Panacea fisherman react to shorter gag grouper season

• The 2024 Gag grouper season has been shortened and fishermen in Panacea have thoughts.
• This year’s gag grouper season is from September 1st through the 15th.
• Last year the season was September 1st through November 10th.
• Watch the video to see what local fishermen are saying about this
  

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The 2024 Gag grouper season has been shortened and fishermen in Panacea have thoughts.

"Everybody's kind of frustrated with it."

I'm Kenzie Krueger in Panacea here's what you need to know about the upcoming gag grouper season.

Fishermen like Mike Ryan who has lived in Wakulla County for years say a shorter season limits them.

“You gotta work and then when’s the weather going to get good it just cuts you down to not being able to go fishing that often.”

According to NOAA’s website -- I found for overall grouper seasons like red snapper, NOAA Fisheries says they

“chose an earlier closure date than projected scenarios because red grouper catch limits exceeded by 72% and 35% in 2022.”

Ryan says keeping up the different seasons can be confusing especially for visitors.

“They open one season for one type of fish and close it for another type of fish simultaneously, it’s hard to figure out what you can and can’t keep.”

One thing he does know, is that he’ll make making the most if the season

“With the 16 day season I’m going to be ready everyday.”

Gag grouper recreational season in the gulf opens at 12 A.M. September 1st and closes at 12:01 A.M. on the 16th.