NOAA fisheries considers increase in red snapper quota

NOAA fisheries is looking for public comment on a plan to increase the annual quota for red snapper.

The increase would be for both commercial and recreational fishing.

The proposed change would increase the overall quota from 8 million pounds to 8.4 million pounds.

The commercial allocation would increase from about 4.1 million pounds to 4.3 million pounds and the recreational allocation would go from 3.9 to 4.1 million pounds.

NOAA says the quotas can be increased this year because recent population assessments show that overfishing for red snapper is no longer occurring.

Public comments on the increase have to be received by April the 19^th.

Comments can be made on-line at regulations.gov.

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