NOAA Fisheries has finalized new regulations for the South Atlantic red snapper fishery through Amendment 59 to the Fishery Management Plan for Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region, tightening limits and restricting access for both commercial and recreational fishermen in the 2025 season.

According to NOAA Fisheries, the red snapper population in the South Atlantic is “undergoing overfishing, not overfished, but not yet rebuilt,” prompting the agency to revise catch limits and season dates through this final rule. The changes are based on the most recent update to the SEDAR 73 stock assessment, which includes data through 2023.

“NOAA Fisheries developed Amendment 59 on the Secretary’s behalf to comply with the Magnuson-Stevens Act and a court order,” the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) stated, “because the SAFMC failed to develop and submit, after a reasonable period of time, needed conservation and management measures to end and prevent overfishing of the South Atlantic red snapper population, as required by the Magnuson-Stevens Act.”

The final rule, which NOAA Fisheries developed under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, revises the following red snapper benchmarks:

• Overfishing Limit: 551,000 fish (including landings and discards)
• Acceptable Biological Catch and Total Annual Catch Limit: 509,000 fish (including landings and discards)
• Commercial Annual Catch Limit: 102,951 pounds whole weight
• Recreational Annual Catch Limit: 22,797 fish (equivalent to 263,815 pounds whole weight)

The final rule also updates the proxy for determining overfishing. NOAA stated. “Amendment 59 revises the proxy used to determine if red snapper is undergoing overfishing from a fixed value to a more flexible definition that reflects the best scientific information available at the time an overfishing determination is made.”

The 2025 season lengths were determined using the revised Annual Catch Limits and include very limited access for recreational harvesters. As outlined in the SAFMC bulletin:

• Commercial sector: opens at 12:01 a.m. on July 14, 2025, and closes at 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 2026, unless the commercial catch limit is met or projected to be met earlier.
• Recreational sector: opens for just two days, from 12:01 a.m. on July 11 through 12:01 a.m. on July 13, 2025.

The final rule is scheduled to be published on June 11, 2025, with regulations taking effect 30 days after publication, according to SAFMC.