The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission acted Friday to close snook season until Sept. 1 and also made bonefish and tarpon off limits to anglers until April 1.

The FWC issued executive orders for the closures, effective today, after frigid water temperatures killed untold numbers of snook and other species in Tampa Bay and around the state during the prolonged cold spell.  "A proactive, precautionary approach is warranted to preserve our valuable snook, bonefish and tarpon resources, which are among Florida's premier game fish species," FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto said in a news release. "Extending the snook closed season and temporarily closing bonefish and tarpon fishing will protect surviving snook that spawn in the spring and will give our research scientists time to evaluate the extent of damage that was done to snook, bonefish and tarpon stocks during the unusual cold-weather period we recently experienced in Florida."  The FWC also issued an order to suspend regulations to allow people to collect and dispose of dead fish killed by the cold until Feb. 1. That does not include snook, which are illegal to net or gig when stunned by the cold.  People taking dead fish "may not sell, trade or consume such fish, and the dead fish must immediately be disposed of in compliance with local safety, health and sanitation requirements for such disposal.''  A fishing tlicense is not needed to dispose of dead fish.