Missdirected
Contributor
perdidochas your link isn't working.
Goliath groupers
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perdidochas
Contributor
It's fixed.
Missdirected
Contributor
Over the last year or so, there has been a lively debate over what to do about the Jewfish come back, at least from the people that come and go from the shop here in Tampa. There is a LARGE number of spearfishers in this area. This may be due to the fact we have no real reefs, as most people imagine them, in this area. What we do have is allot of stuff dumped around to make artificial reef systems. These places attract fish like a magnet. Fish attract fisherman, this includes people as well as the larger fish like the Goliath Grouper.
Now the people complain too many Jewfish, not enough fish for us. The Jewfish eat everything in the area of the wreck or rock pile. The more experienced fisherman know that if they shoot it with the shaft, it may bounce off or at the least, they loose the shaft when the fish races off with it. So now everyone wants powerheads, they feel they need to PROTECT themselves from the overly aggressive Goliath Groupers. They make a drumming noise that apparently freightens the fisherman. The Goliath Grouper are showing up all over the rock piles of the gulf coast, it would seem from listening to these guys, they attack, at random, any spearfisherman coming into the area.
From talking to the commercial spearfisherman of the last generation, they say the Jewfish were so full of worms they would have a hard time selling them. It seems, this generation just hasn't seen many fish this big and want to kill them for the sport, if there is such a thing. I've worked in marine parks most of the last 5 years. I would love to have a healthy enough ecosystem to support a large number of these big fish. The only thing I find useful about a spear gun is the ability to target just the size and type of fish I like for dinner. Not too big, not too small, just right for 1 meal, frozen fish is the devil. Most of these guys just seem to go out and kill whatever they can and try to giveaway the extra. Some, I would imagine, go out with the commercial guys and kill on their ticket.
We don't do spearfishing on my boat. That decision, I'm sure, has cost me a bundle. Everytime I take a kid out and we get to see something big and impressive, like a Goliath Grouper, you can see the impact that makes on them. Here's your chance for good or bad to influence the way another person looks at something. To me, it's the best part of the job. Take what you need and leave the rest. Balance is the key to all things.
Now the people complain too many Jewfish, not enough fish for us. The Jewfish eat everything in the area of the wreck or rock pile. The more experienced fisherman know that if they shoot it with the shaft, it may bounce off or at the least, they loose the shaft when the fish races off with it. So now everyone wants powerheads, they feel they need to PROTECT themselves from the overly aggressive Goliath Groupers. They make a drumming noise that apparently freightens the fisherman. The Goliath Grouper are showing up all over the rock piles of the gulf coast, it would seem from listening to these guys, they attack, at random, any spearfisherman coming into the area.
From talking to the commercial spearfisherman of the last generation, they say the Jewfish were so full of worms they would have a hard time selling them. It seems, this generation just hasn't seen many fish this big and want to kill them for the sport, if there is such a thing. I've worked in marine parks most of the last 5 years. I would love to have a healthy enough ecosystem to support a large number of these big fish. The only thing I find useful about a spear gun is the ability to target just the size and type of fish I like for dinner. Not too big, not too small, just right for 1 meal, frozen fish is the devil. Most of these guys just seem to go out and kill whatever they can and try to giveaway the extra. Some, I would imagine, go out with the commercial guys and kill on their ticket.
We don't do spearfishing on my boat. That decision, I'm sure, has cost me a bundle. Everytime I take a kid out and we get to see something big and impressive, like a Goliath Grouper, you can see the impact that makes on them. Here's your chance for good or bad to influence the way another person looks at something. To me, it's the best part of the job. Take what you need and leave the rest. Balance is the key to all things.
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