Florida grouper fish7/22/2023 ![]() “In fact, all the best available data indicate that even with their protection, there has been an overall decline in goliath grouper population recovery over the last decade.” “The data are far too uncertain for reversing a decades-long conservation and management effort,” he said. But personally, I don’t feel like this now is the right time.”Ĭhristopher Malinowski, director of research and conservation for the Ocean First Institute, said that if the commission were serious about conserving the species, it would fund research to fill the many gaps in knowledge about it: the groupers’ movement between the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coast, their genetic diversity, population abundance, age structure and quality of habitat. “I appreciate when we can give access back to the stakeholders. ![]() It’s not just close everything,” he said. “We are tasked with protecting the resources and also opening the resources up at the right time. “We’ve tried, and I think successfully, to craft rules to protect the dive community, to protect the economic value of these fish for diving.”īut Commissioner Steven Hudson, who cast the only vote against the proposal, said that while he would like to reopen the fishery, the data still wasn’t there to support the plan “There is scientific benefit from this limited take.” “We have a stock that is rebuilding, and rebuilding in a way that allows a highly regulated, limited take,” he said. The plan would prohibit taking them from Martin County through the Keys.Ĭommissioner Robert Spottswood said the staff proposal represented a good strategy for using fishing to gather data about the species. Highly territorial, many goliath grouper have become familiar to their fans in the diving community, who have given them names like Wilbur, Shadow and Betty. The plan would continue the prohibition on catching them in South Florida, where the fish have become a popular attraction with divers who photograph large concentrations of goliaths congregating around wrecks such as the M/V Castor off Boynton Beach. “A limited, highly regulated harvest is possible while the goliath population continues to rebuild and, as proposed, would provide a unique recreational fishing opportunity while accommodating a diverse range of stakeholder values,” Jessica McCawley, director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Division of Marine Fisheries Management, said in a presentation to the commission. Although goliaths can grow to 800 pounds, the plan would restrict the catch to those with lengths between 2 feet and 3 feet, which typically means a maximum weight of 32 pounds. The commission voted to allow up to 200 to be taken a year, a decision that came with a long list of restrictions that reflected the giant fish’s popularity and its vulnerability to overfishing. The Florida wildlife commission lifted a 32-year ban on killing goliath grouper Thursday, in a decision that received strong support from the fishing community and intense opposition from environmentalists. ![]()
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