New Redfish Rule Changes In Our Area

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) approved proposed management regions and regulation changes for redfish in state waters. 

The proposed rule changes at it's May meeting would:

Modify the redfish management regions. (See figure 1 below)

Prohibit captain and crew from retaining a bag limit when on a for-hire trip.

Reduce the off-the-water transport limit from six to four fish per person.

Increase the bag limit for the Big Bend region from one to two fish per person

Reduce the eight-fish vessel limit in each of the proposed management regions:

Panhandle, Big Bend, Northeast: four fish.

Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay, Charlotte Harbor, Southwest, Southeast: two fish.

Allow only catch-and-release fishing for redfish in the Indian River Lagoon region.  

The FWC staff plans to continue to gather input on the proposed rules and will return to the Commission for a Final Rule Hearing later this year.

For more information, including the May 2022 Commission meeting presentation, visit MyFWC.com/Commission and click on “Commission Meetings.”

For current recreational redfish regulations, visit MyFWC.com/Marine and click on “Recreational Regulations” and “Redfish.” This page will be updated with the new regulations when they take effect.

Tight Lines.