The commissioners agreed with the proponents of the harvest, who told them that there were now enough Goliaths to make a limited catch possible. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted Wednesday to approve proposed new rules for a “highly regulated limited harvest” of gentle giants. If final approval is given at the March 2022 meeting, harvesting could begin as early as 2023. The state could verify the crop at any time, Commissioner Michael Sole said. The vote does not mean wildlife regulators declare Goliath groupers in Florida “mission accomplished,” he said. “There`s a lot more recovery needed for the species.” Nevertheless, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), which regulates hunting and fishing in the state, announced in May that it was considering lifting the ban. “Goliath groupers have continued to increase since the fishery closed in 1990,” reads a statement sent by the commission to National Geographic via email. “For a variety of reasons, some fishermen want harvesting allowed, including the desire to reduce interactions with Goliath during fishing, the ability to catch a very large fish, and the belief that access to the culture should not be restricted indefinitely.” “It`s just time to take care of it,” said Austin Cave, who described how he grew up fishing underwater near Tampa Bay. “I watched how the Goliath grouper population exploded.” The lack of a Goliath grouper fishing season is, according to the Nature Conservation Commission, one of the reasons why so many questions about the species remain.
Fish stock assessments often rely on data collected to show the weight of fish caught and killed in a year, but this does not exist for Goliaths. They are also not fished commercially. Allowing fishermen to keep 200 per year will not be enough to allow for a thorough assessment of stocks. Nor will it be enough to reduce the number of times anglers blame Goliaths for catching their fish, the state said. “The economic value of an ecotourism diving industry focused on Goliath grouper viewing in the state of Florida far outweighs the value of limited fishing,” says Felicia Coleman, former director of the marine laboratory at Florida State University. The Florida record is a 680-pound Goliath grouper caught off Fernandina Beach in 1961. One angler who helped the decision was Darcie Arahill of Lantana, known to 377,000 YouTube and social media subscribers as Darcizzle, a full-time professional fisherwoman who said she was “super excited for a Goliath grouper season.” Young Goliath groupers hang out in Florida`s mangroves, especially on the Ten Thousand Islands west of Everglades City. Older Goliaths live on shallow reefs and wrecks, where scientists say they are important predators that help maintain the balance of the ecosystem. Fish are territorial but spawn in large groups, which is why they are considered an easy target.
When they reach their maximum size, their only enemies are humans and sharks, according to the Conservation Commission. Florida is the only place in the world where divers can reliably see Goliath groupers, and the opportunity to develop a diving industry around them could be lucrative, say opponents of the proposed fishery. Goliath groupers will be able to be harvested in state waters next year for the first time in 33 years. More than 30 years after overfishing decimated Florida`s Goliath grouper population to such an extent that the state banned fishermen from keeping them, wildlife regulators decided Thursday to allow humans to catch and kill 200 fish each year. The state has been debating the reopening of a culture for years, most recently in 2018. Fishing enthusiasts, divers, scientists and conservationists have been polarized over whether keeping groupers is a good idea. This isn`t the first time Florida regulators have discussed lifting protection for Goliath groupers. In 2017, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, tweeted a link to a post titled “Florida weighs in on goliath grouper hunting,” commenting that he can “tell you firsthand that they are no longer in danger.” When asked what he meant, his office did not respond.
At that time, the species was still considered endangered worldwide. Goliath groupers have a relatively long lifespan, with a known maximum age of at least 37 years. Christopher Koenig, a retired marine biologist at Florida State University and Coleman`s husband, said FWC ignored important data when it decided to start discussions about lifting the ban. “The data presented at the recent FWC meeting was just wrong,” he says, citing two recent population surveys that he said should have been included: Both found that Goliath groupers in Florida have halved since 2010 — when their numbers peaked after the ban went into effect — due to the intense cold of the 2009-2010 winter. To conclude that the population is growing is to choose data that supports your position, even if it is not the truth. Bob Harris, a representative for the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association, warned that harvesting would result in the death of more than 200 Goliath groupers, saying it would not help the species keep some waters out of bounds. The Atlantic Atlantic Goliath Grouper can grow up to 800 pounds and measure more than 8 feet long, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. When not feeding or breeding, adult Goliath groupers are usually solitary, sedentary and territorial. Before Goliath groupers reach their maximum size, they can be hunted by barracudas, king mackerel and moray eels, as well as sandshoe sharks and hammerhead sharks. Once adults, large sharks are the only natural enemies of Goliath grouper. The new FWC rules come into effect on July 1 and the harvest season runs from March 1 to May 31, so the first opportunity for a fisherman to keep a Goliath grouper will be March 1, 2023.
National Geographic explorer and photographer David Doubilet describes swimming with Goliath groupers as “a highlight of my underwater life.” “Obviously, their abundance has increased,” he said, but scientists still don`t have a full picture of the grouper population. He called on commissioners to “acknowledge uncertainty.” Goliath groupers have historically been found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean, from both coasts of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the coasts of Brazil and the Caribbean. Divers travel across the United States and other countries to see Goliath groupers and spend money elsewhere in the state during their visit.