Regulations and Enforcement

Commercial and Recreational Regulations

NEW REGULATIONS EFFECTIVE MAY 23, 2012!!!

SPECIES	SIZE LIMIT	BAG LIMIT
Sheepshead	12 inches fork length	10 per person
Grouper	species dependent	4 fish in aggregate (No more than 4 red grouper and no more than 2 gag grouper included in aggregate)
Tripletail	18 inches total length	3 per person
Gag	22 inches total length (commercial)	Subject to federal quota

NEWLY ADDED PROHIBITED SPECIES EFFECTIVE MAY 23, 2012!!!

Prohibited species:

Sandbar Shark (unless the fisherman possesses a NOAA Fisheries sandbar shark research permit)

CURRENT RECREATIONAL FINFISH CLOSURES:

RECREATIONAL GOLIATH GROUPER HARVEST IS PROHIBITED

RECREATIONAL RED SNAPPER SEASON IS CLOSED

RECREATIONAL GAG GROUPER HARVEST IS CLOSED

To stay up to date on the Federal openings and closings visit the NOAA Fisheries Service Bulletin page.

To view administrative code for Alabama Marine Resources regulations please click on:

http://www.alabamaadministrativecode.state.al.us/docs/con_/220-3.pdf

To view all of Title 9, laws which govern marine fishing in Alabama, please click on:

http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/ACASLoginie.asp

Gillnet Regulation Changes:

2012 Gillnet Regulation

State Size & Creel Limits

May 2012

Live Bait Rules:

August 2012

Gillnet Area

June 2012

Commercial Hook and Line License

Nov. 2012

Commercial Crabbing:

July 2012

Recreational Gillnet Rules

September 2012

Gillnet Closure in Old River

Synopsis of Tarpon Law:

July 2012

Recreational Crabbing:

July 2012

Synopsis of Oyster Rules

November 2012

Oystery Harvesting Zone Map

Commercial Shrimping Rules
August 2012

Recreational Shrimping Rules

August 2012

Federal Recreational Size/Bag Limits:
fed-rec-regs.pdf - January 2012

Federal Commercial Size/Bag Limits:
fed-com-regs.pdf - January 2012

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council offers a free fishing regulations App for the Android or IPhone.

Click Here to Download App for iPhone and iPad

Click Here to Download App for Android

Marine Resources Jursidiction Map

October 2012

In order to view, print, or save these regulations you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader™ installed on your computer. Download time is about 20 minutes @ 56Kbps.

If you don't want to download Acrobat, e-mail us or call one of our offices:

(Dauphin Island (251) 861-2882 or Gulf Shores (251) 968-7576) and we'll mail you what you need.