Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Asked Point Blank About Impact Of Trump’s Tariffs On Fishing Industry

4/7/2025

At a press briefing on Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was asked about how the fish industry will be impacted by President Trump’s tariffs.

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Transcript

00:00Like you mentioned, we are number one in boating as well as a strong fishing industry here in the state.

00:06What effects, if any, has your office identified when it comes to possible bolstering up of our fishing industry with new tariffs being introduced?

00:16So in terms of recreational fishing, I'm not sure that that's going to be necessarily as direct.

00:22I think the issue is more with that is the federal government is restricting

00:27the ability of our anglers to utilize the resources that are here in the Atlantic.

00:33In the Gulf, when they gave us the management of the Gulf, what do you have?

00:38You have the largest gulf red snapper season that we've ever had under state management because we let on it.

00:44And we insisted that we get it right and that we not take outdated data and act like there aren't fish in the sea.

00:50There's fish in the sea.

00:51They're there.

00:52And so we were able to do that.

00:55I think we need to do the same thing on Atlantic, but that would be the biggest thing.

00:58If they gave us the ability to manage the Atlantic red snapper season,

01:03that would be the biggest boon to the boating and fishing community in the state of Florida that we could have right now.

01:11If they continue to restrict, that's really what chokes off the opportunities more than anything else.

01:17And so I think the administration is supportive of it.

01:22I have mentioned it to the President, but I've definitely mentioned it also to the Secretary of the Commerce.

01:26And I know they're still filling out NOAA, and they're doing still all that, and there's a lot of irons in the fire.

01:31But returning this to state management would be a home run, and trust me, we will not simply say one day.

01:38That's not going to work.

01:39So everybody on the Atlantic coast, I mean, you guys are lucky over here.

01:43You have much, much better options with respect to, for the gulf red snapper.

01:47But Atlantic, we gotta do better, and that's just the federal government, and it has long predated the current administration.

01:54Just having outdated data, and quite frankly,

01:57the bureaucracy being more ideological and purpose-driven rather than evidence-based.

02:03So now we've already shown it can be done in the gulf, and we're gonna show it can be done in the Atlantic.

02:07And that'll be a huge boon for Florida anglers.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Asked Point Blank About Impact Of Trump’s Tariffs On Fishing Industry

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