Save our Jewfish, aka Goliath Grouper news...

[Pipehorse]

@Tony Grogan, you have to cut him a break, the electrocution might have affected his cognitive abilities. I don't see any Goliaths in the video, guess they couldn't be bothered to show up for that puny Hogfish on the stringer.

 

[CuzzA]

@Tony Grogan, you have to cut him a break, the electrocution might have affected his cognitive abilities. I don't see any Goliaths in the video, guess they couldn't be bothered to show up for that puny Hogfish on the stringer.

That was a fun trip. Now we just powerhead them.

Pipe down, pipehose or put the pipe down. What have you been shooting lately? You asked for it, now post 'em up.

 

[100days-a-year]

Have any more recent counter-examples? There is a reason the National Academy of Sciences pubishes consensus reports and not reports by individuals.

Big bang, age of the universe, size of the universe, composition of dark energy or matter, red shift of receding galaxies, number of planets inthe solar system, efficacy of the various nostrums re rona...ad nauseam.
Science is dynamic, occasionally local and always subject to revision.

 

[CuzzA]

Big bang, age of the universe, size of the universe, composition of dark energy or matter, red shift of receding galaxies, number of planets inthe solar system, efficacy of the various nostrums re rona...ad nauseam.
Science is dynamic, occasionally local and always subject to revision.

I thought it was "settled?" I'm pretty sure for GG it was settled back in 1990.

I just hope no ******* sees this thread and kills one out of spite for submitting a fake lottery permit application.

 

[Vicko]

I've seen hundreds of hammerheads group together. I seen the same with sliders in a spring. Such gatherings are an awesome part of nature and not insane. There are plenty of other fish out there to catch and eat.

Do they stick around in the same spot year round or do they only school during spawning?

 

[Vicko]

They're not Apex predators. Goliath groupers are low in the food web as their normal diet is crabs and slow moving species. It is a major Fisherman's fallacy that Goliath are eating everything on the reef. The science has proven this extensively. They are opportunistic in that they will eat a fish that is Tethered to a fishing line or a spear. Watch the video that the chairman first posted and learn about the truth of Goliath groupers.

My man look at the size of those things, they have to be opportunistic, and that means they eat what they can when they can. Even the large lobster populations in Florida can't feed the truck sized groupers you have swimming on those wrecks.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

My man look at the size of those things, they have to be opportunistic, and that means they eat what they can when they can. Even the large lobster populations in Florida can't feed the truck sized groupers you have swimming on those wrecks.

Talk to a gator handler; you'd be surprised at how little food a big, mostly sedentary ectothermic animal requires (the one I know who feeds the gator pool at Everglades Holiday Park gives each one about 2 lbs./1 kilo of chicken a week and considers that slight overfeeding).

Tony has had scientists on his boat for years doing gut content studies on goliath grouper; that can be done without killing them (basically get them onboard, stick a big tube down their throat, and hose out the stomach contents). FWC has the results of those; on top of that Tony's also done interviews with the commercial spearfishers who used to take in goliath grouper when they were open; they noted rarely finding snapper or grouper in them and also having plenty of snapper and grouper on the sites that were loaded with goliaths. One of the lionfish sites I've used off St. Lucie Inlet is a relatively small barge that probably has about a dozen goliaths camped inside; it's typically also coated in big snook and baitfish.

As for the dearth of fish on the reefs/wrecks with goliaths now ... I'd have to look up the source, but I recall someone looked at that and found plenty of undersized snapper and grouper, but not many legal ones. Gee, it's almost like whatever is taking them is adhering to posted minimum sizes ...

 

[CuzzA]

My man look at the size of those things, they have to be opportunistic, and that means they eat what they can when they can. Even the large lobster populations in Florida can't feed the truck sized groupers you have swimming on those wrecks.

It's a lie to justify the lack of biodiversity on artificial wrecks paid for by anglers. There ain't enough calico crabs, as Grogran suggested, to sustain the numbers we see on the wrecks. Mind you these wrecks are often found in barren sand deserts. Most crabs are on the reefs. When we fish for say, stone crab, we don't fish near wrecks, we fish hard bottom. There's no lobster on our wrecks and reefs, with the exception of our deep water reefs like the Florida Middle Grounds. Would they eat a crab that uncharacteristically revealed itself during the day? Sure, but that would be rare.

You are right, they need to eat a lot. The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation makes it pretty clear and confirms what I already said.

When I see them on the reefs and ledges it's usually in pairs and the pairs tend to spread out along a ledge big enough for multiple groups. But all you need to do is find the bait fish on the ledge and you'll find the goliath groupers. While the NMSF states they roam alone, that's not true on artificals or where there's a concentration of bait fish.

Goliath Grouper - Habitat, Diet, and Reproduction | NMSF

Goliath groupers can weigh up to 800 pounds, and certainly live up to their name! This gentle giant is most often found in the Florida Keys.

marinesanctuary.org

The Goliath grouper requires significant food to grow. This particular species feeds by swallowing their prey whole, creating negative pressure that quickly them to bring in whole invertebrates, fish, and even smaller sharks. They are considered an “ambush predator”, and this apex predator prefers to roam through the reefs alone as opposed to swimming in packs.​

 

[CuzzA]

Talk to a gator handler; you'd be surprised at how little food a big, mostly sedentary ectothermic animal requires (the one I know who feeds the gator pool at Everglades Holiday Park gives each one about 2 lbs./1 kilo of chicken a week and considers that slight overfeeding).

Tony has had scientists on his boat for years doing gut content studies on goliath grouper; that can be done without killing them (basically get them onboard, stick a big tube down their throat, and hose out the stomach contents). FWC has the results of those; on top of that Tony's also done interviews with the commercial spearfishers who used to take in goliath grouper when they were open; they noted rarely finding snapper or grouper in them and also having plenty of snapper and grouper on the sites that were loaded with goliaths. One of the lionfish sites I've used off St. Lucie Inlet is a relatively small barge that probably has about a dozen goliaths camped inside; it's typically also coated in big snook and baitfish.

As for the dearth of fish on the reefs/wrecks with goliaths now ... I'd have to look up the source, but I recall someone looked at that and found plenty of undersized snapper and grouper, but not many legal ones. Gee, it's almost like whatever is taking them is adhering to posted minimum sizes ...

Hooked fish, which I would assume is how they were catching them, often empty gut contents, especially freshly swallowed prey, either by choice to fight and spit the baited hook, or due to swim bladder expansion pushing gut contents out. The latter is often noted on ascents even with speared fish. Remora and other species of fish often follow us up muching on the expelled gut contents.

A simple example pulled off the web.

 

[The Chairman]

Do they stick around in the same spot year round or do they only school during spawning?

I only was there about an hour. There are 8,760 hours in a year, and I couldn't stick around that long.