I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 470 
To provide that the Secretary of Commerce shall not issue an interim or 
final rule or Secretarial Amendment that includes an area or bottom 
closure in the South Atlantic for species managed under the Fishery 
Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic 
Region until the South Atlantic Great Red Snapper Count study is 
complete and the data related to that study is integrated into the stock 
assessment. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 16, 2025 
Mr. RUTHERFORD (for himself, Mr. SOTO, Mr. BEAN of Florida, Mr. CARTER 
of Georgia, Ms. MACE, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. 
DONALDS, Mr. SCOTT FRANKLIN of Florida, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr. DUNN 
of Florida, Ms. LEE of Florida, Mr. MAST, Mr. GIMENEZ, Mr. FRY, Mr. 
AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, and Mrs. LUNA) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To provide that the Secretary of Commerce shall not issue 
an interim or final rule or Secretarial Amendment that 
includes an area or bottom closure in the South Atlantic 
for species managed under the Fishery Management Plan 
for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic 
Region until the South Atlantic Great Red Snapper 
Count study is complete and the data related to that 
study is integrated into the stock assessment. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Red Snapper Act of 
2025’’. 
SEC. 2. CONDITIONS FOR RULES AND SECRETARIAL 
AMENDMENTS RELATED TO CERTAIN AREA 
CLOSURES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Fishing is a major economic driver in the 
South Atlantic. In Florida alone, recreational an-
glers provide $14,000,000,000 in economic output 
and support 119,000 jobs. 
(2) Red snapper is a highly prized and sought 
after reef fish by both recreational and commercial 
fishermen. 
(3) The 6-day recreational red snapper season 
in 2018 added $13,000,000 to the gross domestic 
product of the South Atlantic region. 
(4) Since 2010, fishery managers have success-
fully been working to rebuild the red snapper stock 
in the South Atlantic. There is currently record high 
abundance and strong recruitment within the stock. 
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(5) This record abundance has led to increased 
out-of-season encounters and discards which is driv-
ing red snapper mortality. 
(6) Despite these increased discards, it is the 
overriding opinion of the South Atlantic Fishery 
Management Council’s Snapper Grouper Advisory 
Panel that based on members’ collective on-the-water 
experience, the red snapper fishery is recovered. 
(7) However, options for future consideration to 
reduce out-of-season encounters and red snapper 
mortalities include shorter seasons and broad area 
closures for the snapper-grouper fishery in the South 
Atlantic. 
(8) The State of Florida is concerned with the 
economic implications of area closures for the South 
Atlantic snapper-grouper recreational fishery. 
(9) $8,700,000 has been invested in inde-
pendent survey data over the last 3 fiscal years, in-
cluding $3,300,000 for the South Atlantic Great 
Red Snapper Count to estimate the number of red 
snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) in the South At-
lantic waters from North Carolina to Florida. 
(10) The National Marine Fisheries Service 
should incorporate data from this survey into the 
National Marine Fisheries Service stock assessments 
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as expeditiously as possible to better inform fishery 
management decisions. 
(b) CONDITION ON ISSUANCE OF CERTAIN RULE OR 
SECRETARIAL AMENDMENT.—The Secretary of Com-
merce shall not issue an interim or final rule or a Secre-
tarial Amendment that includes an area or bottom closure 
in the South Atlantic for species managed under the Fish-
ery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery 
of the South Atlantic Region until— 
(1) the South Atlantic Great Red Snapper 
Count study is complete; and 
(2) the data related to that study is integrated 
into the first South Atlantic red snapper Southeast 
Data, Assessment and Review stock assessment that 
is carried out after the date of the enactment of this 
section. 
Æ 
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