Florida new rules are now in effect to manage red grouper, dolphin and wahoo

January 11, 2005
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) reminds anglers that new rules are now in effect to manage red grouper, dolphin and wahoo.

The daily recreational bag limit for red grouper now is two fish per person (within the five-fish aggregate grouper limit) in Gulf of Mexico state waters.  This limit also applies in Gulf federal waters.  Florida state waters extend nine nautical miles offshore in the gulf, and federal waters extend beyond state waters.

The new limit on recreational red grouper harvest is intended to help rebuild red grouper stocks in the gulf.  The minimum size limit for red grouper remains at 20 inches total length, and the daily recreational bag limit in Atlantic Ocean state waters is still five fish per person (under the five-grouper aggregate limit).

In addition, new management rules are in place for dolphin and wahoo.  These rules are intended to be consistent with recently implemented regulations for dolphin and wahoo in Atlantic Ocean federal waters, which were developed to prevent over-fishing of these species.  The FWC has also implemented other measures to protect dolphin and wahoo in state waters.  The new rules:

·        Designate dolphin and wahoo as restricted species,

·        Establish a 20-inch fork length minimum size limit for all harvest of dolphin on Florida’s Atlantic coast,

·        Establish a statewide maximum recreational harvest limit of 60 dolphin per vessel (except 10 dolphin per paying passenger on for-hire vessels),

·        Establish a statewide daily two-fish recreational bag limit and a 500-pound commercial daily vessel limit for wahoo,

·        Require commercial vessels, harvesting dolphin and wahoo on the Atlantic coast, to have a federal permit,

·        Prohibit the sale of recreationally caught dolphin or wahoo (except qualified for-hire vessels may sell recreationally harvested dolphin), and

·        Require all dolphin and wahoo to be landed in a whole condition.

Other FWC rules that continue to apply for dolphin include prohibiting the commercial harvest and sale of dolphin less than 20 inches fork length, a 10-fish daily bag limit for recreational harvest of dolphin and limiting dolphin harvest to hook and line, long lines (outside of state waters) and spearing.