Commercial deepwater grouper fishery will close on Saturday

The commercial fishery for deepwater grouper in the Gulf of Mexico will close on Saturday. NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service believes the 2009 commercial quota of 1,020,000 pounds of deepwater grouper will be reached by then. The closure will remain in effect through December the 31st. During the closure period, boats that hold a commercial permit for reef fish cannot keep misty grouper, snowy grouper, yellowedge grouper, Warsaw grouper, or speckled hind in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.