Bill Breen

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This is a GREAT article on the Amendment 17A Snapper Closure, and what we are fighting so hard to correct.  We owe a big thanks to Jim for the work he does!

By Jim Sutton

On Friday, Amendment 17A went into effect, with a caveat that a massive fishing closure off the coast of Northeast Florida and a sliver of Southeast Georgia be delayed for six months.

The amendment shuts down a portion of the Atlantic — about 4,800 square miles — to nearly every targetable bottom fish from 98 feet east to 240 feet. The closure runs from approximately 12 miles north of Sebastian, Fla., to around Brunswick, Ga. And according to the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council, it is meant to remedy severe overfishing of red snapper. The SAFMC oversees Atlantic waters from North Carolina to Key West.

Originally, the plan included the entire region in this closure of over 70 species of reef fish. But one by one, some states were excluded from the fishing closure. According to the SAFMC, that is an incorrect statement. It insists no states were excluded from the closure, but that some states were “not included” in the closure. I stand corrected.

First, North Carolina became not included. South Carolina was “not included” next. The SAFMC OK’d this because, it said, the waters