For 25 days each August, recreational fishermen in Florida and Louisiana can freely harvest greater amberjack in the Gulf of Mexico. The season is ending in two days’ time, on August 25, after the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council drew the curtain on the catch.

This is per Amendment 54, a fishing regulation bill that came into force July 17, 2023. The bill reduced the target catch limit this year for greater amberjack to 335,320 pounds (152,418 kg). 

 Each person buys a fishing license with a daily limit of one fish, which must be at least 34 inches long.

The aim of the closure is to help spawn new numbers of the species whose population is currently low due to commercial overfishing. 

The most common types of amberjack include greater amberjack, lesser amberjack and yellowtail amberjack. Another name for the last one is yellowtail tuna, due to the striking similarity with the biologically unrelated sub-tropical yellowfin tuna.  

Tunas are Scombridae family members while amberjacks, with their typical forked tails, belong to the Caringidae family. One of the most popular Caringidaes is the Japanese amberjack (buri).

Yellowtail amberjack is a delicacy synonymous with sushi seafood dishes. It has a taste reminiscent of a tuna mixed with a mahi-mahi , a heavy dolphin fish often found in Hawaii. The texture is firmer than a tuna’s and the buttery flavor is also stronger than that of a tuna.

Other than size, the difference between greater and lesser amberjacks is the nuchal stripe. Greater amberjacks have a distinguishing black stripe along their heads that starts from the nose and ends at the first dorsal fin. The smaller ‘lesser amberjacks’ have a bar that extends from the eye to just shy of the dorsal fin. 

Although greater amberjacks are available year-round, they are usually in plenty around August through October in the Gulf of Mexico.

Amberjack buying points in Fl and La

For anyone seeking to buy amberjack in Florida, Key West and Key Largo are great starting points. Louisiana’s fishing points include reefs and shipwreck areas where the fish hide at the bottom, normally 60 feet or more below.

The wholesale price of amberjack in the US in August 2023 is $10.40 per kg while that of live tuna is at least $10.5 a kilo.

The next recreational amberjack fishing season for south-eastern United States’ waters will  be August 1-25, 2024.