Wildlife commissioners Friday listened to more than a dozen pleas regarding the state's temporary catch-and-release only regulations for three of the region's most prized fish.
Snook, redfish and sea trout are all catch-and-release only in Southwest Florida, from the Tampa Bay area south to Marco Island.
FWC closed the fisheries to harvest in 2018 during the middle of one of the worst red tide events on record.
"This was the fifth longest that we had on record and FWC was really struggling about how to help, and we went to fishing guides and got some input from them," said FWC director Eric Sutton. "We stayed really close to those folks and that's what resulted in the executive order."