Goliath groupers

[Oceana Diver]

First, there were too few. Now, after population levels rose high enough to take them off NOAA's Species of Concern list in March 2006, are there too many goliaths?

With fishermen wanting to catch goliaths, and divers wanting to keep them in the water, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission may have a tough decision ahead.

 

[Walter]

There are areas with an over abundance of Jewfish, other areas have very few. If they do allow some to be taken, it should only be in certain areas of the Gulf, they are simply not plentiful enough in the Atlantic.

 

[ReefGuy]

Actually (and I'll dig it up somewhere), Florida's current position is favorable toward a limited harvest in the gulf.

 

[johnny_bravo]

While I'm not against spearfishing/fishing in general it would be a shame not to see these glorious animals off the Atlantic coast of Florida.

-J.-

 

[CBulla]

Mmmmmmmm.. its been a LONG time since I had a Goliath on the dinner plate..

There are sites here off of Ft Myers where these fellas are ALL you see.. the other fish are so paranoid or EATEN that the biggies are all that exist.

 

[DennisS]

I'd be interested to know how many pounds of fish and lobster one of these goliaths eat in a day.

 

[stu_in_fl]

this is quite an interesting doc
http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdf/Final_Status_Report_on_the_Goliath_Grouper.pdf

....it does mention the fact that it takes them 5-6 years to reach maturity...so any harvesting would need to be extremely limited/controlled....i'd prefer to keep them protected

 

[drbill]

Hmmm... kind of reminds me of the hunt for American bison (or our own giant sea bass) where you simply walk up to them and shoot. I'm not against spearfishing for food (as long as limits are observed), but do we really know what an appropriate population is for these fish? I know we don't for our local giant sea bass.

 

[Rocha]

That's a good question Bill, and the answer is no. I think that for species like large and slow maturing groupers it is always best to stay on the safe side. We have to remember that they are rare everywhere else in their range, Florida is the only exception, and these guys are so easy to fish that there is a real risk of the population going way down in the same year when it is re-open...

 

[T-Dog]

I started diving in the FL keys in 1987, and I never saw any Golliaths (Jewfish). Over the past 20 years I've seen progressively more and more of them, and larger and larger specimens. I love watching these fish on the wrecks and reefs throughout FL. They are a big attraction, and every diver on the boat is talking very lively about the Golliaths they saw on the dive. A huge highlight on my summer diving was when a 6ft Golliath swim right up to my 13yr old son in Jupiter FL. The dive boats and surrounding communties should veiw them as tourist money makers! It is so short-sighted to open the season on these majestic animals.

I suspect poaching, unintentional fishing, an a variety of other stupid human activities will keep the Golliath population in control. Opening up the hunting season on them will simply be over-kill!