NOAA extends red snapper season

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has modified the red snapper season to allow for fishing on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Oct. 1 to Nov. 22.

Friday’s announcement, released initially by Congressman Allen Boyd’s office, came on the heels of a large outcry from fishermen who had their business significantly curtailed because of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which closed Gulf fisheries. The red snapper season began June 1 and was set to end July 23.

As the spill has been contained, fishing waters have been reopened. Vast areas have been opened in the last two weeks, but not in time for the end of snapper season. Extension of the season has been widely debated and included a hearing in Pensacola with the Gulf Fisheries Council earlier this week.

The extension of the season has had several political supporters, including Boyd, D-Monticello.

“Ever since the BP oil disaster, the fishing communities of the Gulf have been living with tremendous uncertainty about their futures,” Boyd wrote in a statement released Friday. “While I would have preferred there to be more days included in the extension, the decision by NOAA to extend red snapper season through November is welcomed news to the many fishermen that rely on access to gulf waters to support their livelihood.”