Red snapper fishing season reopens off Mississippi coast
Published 10:46 am Monday, July 29, 2019
(AP) — One of Mississippi’s most popular saltwater fishing seasons is reopening.
The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources says red snapper season will resume Monday and run seven days a week.
Spokeswoman Charmaine Schmermund says the department hopes to keep the season open through Sept. 2. Officials say the season will close early if recreational or for-hire boats catch their quotas early, or if the Gulf-wide quota is reached.
Schmermund says Mississippi anglers caught 18,000 fish before the season’s first half closed in early July. She says Mississippi has about 40,000 pounds of snapper left in its quota, equal to about 7,000 average-sized fish.
All anglers must register trips online or by phone with the department’s Tails ‘n’ Scales program. Anyone without authorization will be fined and have fish confiscated.