Other Fishing Regulations

Highly Migratory Species
Tunas, Billfish, Swordfish, Sharks	For Highly Migratory Species Compliance Guide Visit: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/atlantic-highly-migratory-species/atlantic-highly-migratory-species-fishery-compliance-guides Contact the HMS Division of NOAA Fisheries for more information: 301-427-8503

Gulf of Mexico Federal Waters

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council manages fisheries in the federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico Exclusive Economic Zone. Federal waters begin where state waters end and extend to the 200 mile limit of the Gulf of Mexico.

Title 50: Wildlife and Fisheries

Part 600 – Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions
Subpart B – Regional Fishery Management Councils

§ 600.105 Intercouncil boundaries.

(c) South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Councils. The Boundary coincides with the line of demarcation between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, which begins at the intersection of the outer boundary of the EEZ, as specified in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and 83°00’ W long., proceeds northward along that meridian to 24° 35’ N lat. (near the Dry Tortugas Islands), thence eastward along that parallel, through Rebecca Shoal and the Quicksand Shoal, to the Marquesas Keys, and then through the Florida Keys to the mainland at the eastern end of Florida Bay, the line so running that the narrow waters within the Dry Tortugas Islands, the Marquesas Keys and the Florida Keys, and between the Florida Keys and the mainland are within the Gulf of Mexico.

State Authority in Federal Waters

A state may regulate vessels that are registered in that state and fishing in federal waters for species for which there are no federal fishery management plans or applicable federal regulations, or for which the appropriate fishery management plan has delegated management of the state and the state rules are consistent with federal regulations.

NOTE: Federally permitted for-hire reef fish vessels must comply with the more restrictive of federal or state reef fish regulations when fishing for reef fish in state waters.

 

Marine Sanctuaries and Area Closures

Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary and Stetson Bank, McGrail Bank, West Flower Garden Bank, and East Flower Garden Bank Coral HAPCs

NOTE: Areas around Stetson Bank, West Flower Garden Bank, East Flower Garden Bank and McGrail Bank are regulated both as Coral HAPCs and as components of the National Marine Sanctuary. The boundaries and regulations associated with each area are different. Anglers should comply with the most restrictive regulations in areas where designations overlap.

 

A Comparison of Activity Restrictions Based on Coral Habitat of Particular Concern (HAPC) with fishing regulations or Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Designation

Activity	Coral HAPCs	FGBNMS
Hook and line fishing	Allowed	Allowed
Bottom anchoring	Prohibited for fishing vessels	Prohibited for all vessels
Fishing with bottom tending gear	Prohibited	Prohibited
Spearfishing	Allowed	Prohibited
Pelagic longline	Allowed	Prohibited

 

Coral HAPC Coordinates and Associated Regulations

 

Stetson Bank, West Flower Garden Bank, East Flower Garden Bank, and McGrail Bank

Fishing with a bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, dredge, pot, or trap and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels are prohibited year-round.

Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Coordinates and Associated Regulations

For the full text regulations, contact the Sanctuary office at 409-621-5151 or visit https://flowergarden.noaa.gov.

 

Fishing and Related Activities
The following activities are generally prohibited:

• Injuring, catching, harvesting, collecting or feeding, or attempting to injure, catch, harvest, collect or feed, any fish within the sanctuary by use of any gear, device, equipment or means (e.g. spear guns, nets) except by use of conventional hook and line gear.
• Possessing (except while passing through the sanctuary without interruption) any fishing gear, device, equipment, or means except conventional hook and line gear.
• Possessing or using explosives or releasing electrical charges within the sanctuary.

Conventional hook and line gear means any fishing apparatus operated aboard a vessel and composed of a single line terminated by a combination of sinkers and hooks or lures and spooled upon a reel that may be hand or electrically operated, hand-held or mounted.

 

Anchoring and Mooring
The following activities are prohibited:

• Anchoring any vessel within the Sanctuary.
• Mooring a vessel over 100 feet in registered length on a Sanctuary mooring buoy.

 

Discharges
Discharging or depositing any material or other matter within the Sanctuary is prohibited, with the following exceptions:

• Fish, fish parts, chumming materials or bait used in or resulting from fishing with conventional hook and line gear in the sanctuary.
• Clean effluent from an operable Type I or Type II marine sanitation devise (MSD).
• Clean water generated by routine vessel operations (e.g. engine exhaust, cooling water, deck wash down, and gray water), excluding oily wastes from bilge pumping.

 

Injury to or Possession of Sanctuary Resources
The following activities are generally prohibited:

• Injuring or removing, or attempting to injure or remove, any coral or other bottom formation, coralline algae or other plant, marine invertebrate (e.g., spiny lobster, queen conch, shell, sea urchin), brine-seep biota or carbonate rock.
• Possessing within the Sanctuary (regardless of where collected), any coral or other bottom formation, coralline algae or other plant, or fish (except for fish caught by use of conventional hook and line gear).
• Drilling into, dredging, or otherwise altering the seabed of the sanctuary; or constructing, placing, or abandoning any structure, material, or other matter on the seabed of the Sanctuary.

Fishing with a bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, pot, or trap and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels are prohibited year-round.

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

Tortugas North and South Ecological Reserves

The following locations are closed to all fishing. Anchoring of fishing vessels is also not allowed. The boundaries of the areas are as follows:

RECREATIONAL Tortugas North

COMMERCIAL Tortugas North

 

Madison Swanson, Steamboat Lumps, and the Edges

50 CFR: Wildlife and Fisheries – PART 622 FISHERIES OF THE CARIBBEAN, GULF OF MEXICO, AND SOUTH ATLANTIC
§622.34 – Gulf EEZ seasonal and/or area closures.

Fishing prohibited year-round. Possession of reef fish prohibited even for vessels in transit unless the vessel has an operating vessel monitoring system, a valid federal commercial Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Permit, and fishing gear is appropriately stowed.

 

The Edges (40 fathom contour)

The Edges (40 fathom contour) is closed January 1 through April 30 to all fishing. The Edges is a 390 nautical square mile region northwest of Steamboat Lumps.

 

The Middle Grounds

50 CFR: Wildlife and Fisheries – PART 622 FISHERIES OF THE CARIBBEAN, GULF OF MEXICO, AND SOUTH ATLANTIC
§622.34 – Gulf EEZ seasonal and/or area closures.

(b) Florida middle grounds HAPC. Fishing with a bottom longline, bottom trawl, dredge, pot, or trap is prohibited year round.

 

Pulley Ridge

50 CFR: Wildlife and Fisheries – PART 622 FISHERIES OF THE CARIBBEAN, GULF OF MEXICO, AND SOUTH ATLANTIC
§622.34 – Gulf EEZ seasonal and/or area closures.

(r) Pulley Ridge HAPC. Fishing with a bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, dredge, pot, or trap and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels are prohibited year-round in the HAPC.

 

 

Reef Fish Stressed Areas

A powerhead may not be used in the stressed area to take Gulf reef fish. A roller trawl may not be used in the stressed area.

• 

Commercial – Bottom Longline Closures

50 CFR: Wildlife and Fisheries – PART 622 FISHERIES OF THE CARIBBEAN, GULF OF MEXICO, AND SOUTH ATLANTIC
§622.34 – Gulf EEZ seasonal and/or area closures.

From June through August each year, bottom longlining for Gulf reef fish is prohibited in the portion of the Gulf EEZ east of 85°30’ W longitude (Cape San Blas).

Coral Amendment 9 Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPCs)

Pulley Ridge South Portion A

Deployment of a bottom trawl, buoy gear, pot or trap, and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels is prohibited year-round.

 

Rough Tongue Reef

Deployment of bottom-tending gear (bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, dredge, pot or trap) and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels is prohibited year-round.

 

L & W Pinnacles and Scamp Reef

Deployment of bottom-tending gear (bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, dredge, pot or trap) and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels is prohibited year-round.

 

Viosca Knoll 826

Deployment of bottom-tending gear (bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, dredge, pot or trap) and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels is prohibited year-round.

 

Alabama Alps Reef

Deployment of bottom-tending gear (bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, dredge, pot or trap) and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels is prohibited year-round.

 

Viosca Knoll 862/906

Deployment of bottom-tending gear (bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, dredge, pot or trap) and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels is prohibited year-round. Fishermen possessing a royal red shrimp endorsement that are deploying royal red shrimp fishing gear are exempt from the prohibition on deployment of bottom-tending gear.

 

Mississippi Canyon 118

Deployment of bottom-tending gear (bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, dredge, pot or trap) and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels is prohibited year-round.

 

AT 047

Deployment of bottom-tending gear (bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, dredge, pot or trap) and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels is prohibited year-round.

 

AT 357

Deployment of bottom-tending gear (bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, dredge, pot or trap) and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels is prohibited year-round.

 

Green Canyon 852

Deployment of bottom-tending gear (bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, dredge, pot or trap) and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels is prohibited year-round.

 

Southern Bank

Deployment of bottom-tending gear (bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, dredge, pot or trap) and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels is prohibited year-round.

 

Harte Bank

Deployment of bottom-tending gear (bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, dredge, pot or trap) and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels is prohibited year-round.

 

West Florida Wall

Deployment of bottom-tending gear (bottom longline, bottom trawl, buoy gear, dredge, pot or trap) and bottom anchoring by fishing vessels is prohibited year-round.

Additional Rules
Vessel Monitoring Systems are required onboard all vessels with federal commercial permits for Gulf reef fish, including charter vessels/headboats that also have a commercial reef fish permit.
Entangling nets may not be used for directed harvest of reef fish.
Reef Fish taken under recreational bag limit may not be sold.
Commercial vessels are prohibited from retaining reef fish caught under the recreational size and bag/possession limit when commercial quantities of Gulf reef fish are on board.
Reef fish gear is limited to no more than 3 hooks in a special management zone off Alabama. Nonconforming gear is restricted to bag limits, or for reef fish without a bag limit, to 5% by weight of all fish onboard.
Vessels with shrimp trawls or entangling net gear onboard may not exceed the recreational reef fish bag limits.
All fish except for bait and oceanic migratory species taken from federal waters must have heads and fins intact through landing. Up to 1.5 pounds of legal finfish exempt from this rule for personal consumption at sea provided the vessel is equipped to cook such finfish.
A state may regulate vessels that are registered in that state and that are fishing in federal waters for species for which there are no federal fishery management plans or applicable federal regulations.
Operators of vessels with Gulf of Mexico reef fish commercial or charter vessel/headboat permits must comply with guidelines for proper care and release of incidentally caught smalltooth sawfish and sea turtles and possess onboard specific gear to ensure proper release of such species.
There is no limit on the total number of hooks kept onboard bottom longline vessels, however, the number of hooks rigged for fishing is limited to 750.

 

 

Two-Day Bag Limit	Persons on qualified charter vessels or headboats on trips in excess of 30 hours may possess a 2-day bag limit of reef fish, king mackerel, and Spanish mackerel at any time during the trip. The for-hire vessel must have two licensed operators aboard, and each passenger must have in their possession a receipt issued to them on behalf of the vessel that verifies the length of the trip. One-day bag limits apply to all other species and trips, regardless of length. (Effective March 26, 2021)
Head & Fins Attached	All fish, except for bait and oceanic migratory species, taken from federal waters must have heads and fins intact through landing. Up to 1.5 pounds of legal finfish per person is exempt from this rule for personal consumption at sea, provided the vessel is equipped to cook such finfish.
Federally Permitted For-Hire Reef Fish Vessels	Federally permitted for-hire reef fish vessels must comply with the more restrictive of federal or state reef fish regulations when fishing for reef fish in state waters.
Reef Fish as Bait	The use of federally managed reef fish as bait is prohibited.
Gear	Reef fish gear is limited to no more than 3 hooks in a special management zone off of Alabama. Nonconforming gear is restricted to bag limit. For reef fish without a bag limit, nonconforming gear is restricted to 5% by weight of all fish onboard.
Sale of Recreationally Caught Reef Fish	Reef fish taken under the recreational bag limit may not be sold.
Care and Release of Incidental Catch of Smalltooth Sawfish and Sea Turtles	Operators of vessels with Gulf of Mexico reef fish commercial or charter vessel/headboat permits must comply with guidelines for proper care and release of incidentally caught smalltooth sawfish and sea turtles and must possess onboard specific gear to ensure proper release of such species.
No Bag/Size Limit	Check for applicable state regulations
Persons on Commercial, For-hire, and Private Recreational Vessels	Must have a venting tool or descending device rigged and ready to use when fishing for reef fish species in Gulf of Mexico federal waters.