Save our Jewfish, aka Goliath Grouper news...

[berndo]

Pretty much all the big groupers are gone from the Med unfortunately. @Angelo Farina maybe knows if it was due to over fishing and was already diving when they were still around.

 

[The Chairman]

In any event, I'll be doing my best to get one of the permits to save a Jewfish.

 

[Tony Grogan]

Pretty sure FWC will be keeping tabs on usage on modify number of tags baes on it.
Also publicly trying to subvert the system will likey only make matters worse as fishermen already distrust the regulatory process and will use posts like this to validate their position.

Tony, there were only 25 juvenile Goliath groupers taken last year out of the approved 200. At least that is what was reported. I do not know how many applications were acquired. Commissioner Nicklaus is the one who suggested the people who want to save Goliaths can buy permits. The biological data acquired from the take is not a justification for the take. Scientists like Doctor Chris Koenig in the past were able to get biological data from juveniles without having to kill them. Fishermen and women in addition to conservationists and divers do not trust the process because the process cannot be trusted. How can all these scientists object to the juvenile take?

 

[Tony Grogan]

If they are an endangered species, why are any permits given at all?

If they are an endangered species, why are any permits given at all?

I spoke with Dr.Craig Hilton-Taylor, Head Of IUCN Red List. He is based at Cambridge University in England. He explained that it was not that the goliath grouper was tremendously recovering but rather that they changed the application of the definition of "critically endangered" and put the animal in the "vulnerable" category because they have had a pretty decent recovery and they're not going to extinction as of now. That does not affect the wisdom of a juvenile take when a species is vulnerable. Based on the most recent data at spawning sites, there may be an actual decline. The REEF Data is some of the best data out there and they show a significant decline in the last decade. So why would anyone think killing juveniles is a wise idea?

 

[Tournesol2000]

I would have loved to help. As a non resident the cost is $500. I just don’t have that money to help. Sorry.
I think your idea is a good one and I hope more people participate and help save the species

 

[Tony Grogan]

SIGN UP HERE STARTING OCTOBER 1

Goliath Grouper Harvest Permit | FWC

Goliath Grouper Harvest Permit

Goliath Grouper Harvest Permit

myfwc.com

 

[scubadada]

The spawning population of Goliath Grouper may be decreasing off Jupiter, FL

Absolute Abundance Estimates of Atlantic Goliath Grouper (Epinephelus itajara) on Spawning Aggregation Sites

Reliable data on Atlantic Goliath Grouper abundance are prerequisite to informed management decisions, particularly as the State of Florida reopened a limited harvest on the species in 2023 after a 32-year moratorium. Limited data exist for this purpose and fisheries data have been unavailable...

www.mdpi.com

 

[tursiops]

SIGN UP HERE STARTING OCTOBER 1

Goliath Grouper Harvest Permit | FWC

Goliath Grouper Harvest Permit

Goliath Grouper Harvest Permit

myfwc.com

If a Florida resident would like to get a permit and not use it, I'll chip in $50 of the $150 needed. Anyone else want to help?

 

[Vicko]

Arent the permits for juvenile fish only?

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Any other state would have renamed them Canadian or New Yorker fish.

Florida and it's anti-wokeness. Hmmph.