any incidental catches would be okay to keep if you do have the permit (aside from the obvious of does someone determine what hook you used when checking your cooler). The idea is that the circle hooks are less likely to be swallowed and kill the fish, so if you accidentally caught a legal size mangrove while fishing for trout with a treble hook and it did somehow swallow the hook, then wouldn't it make more sense to keep the fish? That leads to a question I had - do the circle hooks have to be non-offset?

Of course I have my doubts about where the money goes, but to me $10 isn't that much and hopefully at least some of it will go toward preserving the fishery...

Presumably it targets their inshore spawning migration. I am sure the migration varies slightly from year to year and location to location, so a fixed calendar window is in that sense arbitrary for the sake of clarity of enforcement.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by usa

What reason was given for the November closure for flounder or was it just arbitrary?
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That is when many of the largest Southern flounder are moving out the bay and into the Gulf to spawn.