DeSantis calls ruling against Florida’s expanded red snapper season ‘disrespectful’

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WFLA) — During a Friday bill signing, Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized a federal court’s ruling blocking Florida’s extended red snapper season.
Thursday, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking exempted fishing permits that allowed the 2026 state recreational red snapper season in the south Atlantic. Originally, it was supposed to begin on Friday, May 22, and continue until July 31.
This blocked the EFPS for Florida and other southern states. Problem is, this ruling came just before Florida’s recreational red snapper season, drawing ire from state officials.
“I mean, think about it, how disrespectful is it to rule when people have already made plans to come down and to do this?” DeSantis said. “And look, a lot of it’s local, but there’s a lot of people that that may have been the determining factor in them doing Memorial Day weekend and on the east coast of Florida, when maybe they would have gone somewhere else.”
While NOAA Fisheries told fishermen to reach out to state agencies for more information, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation shot back in a pointed statement.
“On May 21, 2026, a rogue federal judge sided with activists in an attempt to block Floridians from exercising their right to fish through the recently approved Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) for Atlantic Red Snapper issued by NOAA Fisheries earlier this month,” the FWC wrote.
While the ruling has kept anglers from fishing for red snapper in federal waters, the FWC said it has adjusted its operations to allow anglers to catch the fish in state waters, which include the waters three nautical miles off the coast. State law keeps the recreational bag limit to two red snapper per person with a 20-inch size limit.
“We’re not going to be involved in policing the federal waters,” DeSantis said.
If the EFPs are unfrozen by the courts, the FWC will reestablish the extended season.
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