The Gulf Council completed final action on updates to after-season rules that hold private anglers accountable for red snapper harvest. Those updates seek greater leeway while keeping state-level programs effective.

Under existing policy a state that exceeds its yearly catch cap must see that cap lowered the next year by the surplus. The revised package now goes to the Secretary of Commerce for review and possible adoption at the earliest opportunity.

Created under a 1976 statute, the body is among eight regional panels that write plans governing fish stocks out to 200 miles in the Gulf of America.