Florida turned a 3-day fishing season into 140 days under state management.
Then a Washington bureaucrat in a robe stepped in.
Now Judge Rudolph Contreras – the same Obama appointee who tried to block Trump's tariffs – killed Florida's expanded Atlantic red snapper season with an injunction issued one day before Memorial Day weekend.
From 3 Days to 140 Days – Then a DC Judge Erased It
Under federal management, the Gulf red snapper season collapsed to just 3 days in 2017.
Three days.
Florida took over state management, rebuilt the program with real data, and grew the season to 140 days this year – a 4,100 percent increase.
That same proven model was finally approved for the Atlantic side by Trump's NOAA Fisheries earlier this month, unlocking a 39-day season starting Memorial Day weekend.
Florida anglers booked trips.
Hotels filled up on the east coast.
https://twitter.com/SenAshleyMoody/status/2057936325890744433?s=20
Then Contreras issued his injunction on May 21 – one day before the season opened.
DeSantis didn't mince words.
"This is a judge in Washington, D.C. Probably doesn't know the first thing about fishing," DeSantis said in Jacksonville.
He's right.
Contreras earned his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and did his undergraduate work at Florida State – but apparently forgot everything he learned about the Sunshine State the moment Obama put him on the bench in 2012.
The Same Judge Who Tried to Kill Trump's Tariffs
Contreras isn't a neutral arbiter.
He's a career Obama appointment who has repeatedly positioned himself against Trump administration policy.
He tried to block Trump's tariffs last year, ruling that the president couldn't invoke emergency economic powers to address trade deficits – until he quietly stayed his own ruling when the Justice Department pushed back.
He blocked Trump from transferring teenage migrants to adult detention facilities.
Now he's killing Florida fishing seasons at the request of the Southeastern Fisheries Association – commercial fishermen DeSantis says want to lock recreational anglers out entirely.
https://twitter.com/Bmbempower/status/1897054018184130673?s=20
This is the pattern.
An activist judge in Washington decides he knows better than Florida wildlife managers, Florida anglers, Florida's governor, and Trump's own NOAA – and issues a last-minute injunction timed perfectly to ruin Memorial Day weekend for families who already made plans.
"How disrespectful is it to rule when people have already made plans to come down and to do this," DeSantis said.
It's not disrespectful by accident.
It's the point.
Florida Is Still Fishing – And Contreras Can't Stop That
The commercial fishing lobby wants you thinking this is over.
Florida is still open.
FWC immediately announced that recreational anglers can still fish for red snapper in Florida state waters under existing rules – two fish per person with a 20-inch minimum size limit.
Federal waters are blocked.
State waters are not.
DeSantis made clear Florida officers wouldn't be in federal waters enforcing the injunction – that's Washington's problem to handle.
If you're on the water this Memorial Day weekend, Florida isn't stopping you.
The state is appealing, and when that injunction falls, the full 39-day Atlantic season picks up where Contreras interrupted it.
Red snapper populations are healthy and growing.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2058550072279699682?s=20
Anglers report catching so many snapper they have to get through them to find other fish.
This wasn't about conservation.
It was about commercial fishing interests using an Obama judge to lock recreational anglers off federal waters permanently – because every fish a family catches on a charter boat is a fish the commercial fleet can't sell.
DeSantis built the proof of concept in the Gulf.
Trump's NOAA approved the permit.
And a 63-year-old Obama appointee in a Washington courthouse killed it overnight.
Every angler who drove to the Florida coast this weekend – every family that booked a charter, every retiree who planned his Memorial Day around the season opener – knows exactly who did this to them and why.
Sources:
- Governor Ron DeSantis, "Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Expanded 2026 Red Snapper Seasons," Florida Governor's Press Office, May 2026.
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, "FWC Announces Fall Recreational Red Snapper Season," FWC News Release, 2026.
- Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, "South Atlantic Red Snapper Management," congressionalsportsmen.org, March 2026.
- A.G. Gancarski, "Gov. DeSantis snaps back at red snapper setback," Florida Politics, May 22, 2026.
- Ballotpedia, "Rudolph Contreras," ballotpedia.org, accessed May 2026.
