Save the Goliath Grouper!

[Divin'Papaw]

There are lots of theories about how it got to be called "Jewfish" and antisemitism has nothing to do with any of them. In fact, renaming this badass fish after the Jew's worst enemy in the Old Testament is about as racially myopic as you can get. The new name offends me greatly and so I won't use it.

Point of fact, the Synagogue in the upper Keys sent out a petition to stop Florida from renaming Jewfish Creek. I know of no Jew who felt besmirched by the old name. What's next? Are we going to rename "Spanish Hogfish"? Moorish Idol?

A young Jewish shepherd boy killed Goliath with a slingshot. He went on to become the great King David.

Goliath wasn’t the worst enemy of the Jews in the Old Testament. That title more rightly goes to the Assyrian kings who conquered Israel (the Northern Kingdom) and Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar who conquered Judah (the Southern Kingdom) and carried many of the Jews off to captivity in the First Temple Period.

Goliath certainly was not their worst enemy from the Old Testament period. He was a mere blip in Jewish history.

Just to be accurate.

Forget about the fact that the fish was not named after Goliath himself.

 

[tekkydiver]

For these silly discussions might as well bring Dan Volker and Reck Diver back!

 

[scubadada]

From the REEF newsletter, additional information can be found here www.REEF.org/goliath

Florida Fish and Wildlife Considering Opening Goliath Grouper Harvest

Author
Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Ph.D., Co-Executive Director: Science & Engagement

Growing up to eight feet long and weighing more than 800 pounds, the Goliath Grouper (Epinephelus itajara) is one of the largest grouper species in the world. Goliath Grouper are considered Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and have been protected from harvest in US waters since 1990, after decades of heavy fishing caused a near extinction of the species. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) recently asserted that Goliath Grouper population increases have occurred in Florida waters, and therefore some modified take options are warranted. In May 2021, FWC met to consider opening a tag lottery to allow harvest of 100 Goliath Grouper per year for a four-year period. In response to potential changes in protection for the species, researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) submitted to FWC a summary of an analysis of Goliath Grouper sightings in Florida based on REEF's Volunteer Fish Survey Project data.

Since 1993, REEF's Volunteer Fish Survey Project has leveraged citizen science divers to survey fish abundances through Florida. During this time, divers have conducted tens of thousands of surveys in Florida, collectively adding to a database that represents the best available information relevant to Goliath Grouper populations through time. These data show that Goliath Grouper experienced steady population growth in Florida from exceptionally low levels from the 1990s until 2010. However, over the last decade, this population recovery has either ceased or even reversed. The reason for this recent decline is unclear. Given the apparent reversal in recovery for the species in recent years, any added fishing mortality will almost certainly lead to further population decline. Based on these results, the SIO researchers recommended that the moratorium on harvest for Goliath Grouper be continued.

In advance of the FWC meeting, the commission received more than 3,000 public comments, with 98% favoring a continued ban on harvesting Goliath Grouper. At the end of the discussion at the meeting, the commission members voted 6-1 to take steps toward opening the fishery. They have asked FWC staff to draft a rule, which will be reviewed and voted on in a future meeting.

Because of Goliath's no-take status in Florida and the subsequent lack of traditional fisheries-dependent data, REEF's Volunteer Fish Survey Project has been an invaluable source of information to evaluate the status and trends of Goliath populations over the past few decades. These data have been primarily evaluated and published by Drs. Chris Koenig and Felicia Coleman from Florida State University, and more recently by Dr. Dan Greenberg at SIO.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

October 2021 Commission Meeting

https://myfwc.com/media/27535/6-sm-...9eFiS8M-g0aevUnSvRt_DRDtHcTXYyYEF3ej5DxMB855s

https://myfwc.com/media/27533/6-presentation-goliathgrouper.pdf

https://myfwc.com/media/27534/6-gol...jBDl8hZoHT3iRgdior8fzxzLG8MvT9EBxVsgHU93f6Tpk

 

[Catito]

October 2021 Commission Meeting

https://myfwc.com/media/27535/6-sm-...9eFiS8M-g0aevUnSvRt_DRDtHcTXYyYEF3ej5DxMB855s

https://myfwc.com/media/27533/6-presentation-goliathgrouper.pdf

https://myfwc.com/media/27534/6-gol...jBDl8hZoHT3iRgdior8fzxzLG8MvT9EBxVsgHU93f6Tpk

98% of the comments were against killing the Groupers…but the Commission voted 6 to 1 to allow the killing. A Government at work for the people. Shame!

 

[greeniguana]

98% of the comments were against killing the Groupers…but the Commission voted 6 to 1 to allow the killing. A Government at work for the people. Shame!

Hyperbolic.

 

[johndiver999]

They proposed $500 fee to the State to take a 20 inch fish. And no take south of Martin County, why. because of diving tourism? Tourists NEVER see fish of the proposed slot size.

I wonder if fisherman are going to pay that much to take such a small grouper. They will be fishing in the estuaries presumably.
Is it that much more fun to kill and eat a 24 inch jewfish compared to a 24-inch black grouper? I guess this is a proposal to accomodate a very few, privileged members of the inshore fishing community.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

They proposed $500 fee to the State to take a 20 inch fish. And no take south of Martin County, why. because of diving tourism? Tourists NEVER see fish of the proposed slot size.

I wonder if fisherman are going to pay that much to take such a small grouper. They will be fishing in the estuaries presumably.
Is it that much more fun to kill and eat a 24 inch jewfish compared to a 24-inch black grouper? I guess this is a proposal to accomodate a very few, privileged members of the inshore fishing community.

Guess only us locals see them that size on dive sites ... found this little one on the bridge of the Duane back in March.



It's an attempt to pretzel FWC out of the corner they've painted themselves into. The previously suggested slot limit was above the mercury consumption threshold (thus removing table fare from the list of justifications), so they decreased that (the justification is supposedly to prevent batotrauma mortality from targeting individuals in deeper water, but call me skeptical). The major opposition is from dive tourism, so they excluded the four counties that probably comprise the bulk of the Florida dive industry. Fishing might disrupt the spawning aggregations, so they necked it down to a 2-month March-May window.

Of course, they still haven't addressed not meeting any of their "alternative metrics" for population recovery, it's not going to serve any useful data collection purpose, it's still not going to satisfy the people who want to remove adults, it's even less of a "unique harvest opportunity," and people who want to keep the species protected are going to fight it. So outside of flats/mangroves anglers in the Gulf or on the Atlantic north of the PBC line who have a burning desire to pay $510 to catch one juvenile goliath in a year, I can't see this proposal making anybody happy.

 

[johndiver999]

Can't tell how big that one is, but they don't seem to leave the shallows until they are larger than the slot size.

I agree, the current proposal doesn't seem to be formulated to make anyone happy. Maybe a few really eccentric characters who have a taste for unusual things?.

 

[Catito]

Hyperbolic.

WHAT PART? What is hyperbolic is the idea that Goliath Grouper have an impact on game fish—and thus must be fished. You paying $500 to kill one so you can have a photo? It’s ridiculous.