Georgia red snapper EFP runs Oct. 9–22, capped at 4,859 fish

Georgia’s 2026 red snapper experiment is a 14-day federal-water season, separate from the three-day South Atlantic opening. The exempted fishing permit issued to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (permit 26-SERO-06), posted by the Coastal Resources Division, lets properly licensed private anglers and for-hire boats keep red snapper in South Atlantic federal waters from Oct. 9 through Oct. 22. Every trip has to start and end at a Georgia landing.

The harvest cap is 4,859 fish, the number NMFS projects that window will produce. The bag is one red snapper per person. Captain and crew on a charter or headboat may not keep one. Fish kept under this permit take the place of the general federal recreational season. They are not added on top of it. Other snapper-grouper gear rules still apply. For-hire boats in federal waters still need a valid federal South Atlantic snapper-grouper charter or headboat permit, and those captains keep filing through the federal for-hire reporting system.

Private anglers register and report in the VESL app. Before leaving, declare the trip and hold the trip authorization code for law enforcement. The report — red snapper caught, kept, and released, and whether releases were alive or dead — is due no later than 24 hours after departure. The next trip cannot be authorized until that report is in. A copy of the permit has to be on the boat. November harvest is closed, though GADNR will still ask private anglers to declare offshore trips and report red snapper discards that month. After October landings are reviewed, GADNR and NMFS will decide whether any remaining fish can support a December season.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Georgia DNR Coastal Resources Division — 2026 red snapper exempted fishing permit, PDF (posted Sept. 22, 2026; permit 26-SERO-06).