TALLAHASSEE — At its October meeting, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) issued an executive order to close recreational harvest of gag grouper in Gulf state waters. The 2023 recreational season for gag grouper in Gulf state waters, excluding state waters of Monroe County, will close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on Oct. 19, consistent with the closure in adjacent federal waters. The Gulf gag grouper recreational season will reopen on Sept. 1, 2024.

Consistent state and federal recreational seasons for Gulf gag grouper will help prevent quota overages and mitigate risks of future paybacks and shortened seasons.

The Gulf gag grouper stock is overfished and experiencing overfishing and significant quota reductions have been implemented to help end overfishing.

For more information, including the October 2023 Commission meeting presentation, visit MyFWC.com/Commission and click on “Commission Meetings.”

For current recreational gag grouper regulations, visit MyFWC.com/Marine and click on “Recreational Regulations,” “Reef Fish” and “Grouper.”