Mississippi’s 2020 red snapper season will open at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, May 22, for recreational and state-permitted for-hire vessels, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources has announced.
Recreational fishermen will be able to fish out to 200 nautical miles, while charterboats with state permits are limited to fishing in state territorial waters, which is 9 nautical miles south of the barrier islands.
The season for federally permitted for-hire vessels will be announced by federal officials.
Considered the first of two segments of the season, the first one will continue through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, July 12. The red snapper season will then close for an undetermined period to allow MDMR officials to assess the harvest to determine how to manage the remaining catch quota during a second segment.
The season will close if the assigned quota for recreational fishermen or state for-hire fishermen is reached at any point after the season opens. It will also close if the Gulf-wide quota is reached.
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