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Home : Marine Fisheries :  Redfish Catch Hold and Release Tournament Exemption Permits (Culling Permits)

Redfish Catch Hold and Release Tournament Exemption Permits (Culling Permits)

To be eligible for a culling permit, tournaments must involve 50 or more participants, have written rules and regulations, require an entry fee and award prizes to competitors.

Tournament exemption permits will only be issued to catch-and-release redfish tournaments that agree to the following permit conditions:

1. Tournament anglers and tournament staff must attempt to release alive all redfish that are caught, including those fish that are weighed-in;

2. Each two person team of tournament angler possesses no more than two live redfish in the boat’s live well or recirculating tank at any one time;

3. All boats used in the tournament must contain recirculating or aerated live wells that are at least 2.4 cubic feet or 18 gallons in capacity;

4. Dead redfish possessed by a two person team of tournament anglers are not discarded. A dead redfish is considered harvested and will count as the daily bag limit for the team of tournament anglers who harvested that fish.

5. Redfish must be maintained in an aerated recovery holding tank prior to release. Recovery holding tank requirements may be specified in the tournament exemption permit at the FWC’s discretion in order to increase survival of released redfish;

6. The tournament must provide the FWC with a description of the aerated recovery holding tank(s) used to maintain redfish alive after weigh in.

7. The tournament must provide the FWC with a description of the location where tournament caught redfish will be released after weigh in. In order to increase survival of released redfish, release locations may be specified in the tournament exemption permit at the FWC’s discretion;

8. The tournament must agree to allow FWC staff the opportunity to collect research data and conduct research and onboard monitoring during the tournament, as needed; and,

9. The tournament must submit a post-tournament report to the FWC indicating the number of fish weighed-in each day of the tournament, the number of fish weighed-in dead each day, and the number of fish that died after being weighed-in, but prior to release each day. The FWC may specify additional tournament reporting requirements as a condition of the tournament exemption permit.

Please review the following documents:
Redfish Best Management Practices
[PDF 66kb]
Redfish Q&A
[PDF 124kb]

HOW TO APPLY:
Tournament Directors: Please complete and submit an application form, along with current tournament rules and regulations to:

FWC Division of Marine Fisheries Management
620 S. Meridian Street, MB 4B3
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600

Link to application form [PDF 101kb]
          application form
[DOC 45kb]

Questions/Comments? Contact SAL@myFWC.com or (850) 922-4340 x 202 or x 210.

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If you would like further information call
the Division of Marine Fisheries Management at (850) 487-0554.

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