Pufferfish in Sebastian, Florida

Puffers caught around Sebastian cannot be kept because an FWC rule bars taking any Sphoeroides puffer in the waters of Brevard, Indian River and three neighboring counties.

The rule is Florida Administrative Code 68B-3.007, titled Prohibition on Take of Puffer Fish in Volusia, Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, and Martin Counties. Its text is one sentence: in the waters of those five counties, the taking of fish commonly known as puffers, genus Sphoeroides, is prohibited. The rule history lists it as new on July 15, 2004, under the Florida Constitution's grant of marine authority to FWC. Sebastian Inlet sits on the Brevard and Indian River county line, so both jetties, the T-dock, the surf on either side and the Indian River Lagoon off the Sebastian riverfront all fall inside the closed waters.

The five counties span the full length of the Indian River Lagoon, from Volusia in the north to Martin in the south. A rule written by county rather than by water body means an angler at the Sebastian Inlet jetties, in the surf off Wabasso Beach or on the lagoon at Sebastian follows the same rule: no puffer of that genus may be taken, whatever its size.

FWC banned puffer harvest in the Indian River Lagoon after saxitoxin was found in lagoon puffers between January 2002 and May 2004, a record its research institute still publishes.

According to the FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, 28 people in Florida, New Jersey, Virginia and New York became ill from saxitoxin puffer fish poisoning during that period. Researchers traced the saxitoxin to three puffer species from the Indian River Lagoon, which FWC describes as spanning more than 137 miles of Florida's east coast and supporting commercial and recreational clam and oyster beds. FWC notes that puffer poisoning is usually caused by tetrodotoxin, and that this series of cases was the first report linking it to saxitoxin from the dinoflagellate Pyrodinium bahamense in the western Atlantic United States.

The institute states that in 2004, due to the public health threat from the toxicity of puffer fish fillets, FWC imposed a permanent ban on puffer harvest from the lagoon. That is the July 15, 2004 rule that governs the Sebastian Inlet and the lagoon today. The research did not stop with the fish: saxitoxins were also found in Indian River Lagoon shellfish in 2003, and in April 2003 the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and FWC set up the PSP Biotoxin Contingency Program, which samples water monthly and shellfish seasonally in the Brevard County shellfish harvesting areas north of Sebastian. FWC reports that the agriculture department had ordered 39 closures of shellfish harvesting areas as of 2013.

FWC names three Sphoeroides puffers from the Indian River Lagoon around Sebastian: the southern puffer, the checkered puffer and the bandtail puffer, all covered by the harvest ban.

The three species named in FWC's saxitoxin record are the southern puffer (Sphoeroides nephelus), the checkered puffer (S. testudineus) and the bandtail puffer (S. spengleri). All three belong to the genus named in rule 68B-3.007, which is why the rule is written by genus rather than species. The Sebastian Inlet District's weekly reports do not separate them; the District's guide calls every one simply a puffer, usually with a word attached, as in the pesky puffers or the ever-present puffers.

That shorthand reflects how often they show up at Sebastian Inlet. On January 21, 2025, the only other species the guide saw caught at the T-dock were the pesky puffers, which he described as everywhere and eating everything. On September 8, 2025, anglers fishing shrimp at the jetty were catching the normal fare plus LOTS of puffers, and the few anglers at the T-dock reported only puffers and smaller snappers.

Puffers bite at Sebastian Inlet in every season and are thickest when runoff, wind or tannin-stained lagoon water muddies the jetty tips, pilings and T-dock.

The District's dated report index shows the pattern. On June 16, 2025, the outgoing tide at the south jetty tip produced sand perch, whiting and margates along with plenty of catfish and puffers due to the dirty water. The July 1, 2025 report put it plainly: when the water gets a tad dirty, puffers are abundant for the bait fishermen. On November 17, 2025, with poor water quality, one Sebastian Inlet location produced nothing but puffers.

The 2026 reports repeat the pattern. On March 16, 2026, the outgoing tide at the tip gave catfish, puffers and stingrays to anglers fishing dead shrimp. On April 20, 2026, undersized mangrove, lane and schoolmaster snappers came up with the puffers, and on May 4, 2026, pesky puffers were biting around the Sebastian Inlet pilings with small snapper and grunts. The October 5, 2026 report described south jetty water that looked like coffee with cream, which the fish disliked except for catfish, stingrays and puffers, while the open section of the T-dock produced small snappers, small sheepshead and, of course, the puffers.

A puffer caught at Sebastian Inlet goes back in the water, because rule 68B-3.007 makes taking one illegal in Brevard and Indian River county waters.

Most Sebastian puffers are hooked on the same cut shrimp used for margate, whiting and snapper, as the June 9, 2025 report showed at the south jetty tip and beach pocket, where cut shrimp produced sand perch, whiting and plenty of puffers. On June 1, 2026, small mangrove snappers came up with spot tail pins and the ever-present puffers. Puffers also turn up in cast nets thrown for bait at the jetties. The September 28, 2026 report, which found puffers biting around the dock pilings with small snapper and margates, reminded cast-netters that Florida Statute 379.2421(4) requires any net-caught fish that is not kept to go back in the water alive immediately, not onto a jetty, dock or shore.

Sebastian Inlet State Park makes that easy to do from the rail: Florida State Parks notes that both jetties are ADA accessible and that fishing regulation information is available at both entrance stations. Release gear and other tackle are listed in the outdoor fishing collection on Digital Towns Market. Digital Towns Market is our marketplace.