NOAA Fisheries announces that the commercial fishery for red snapper in Gulf of Mexico federal waters will open at noon on November 1, 2003, and close at noon on November 10, 2003. The 2003 Gulf of Mexico commercial red snapper quota is 4.65-million pounds. The commercial fishing season is divided into spring and fall seasons. The spring season began at noon on February 1, with 3.10 million pounds available, and the fall season began at noon on October 1, with the remainder of the annual quota available. During the spring and fall seasons fishing will be allowed during the first 10 days of each month until the quota is caught. Preliminary landings for the 2003 spring season indicated that 3,007,843 pounds of red snapper were landed. Therefore, a total of 1,642,157 pounds remain in the fall quota.

Preliminary landings for October 1-10, 2003, totaled 451,220 pounds of red snapper landed. Therefore, a total of 1,190,937 pounds are available for the November 2003 commercial opening. The operator of a vessel with a valid reef fish permit and a Class 1 or Class 2 red snapper license having red snapper aboard must have landed and sold such red snapper before noon, local time, on November 10, 2003. The minimum size limit for the commercial fishery is 15 inches total length. For more information, read the online press release on the NOAA Fisheries Southeast region Web site.