Saucereye Porgy Regulations

Saucereye Porgy

Calamus calamus

Managed by:

SAFMC

Physical description:

Has a larger eye than the other porgies. Its color is silvery with bluish reflections; the scales golden, forming longitudinal stripes, with pearly-bluish interspaces; the cheeks and snout are purplish, with round brassy spots; the fins are pale, blotched with orange; the iris of the eye is golden.

Biological description:

Found in Western Atlantic: North Carolina, USA and Bermuda to Brazil.

South Atlantic Federal Regulations

Commercial:

• OPEN
• Minimum Size Limit: None
• Trip Limit: None
• Limited access permit required
• Included in the Porgies Complex (jolthead porgy, knobbed porgy, saucereye, porgy, whitebone porgy, scup)
• Regulatory Remarks:
  • All species must be landed with head and fins intact.
  • Recreational and commercial fishermen are required to use dehooking tools when fishing for snapper grouper species.
  • The use of non-stainless steel circle hooks (offset or non-offset) is required for all species in the snapper grouper complex when using hook-and-line gear with natural baits in waters North of 28 degrees N. latitude.
  • After the commercial annual catch limit for the Porgies Complex (jolthead porgy, knobbed porgy, saucereye, porgy, whitebone porgy, scup) is met, all purchase and sale is prohibited and harvest and/or possession is limited to the recreational bag limit (while recreational harvest is open). This prohibition does not apply to fish harvested, landed, and sold prior to the annual catch limit being reached and held in cold storage by a dealer.
  • Charter/Headboat and Commercial snapper grouper vessels must have onboard NMFS approved sea turtle release gear and follow smalltooth sawfish release protocol. Click here to learn more or call 727-824-5312.
  • Annual Catch Limit (ACL) -This species is managed under an ACL (Porgies Complex). See current information on Commercial ACLs (quotas) from NOAA Fisheries.
  • Allowable Gear:
    • Vertical hook-and-line including hand-held hook-and-line and bandit gear. Spearfishing gear without rebreathers.
    • Powerheads, except where expressly prohibited in Special Management Zones (SMZs) and in the EEZ off South Carolina.

Recreational:

• OPEN
• Minimum Size Limit: none
• Bag Limit: included in 20 Aggregate Fish Bag Limit
  • Beginning March 30, 2020, the 20-fish per person per day aggregate bag limit remains in effect, however, an angler will be limited to harvesting 10 fish of any one species in the 20-fish aggregate
  • The aggregate bag limit applies to the following species: whitebone porgy, jolthead porgy, knobbed porgy, saucereye porgy, scup, gray triggerfish, bar jack, almaco jack, banded rudderfish, lesser amberjack, white grunt, margate, sailor’s choice, and Atlantic spadefish.
• Regulatory Remarks:
  • All species must be landed with head and fins intact.
  • Recreational and commercial fishermen are required to use dehooking tools when fishing for snapper grouper species.
  • The use of non-stainless steel circle hooks (offset or non-offset) is required for all species in the snapper grouper complex when using hook-and-line gear with natural baits in waters North of 28 degrees N. latitude.
  • The sale of bag-limit caught snapper grouper species is prohibited.
  • Charter/Headboat and Commercial snapper grouper vessels must have onboard NMFS approved sea turtle release gear and follow smalltooth sawfish release protocol. Click here to learn more or call 727-824-5312.
  • Annual Catch Limit (ACL) - This species is managed under an ACL. See current information on Recreational ACLs from NOAA Fisheries.