January 28, 2010
Contact: Lee Schlesinger, 850-487-0554

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission advises anglers that regulations prohibit the recreational harvest of all shallow-water groupers (gag, black, red, yellowfin, scamp, yellowmouth, rock hind and red hind) from Feb. 1 through March 31 in all Gulf of Mexico waters off Florida, except in all waters of Monroe County.

Closing the recreational harvest of all Gulf shallow-water grouper species for two months each year during the spawning season reduces overfishing of Gulf gag grouper. It does this by limiting the unintended catch and possible mortality of gag grouper to help it rebuild its populations and achieve larger annual harvests in the future for this important species.

For more information regarding grouper fishing regulations, go to MyFWC.com/Rules and click on "Fishing - Saltwater."

Source: http://www.myfwc.com/NEWSROOM/10/statewide/News_10_X_GrouperGulfClose1.htm