The South Carolina Boating & Fishing Alliance (SCBFA) and Coastal Conservation South Carolina joined national sportfishing organizations in welcoming a major step forward for red snapper reform as the Attorneys General of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida submitted a joint letter calling on the federal government to transfer management of South Atlantic red snapper to the states.

South Carolina’s congressional delegation, led by Congressman Russell Fry (R-Surfside Beach) and joined by U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott and Representatives Joe Wilson, Ralph Norman, Nancy Mace, William Timmons, and Sheri Biggs, has formally urged U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to transfer management of the South Atlantic snapper-grouper fishery to the states.

Governor Henry McMaster last week signed into law Senate Bill 219, marking a significant victory in the movement toward state management of the snapper-grouper fishery. 

Championed by State Senator Stephen Goldfinch (R-Georgetown), the new law sets up a state-specific fishing season for all 55 species in the snapper-grouper species complex.