Modifications to Lane Snapper Minimum Size Limit and Recreational Bag Limit

The Lane Snapper has consistently become a prevailing topic at the Gulf Council meetings. Since 2016, the ACL has been exceeded and 2019-2022 has experienced season closures. There has been an expansion not only in the species geographic distribution but also and increase in the stock. As well as more anglers are targeting the species, mainly because of their abundance. In the presentation it gives some general approaches to get the fishery out of the "experiencing overfishing" bracket. The Gulf Council requested analysis of what a change in minimum size limits and daily bag limits would do to reduce the harvest. Talking with fishermen from Central and South Florida, which is where the majority of the species is located and caught, it seemed they felt a raise in size limit to 10-12" instead of the 8" it currently is at would achieve the effort to not have seasonal closures and take it out of the "experiencing overfishing", but we will know more when the Gulf Council gets the analysis at the January 2025 Gulf Council meeting.