PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. – For just 48 hours this weekend, Atlantic fishing can include the coveted and delicious red snapper.
The east coast snapper season packs the parking lots each year at Port Canaveral.
Friday, an angler from Merritt Island told Brevard County community correspondent James Sparvero what she thinks is different about fishing at the port than just a few years ago.
“It has changed tremendously,” Rhonda Lamont said. “When it was COVID, fishing was dynamite. Now, the cruise ships are back. Fish are leaving. Bite is harder. It’s getting tougher, very busy with cruise ships.”
In 2019, the Port was building the cruise terminal that now sits next to the boat ramp close to Jetty Park.
Six years later, the port has plans to build two more cruise terminals in the future including one where marinas are.
In a 2019 interview with Sparvero, a former Port Canaveral public safety director addressed anglers’ concerns about losing fishing space.
“We’re gonna always have the boat ramp exactly where it’s at,” Barry Compagnoni said during the snapper season in July 2019. “We have no plan to change any of the available spaces.”
CEO Captain John Murray has also told Sparvero in recent years the port is working to balance all interests.
Lamont said she feels it doesn’t look that way.
“It almost seems like the fishermen mean nothing, and the cruise ships mean everything which is sad,” she said.
The snapper season on the east coast closes just after midnight on Sunday.
Florida’s Gulf red snapper recreational season runs until July 31, plus three-day weekends through the end of the year, including Thanksgiving and Christmas.