Save the Goliath Grouper!

[greeniguana]

Uh. Please review the CVs of the FWC commission members.....

 

[Pipehorse]

Uh. Please review the CVs of the FWC commission members.....

I just did that. Seems like only one of them would have any practical experience with regards to conservation issues. What a surprise, all appointed by republican governors. Pathetic.

 

[CuzzA]

Here's an idea since you guys think someone is going to pay $500 for a chance to catch a juvenile jewfish, join the lottery, which your odds of winning are going to be great. In fact you might be the only ones participating, pay the $500 and don't catch any.

It will make up for the decades of scuba divers that don't actually fund conservation and enforcement and instead just post online about how bad conservation and enforcement is.

 

[tursiops]

Which Profesional scientific forum?

Coral-List

 

[greeniguana]

I just did that. Seems like only one of them would have any practical experience with regards to conservation issues. What a surprise, all appointed by republican governors. Pathetic.

No. Zero of them have any experience in fish, wildlife, or conservation.

Florida has the leadership it deserves. Not necessarily the leadership it needs.

 

[johndiver999]

J

I understand your thoughts on this, the reality is (unfortunately), all apex predators on the face of the earth are doomed as long Homo sapiens as a species doubles every fifty years. Need proof, how have sharks faired, how have polar bears faired, how have tigers faired, we (human beings) almost managed to annihilate ospreys, eagles, and peregrine falcons with DDT. Competition and thus the need to wipe out other apex predators is deeply rooted in the psyche of modern man from the early days of species origin in Africa, regardless and in spite of the fact that evolution of our large brains have developed technology to allow man to walk on the moon, the same advanced technology has at least half the planet addicted to Facebook (pathetic). You would think we (human beings) would be able to think or way through this kind of issue, but it is just not the case. We might be sentient beings that believe in afterlife, but we are still animals nevertheless.
As a practical matter, the issue with Goliath Groupers is a Catch-22. Fishery management practice relies on data largely obtained mostly from commercial fishing. It relies on data from recreational fishing as well, but the goliath share (pun intended) comes from commercial fishing. Since the Goliath fishery has been shut down for thirty years (commercial and recreational), there is not enough data to arrive at good conclusions. This has worked in favor of keeping the fishery closed. The data that is available is largely from scuba divers making observations. A lot of it is anecdotal, but some of it has been documented in a matter to allow some small amount of statistical analysis. Naturally the fisherman, and head boat captains all want to scream that they can't catch fish because goliaths are eating everything, all without providing evidence of their claims. Nevertheless, their argument does not fall on deaf ears because as I already stated, competition and the need to control apex predators is deeply embedded in the psyche of modern man. With that pressure, eventually some kind of fishing season has to be opened to allow for data collection and better management practices. So really the thought that somehow Goliath Grouper population might get out of control is a sad pathetic joke.

FYI:

• Goliath grouper are not apex predators.
• Sharks are making a huge come back in Florida.
• Fisherman experience jewfish "stealing" their catch commonly in certain areas. Their frustration and annoyance associated with losing hooked or speared fish is considerable. There is ample evidence that this is not unusual.
• FWC is supposed to manage resources and promote sustainable harvest; their decision is not based on the idea that GG will take over all the salt water bodies of Florida.

Lastly, I LOVE the idea of all the jewfish lovers buying up the $10 lottery tickets and then if/when picked; purchasing the $500 tags and then turn them in unused. A GREAT way to support research on such a popular species. Wonder how many in the diving community will do that?

The FWC staff has produced survey data saying divers will pay like $300 just for the opportunity to see a jewfish on a dive. I kinda doubted that figure- it seemed way too high. Well maybe we will find out, surely divers will chip in and pay just $510 to ensure a cute, little juvenile won't end up in a frying pan!

Save the Goliath Grouper!

 

[Manatee Diver]

Not sure how popular this would be, as I think the big rollers are less likely to spend for a smaller fish.

I thought it should've been something like 25-50 tags with each tag having a limited area (like a county or two maybe), minimum size 5ft, $2-3k for the tag, and a $100 entry for the lottery.

Basically like use it how Africa uses big game hunters to pay for their reserves.

The people that want their trophy can have it, but a limited number of fish are harvested, some data is collected (basically the corpse has to be delivered to a lab before sent for mounting), we study the effects, and decided if the program was good or bad. Use the money to pay for the research so the entire thing is fairly revenue neutral.

 

[Jaan]

I’m in for a few of the ‘save a grouper’ lottery tickets .

 

[CuzzA]

Just to prove how ignorant some divers are about conservation, the powers that be in the past month have or are shutting down the harvest of red grouper, triggerfish, lane snapper, queen snapper, blackfin snapper, wenchmen snapper, silk snapper and flounder. This on top of all the other current closures of species like red snapper and amberjack. For coastal waters snook, redfish and trout are closed.

But they don't care about conservation, right?

 

[Pipehorse]

J


FYI:

• Goliath grouper are not apex predators.
• Sharks are making a huge come back in Florida.
• Fisherman experience jewfish "stealing" their catch commonly in certain areas. Their frustration and annoyance associated with losing hooked or speared fish is considerable. There is ample evidence that this is not unusual.
• FWC is supposed to manage resources and promote sustainable harvest; their decision is not based on the idea that GG will take over all the salt water bodies of Florida.

Lastly, I LOVE the idea of all the jewfish lovers buying up the $10 lottery tickets and then if/when picked; purchasing the $500 tags and then turn them in unused. A GREAT way to support research on such a popular species. Wonder how many in the diving community will do that?

The FWC staff has produced survey data saying divers will pay like $300 just for the opportunity to see a jewfish on a dive. I kinda doubted that figure- it seemed way too high. Well maybe we will find out, surely divers will chip in and pay just $510 to ensure a cute, little juvenile won't end up in a frying pan!

Save the Goliath Grouper!

FYI:

You are wrong, Goliath Groupers are Apex Predators.

What is the basis of sharks are making a comeback in Florida claim? All sharks, a few species, one species, please elaborate.

I have heard the Goliath Grouper are "stealing our catch" nonsense for years. I haven't seen anybody make that claim and produce a scintilla of documented evidence to back it up. Claims made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

"FWC is supposed to manage resources and promote sustainable harvest", this is indeed a FWC mandate, with "supposed" being the operative word. Unfortunately the whole board is filled with nothing but republican political hacks, so I have no faith in them doing anything they are "supposed" to do. I don't know if FWC staff has produced survey data saying divers will pay $300 to see Goliath Groupers or not. The following is a link to a paper that does an analysis of what divers would pay:

Shideler, G. & Pierce, B. (2016). Recreational diver willingness to pay for goliath grouper encounters during the months of their spawning aggregation off eastern Florida, USA. Ocean & Coastal Management, Volume 129, Pages 36-43, ISSN 0964-5691, Redirecting