Charter fishing for red snapper reopening in federal waters

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The federal government says nearly 24% of the for-hire recreational red snapper catch target is still in the Gulf of Mexico. Licensed guides can take people to catch the fish in federal waters from Oct. 15 until Nov. 6. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division says for-hire boats have caught nearly 2.2 million pounds of red snapper in federal waters. But 670,000 pounds of the target remain. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says this applies to trips in federal waters on vessels with a federal for-hire reef fish permit.