Save our Jewfish, aka Goliath Grouper news...

[100days-a-year]

Every year those scientists drop strings of fish traps to collect samples to determine fish populations. Traps that are considered to indiscriminate to be used by recreational or commercial fishermen except in very limited circumstances and only for seabass.
From Texas to North Carolina, multiple times a year hundreds of sets in the same vicinity year after year for 60 to 80 years.
Then there's the use of longlines to check fish populations, longlines that are considered to indiscriminate to use shallower than 300' feet.
Used over and over in estuaries that harbor juveniles of threatened species.
And the biggest sticking point is Red snapper, particularly on the East Coast. We're told recreational bycatch consumes 90% of the biologically sustainable catch so the season is several days only.
Despite years of video evidence from 100s of dives show red snapper in numbers and areas previously never documented.
And let's not forget our shark " scientists " feeding wild animals for profit. A moral and scientific conundrum.

 

[Tony Grogan]

I've done nothing of the sort. I've proved the primarily crustacean diet claim is false in 34 goliaths in Brazil from 2005 to 2010.
Thats how science actually works as opposed to what's going on in this thread. Extrapolating results that mimic personal beliefs from limited data isn't science, it's another logical fallacy.
The quoting out of context fallacy, false dilemma fallacy, proof by assertion fallacy and a few others are repeated over and over in this thread.
Once again Pete and couple others have shown intellectual integrity by making a stand for their values as opposed to the clowns asserting " facts " that are so limited in scope as to be meaningless.

Nonsense Tony. Generally accepted science is explained on the FWC Website as follows in spite of your nonsensical conspiracy theories:

Goliath Grouper | FWC

Opportunistic predators and feed mostly on slow-moving, bottom-associated species. Calico crabs make up the majority of their diet, with other invertebrate species and fish filling in the rest. Will occasionally feed on fish that are struggling on a fishing line, but typically do not actively hunt down fast, free swimming fish, such as snappers and other grouper species. Prey is ambushed, caught by a rapid expansion and opening of the mouth which allows prey to be sucked in and swallowed whole.

Goliath Grouper

Goliath Grouper

myfwc.com

 

[CuzzA]

Grogan is being purposefully misleading.

In the paper he linked and quoted here, the diet portion was based on juvenile jewfish. It makes sense crabs would make a larger percentage of juvenile jewfish diet since mangroves and estuaries are also predominate grounds for many species of crabs.

If you read further into the very small Brazil study he linked, they state box fish, yellow tail snapper and grunt are the predominant prey species for adult goliath grouper. 86%.

They also point out depending on habitat, their diet can change drastically.

So there you have it. Despite the claims they hardly eat fish and certainly not fast swimming species like yellowtail snapper, his own freaking study debunks that claim. And in light of common sense, which the study appears to have, despite being very small, it likely confirms my hypothesis that due to the lack of crabs and lobsters on Gulf Coast wrecks and the abundance of mangrove snapper, grunt and bait fish, that is most likely the primary diet of the jewfish here.

 

[The Chairman]

Grogan is being purposefully misleading and shouldn't be trusted.

Please stop with the personal attacks. You don't know Tony, and I do! You two have wildly different agendas and have wildly different conclusions from mostly the same facts. If you disagree with his conclusion, tell us why, but STOP trying to assassinate his character. I would hope the converse to also be true. Work the problem and stop playing the man.

 

[The Chairman]

As for the Jewfish's diet, it really doesn't matter. They are truly opportunistic eaters. I've seen them suck a lobster out of its hole and it was AWESOME. The "kerchunk" of them inhaling a fish or crustacean is one of the many noises on a reef and I love it. I would go so far as saying they are my spirit fish. They are magnificent and there are plenty of other species to harvest. We should just let them be! I feel the same toward manatee and turtles.

 

[100days-a-year]

Pe

As for the Jewfish's diet, it really doesn't matter. They are truly opportunistic eaters. I've seen them suck a lobster out of its hole and it was AWESOME. The "kerchunk" of them inhaling a fish or crustacean is one of the many noises on a reef and I love it. I would go so far as saying they are my spirit fish. They are magnificent and there are plenty of other species to harvest. We should just let them be! I feel the same toward manatee and turtles.

Pete, I had one move in to one of the isolated coral heads off Little Torch and follow me like a 200 pound puppy, he let me tickle them out and any escapees were his. Was there last time I dove but was significantly larger.

 

[CuzzA]

Please stop with the personal attacks. You don't know Tony, and I do! You two have wildly different agendas and have wildly different conclusions from mostly the same facts. If you disagree with his conclusion, tell us why, but STOP trying to assassinate his character. I would hope the converse to also be true. Work the problem and stop playing the man.

Pete, go back an read this thread. I never once personally attack anyone who didn't personally attack me. There's a consistent bias here. Be it Tony attacking me, or Pipehose claiming I suffer brain damage from electrocution. I absolutely will counter them and anyone should have the right to defend themselves. Of course, I'm a big boy, can handle it without the help from a mod.

You completely ignore these personal attacks on me and claim I am the one. You don't see it because of your own personal bias. Tony appears to continue to knowingly perpetuate misinformation and I called him out on it. It's major problem on social media and if you guys want to be an echo chamber and avoid counter viewpoints then I'll step aside and let you guys lie to each other.

 

[tursiops]

Pete, go back an read this thread. I never once personally attack anyone who didn't personally attack me. There's a consistent bias here. Be it Tony attacking me, or Pipehose claiming I suffer brain damage from electrocution. I absolutely will counter them and anyone should have the right to defend themselves. Of course, I'm a big boy, can handle it without the help from a mod.

You completely ignore these personal attacks on me and claim I am the one. You don't see it because of your own personal bias. Tony appears to continue to knowingly perpetuate misinformation and I called him out on it. It's major problem on social media and if you guys want to be an echo chamber and avoid counter viewpoints then I'll step aside and let you guys lie to each other.

I wonder why any thread that you (or a couple of others) participate in becomes a shambles.
You don't get any "big boy" points for destroying a thread by constantly repeating the same half-truths and allegations over and over. Quite the opposite.

 

[CuzzA]

I wonder why any thread that you (or a couple of others) participate in becomes a shambles.
You don't get any "big boy" points for destroying a thread by constantly repeating the same half-truths and allegations over and over. Quite the opposite.

Thanks for making my point.

Y'all have fun lying to each other. I gotta get packed to go diving in the morning... and play with the illusive jewfish.

 

[The Chairman]

You completely ignore these personal attacks on me

Of course, I am biased. There's no doubt there. So, please report any attacks on you that I might have overlooked. It's easy enough to do and let's stop hijacking this thread over personalities. As a note, I'm posting in this thread, so I will not do any moderating in it. I'll let the non-biased Mods do that. As a caveat, disagreeing with someone is not considered an attack. Discuss the concepts and conclusions: not the poster!!!