March 29, 2010
Contact: Lee Schlesinger, 850-487-0554

The recreational harvest of grouper in all Gulf of Mexico waters off Florida, except in all waters of Monroe County, reopens on April 1.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) closed the Gulf recreational shallow-water grouper fishery (gag, black, red, yellowfin, scamp, yellowmouth, rock hind and red hind) on Feb. 1 to protect gag grouper, which anglers often find and catch with the other grouper species.  This two-month Gulf grouper spawning season closure helps to reduce overfishing of gag grouper and rebuild its populations so larger annual harvests may be possible in the future.

The FWC also reminds fishermen that the recreational and commercial harvest of shallow-water groupers (including gag, black grouper, red grouper, scamp, red hind, rock hind, coney, graysby, yellowfin grouper, yellowmouth grouper, and tiger grouper) remains closed until May 1 in all Atlantic Ocean and Monroe County waters.

For more online information regarding grouper fishing regulations, including size limits, bag limits and fishing seasons, go to MyFWC.com/RULESANDREGS.

Source: http://myfwc.com/NEWSROOM/10/statewide/News_10_X_GrouperOpens.htm