Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources to ask anglers for fish bodies during red snapper season

The Georgia recreational red snapper harvest season starts on July 12 and state officials are asking anglers to help them by donating their fish carcasses.

While it may seem fishy, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Coastal Resources Division is asking for the bodies in order to collect data on age, size and growth for the species, to then share it with regional and federal partners.

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The data will be used for fishery management, according to DNR.

“The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is allowing the recreational harvest of one red snapper per person per day with no minimum size restrictions in South Atlantic federal waters at least three miles offshore during the period,” DNR said in their request for fish carcasses. “CRD is asking anglers who fillet their fish to donate the carcasses at freezers located along Georgia’s coast at marinas and bait shops. A complete list of locations is available at CoastalGaDNR.org/MarineCarcass .”

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In order to donate the red snapper carcasses, an angler or charter boat group will have to go to a freezer station and the donor will have to fill out a registration card and attach it to the plastic bag with the carcasses inside.

Two donors will be chosen at random and receive a $50 gift card to Academy Sports, according to DNR.

While the request for fish bodies was focused on red snapper, the freezer stations accept donated carcasses of other species, too.

Anglers are also encouraged to log information about their fishing trips online to help CRD collect more fisheries data.

“Fishery management can be a difficult task,” said Carolyn Belcher, CRD’s Chief of Marine Fisheries. “But the more data we have, the better our estimates are. We have a wide variety of surveys and programs to gather data, and the input from recreational anglers is a vital part of our data-gathering process.”

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