Mississippi’s Red Snapper season is now open. The season will run through September 2nd at 11:59 p.m. and will be open seven days a week. The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources says they will have a mid-season closure from July 8th – 28th. The closure will help ensure the state’s annual quota is not met before Labor Day and will allow MDMR staff to analyze all data from the first segment of the season.
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.
Private recreational anglers can fish out to 200 nautical miles. Vessels with state for-hire permits can fish in state territorial waters, which is nine nautical miles from the barrier islands.
All anglers are required to register their trips through MDMR’s Tails n’ Scales program, which is available through a smartphone app, a website, and a call center. Anglers must have a trip number when they are out on the water and close out that trip before creating a new one.
The data collected in the Tails n’ Scales program allows MDMR fisheries managers to closely monitor the harvest in near real-time while still allowing Mississippi anglers more opportunity and greater flexibility to harvest Red Snapper.
MDMR warns anglers that those caught fishing for Red Snapper without a trip authorization number will be fined and Marine Patrol officers will confiscate their fish.
