Biscayne National Park Fishing: License, Closed Areas, and Limits

To fish inside Biscayne National Park you need a Florida saltwater fishing license, you have to stay clear of the park’s no-fishing zones and lobster sanctuary, and you have to follow Florida’s size, bag, and season limits along with any stricter park-specific rules layered on top. Biscayne National Park fishing regulations combine federal National Park Service rules with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission requirements, and when the two conflict, the federal rule controls.¹

The License You Need

A valid Florida saltwater fishing license is required before you fish anywhere in the park, whether you live in Florida or are visiting from out of state.¹ An annual resident saltwater license costs $17.00, and a three-day non-resident license also costs $17.00.² Licenses are available through the FWC website or at authorized retailers.

Children under sixteen do not need a license. Florida residents aged sixty-five and older are exempt but must carry proof of age and residency such as a Florida driver’s license. Non-resident seniors are not exempt.³

Some species require extra permits on top of the basic saltwater license. Shore-based shark fishing, reef fishing from a private vessel, and harvesting snook, spiny lobster, or tarpon each carry their own permit requirements.¹

One exception worth noting: you do not need a Florida saltwater license to harvest invasive lionfish if you use hand nets, pole spears, or Hawaiian slings.⁴

Where You Cannot Fish

Several locations inside the park are completely closed to fishing. A line in the water in any of these spots can bring a federal citation.¹

Boca Chita Key Harbor, including the buoyed area at the harbor mouth.
Elliott Key Harbor and its buoyed entrance. Fishing is allowed from the maintenance dock just south of the main harbor.
Convoy Point: the NPS boat basin, the entrance and main road, and the northern end of the picnic area near the boardwalk east of the canoe ramp.
The northern side of the dock at Adams Key.

Legare Anchorage

Legare Anchorage sits east of Elliott Key and has unusual rules. Anchoring is prohibited at all times except in emergencies, but hook-and-line drift fishing is allowed. Swimming, snorkeling, and diving are banned year-round, and lobster harvest is prohibited.⁵ Traps are banned in the 1.2-square-mile area east of Elliott Key under rules that took effect in April 2023.⁶

Coral Reef Protection Areas

Five rectangular Coral Reef Protection Areas, marked by yellow buoys, are scattered through the park. Lobster harvest is prohibited inside all five.¹ Use GPS coordinates from official park maps and watch for boundary markers.

Biscayne Bay/Card Sound Lobster Sanctuary

Taking lobster is prohibited year-round inside the Biscayne Bay/Card Sound Lobster Sanctuary, which covers all natural and artificial waterways and tidal creeks between the islands and along the mainland.⁵ Recreational trapping is also banned inside the sanctuary.⁷ You can transport legally taken lobster through the sanctuary, but no one from your boat may be in the water while you are inside its boundaries.

What You Can and Cannot Keep

Harvest rules in Biscayne start with Florida’s statewide regulations and add park-specific restrictions for some species, including larger minimum sizes for certain fish.⁶ These numbers change, so confirm current limits on the FWC and NPS websites before each trip.

Species You Cannot Take at All

Several species cannot be harvested under any circumstances: Goliath grouper, Nassau grouper, queen conch, sawfish, sea turtles, stony and fire corals, sea fans, longspine urchins, Bahama starfish, and numerous shark species. Taking tropical ornamental marine life or plants is also prohibited unless you hold a special collecting permit from the park superintendent.¹

Grouper

Gag grouper in Atlantic waters carry a twenty-four-inch minimum total length. The Atlantic season has historically closed from late June through the following spring; the current cycle closure runs from June 26, 2025, through April 30, 2026.⁸ Biscayne is on the Atlantic coast, so those are the dates that apply. Some grouper species may have larger park-specific minimum sizes under Biscayne’s supplemental rules.⁶

Red Snapper

Atlantic red snapper regulations change frequently and have historically included very short seasons. For 2026 the Atlantic recreational season near Florida is limited to thirty-nine days. The current bag limit is one fish per angler per day within the ten-fish snapper-grouper aggregate, with no minimum size. Captains and crew of for-hire vessels have a bag limit of zero. Check FWC announcements right before you fish.

Lionfish

Lionfish are invasive, and Florida imposes no size limit, no bag limit, and no closed season on them.⁷ You still cannot enter no-fishing zones or Coral Reef Protection Areas to harvest them without special authorization.

Spiny Lobster Season, Size, and Bag Limit

Lobsters may be taken east of the islands during the legal season, with the exception of Legare Anchorage and the five Coral Reef Protection Areas.⁵ The two-day sport season falls on the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday in July. The regular season runs from August 6 through March 31. In both seasons, the recreational bag limit inside Biscayne National Park is six lobsters per person per day.

Every lobster must have a carapace length greater than three inches, measured in the water, and you are required to carry a measuring device whenever you are lobstering.⁷ Undersized lobsters must be released immediately where they were found.

Gear and Methods

Explosives, poisons, and electrical devices for taking fish are banned in all national parks.⁹ Florida bans gill nets statewide.

Cast nets are allowed for catching baitfish and are limited to fourteen feet in stretched length, measured from the center of the net to the lead line when pulled taut. Cast netting is specifically prohibited at Convoy Point along the jetty and footbridge.¹

No traps of any kind may be deployed in the trap-free zone adjacent to the Visitor Center, and trawls are banned in the park’s no-trawl zones.¹ Recreational blue crab traps are allowed elsewhere in the park but limited to five traps per person, each no larger than two feet by two feet by two feet. Trappers aged sixteen and older must complete a free online registration and affix the registration number to each trap. Special rules apply to traps and blue crabs inside the park, so check the current park bulletin before setting any.¹⁰

Anchoring and Speed on the Water

How you handle your boat is part of the regulations. The park sits over the northern Florida Reef Tract, and the Park Service can pursue civil claims for the full cost of coral restoration under the Park System Resource Protection Act. In nearby Everglades National Park, past cases have reached six figures.¹¹

Mooring buoys are maintained at reef sites to keep anchors off coral. Use is limited to four hours per boat, and the buoys are rated for vessels up to forty-five feet. When no buoy is open, anchor only in sand downwind of the reef, use five to seven times the water depth in line, and verify underwater that neither your anchor nor your line touches coral. Anchoring within three hundred feet of a mooring buoy is prohibited, and dragging an anchor line across the reef can bring a substantial fine.¹²

Speed zones protect manatees and sea turtles. Idle-speed zones require the slowest speed that maintains steerage, with no wake. Slow-speed zones require the vessel to be completely off plane and settled in the water; if the bow is even slightly elevated, you are exceeding slow speed. Posted maximum speed zones of twenty-five, thirty, or thirty-five miles per hour apply in other areas. Slow down in shallow water and near beaches even where no sign is posted.

If You Hire a Charter

Any fishing guide or charter captain operating commercially inside Biscayne National Park must hold a Commercial Use Authorization from the NPS, separate from any state license.¹³ Ask whether your captain holds a current CUA before you book. An unlicensed guide puts both of you at legal risk, and the guide’s insurance may not cover incidents inside the park without proper authorization.

Inspections and Penalties

Fishing violations inside the park are federal offenses. Rangers are authorized to inspect your license, tackle, and catch at any time.⁹ Violations can result in citations, fines, and seizure of gear. In cases involving damage to protected resources, the Park Service can pursue the full cost of restoration.¹¹

The most common mistakes are fishing in a closed area, keeping undersized or out-of-season fish, and exceeding bag limits. Patrols are heaviest during lobster season. A fish you cannot keep must go back in the water carefully and immediately. A fish released alive does not count toward your daily limit, provided you were under the limit when you caught it.⁹

1
National Park Service. Fishing in Biscayne National Park
2
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Recreational Saltwater Licenses and Permits
3
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Do I Need a License or Permit
4
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Lionfish Removal
5
National Park Service. Lobstering – Biscayne National Park
6
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Biscayne National Park
7
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Spiny Lobster
8
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Groupers
9
eCFR. 36 CFR 2.3 – Fishing
10
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Blue Crab
11
National Park Service. Court Awards Everglades National Park 295,000 Dollars in Damages for Vessel Grounding Case
12
National Park Service. Mooring Buoys – Biscayne National Park
13
National Park Service. Commercial Use Authorizations