The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) on Saturday announced the addition of three days to the state’s 2020 private angler recreational season for red snapper.

The decision came after the department’s Marine Resources Division completed a review of data from the red snapper season that ended July 3. The division determined the additional days are available to achieve the year’s red snapper quota.

The additional days will begin at 12:01 a.m. CT on October 10 and run until midnight on October 12.

According to ADCNR, the days apply to State and Federal waters adjacent to Alabama. The limit will be two fish per angler with a 16-inch total length minimum size.

“The 2020 private angler season started out with record setting fishing effort,” said Scott Bannon, Marine Resources Division director.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has made outdoors recreation more important than ever, and that showed during this year’s red snapper season,” he continued. “That higher level of early season effort ultimately led to the closure on July 3. It is important to our fishermen to provide access to this resource, and our goal is to fish the quota we’ve been given by NOAA Fisheries. We are excited to offer these additional days in October to harvest more red snapper and still stay within our quota.”

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn