Where are all the big groupers????

[jmb122mp]

This past April, during the day, there was a boat with at least one line in the water trolling clearly in the park. Our dive boat got between the boat fishing and the lure as their fishing line briefly got hung up on our boat. Happened pretty fast and I had forgotten about it until reading this thread.

 

[Prop Joe]

Another thing I forgot to mention...
If you kill a Lion Fish and look inside the belly to see its contents, guess what you will see? All kinds of indigenous baby reef fish (fry). So you have the huge pressure from humans eating the Grouper and the added pressure of the Lion Fish eating the baby Grouper before they even get a chance to grow and reproduce. Guess what is going to happen? Extinction! At some point unless something changes, the Grouper will cease to exist. The one thing we can do as humans is to stop eating the Grouper at our dinner plate and kill (eat) every Lion Fish you can...
So if you eat Lion Fish and not the Grouper you are really doing your part to help the reef. Think about it...

 

[ggunn]

I have heard that the "eat lionfish" movement has been so successful that there are starting to be shortages on the island. What if we deplete their population so much that they become "endangered"? Save The Lionfish!

 

[Streydog]

This snapper thought I had a spear. Pretty sure it has had it's share of speared lion fish.

 

[5615mike]

I have not seen a Goliath since 2001. He went 300+ lbs. That was the last one in 16 years.

 

[gopbroek]

Last year I saw a pretty good sized guy (250 ?) who took up recidence at the lower end of bricks. It was in a hole in the middle of the inner (sand side) three mounds. Came across it several times. There was another guy I would occationally see at the top end of Cedral shallows. Haven't see either this year.

 

[JFS]

Last year I saw a pretty good sized guy (250 ?) who took up recidence at the lower end of bricks. It was in a hole in the middle of the inner (sand side) three mounds. Came across it several times. There was another guy I would occationally see at the top end of Cedral shallows. Haven't see either this year.

Saw atleast a 200 lb at Columbia shallows 3 weeks ago.

 

[ronscuba]

Depends on how you categorize big. A goliath grouper ? Have not seen any in the Caribbean. Seen many in Palm Beach, but that is the Atlantic.

 

[LoveOceanicGears]

Last October I saw this one at Cozumel. I estimated its length is about 6 or 7 feet, and I can easily fit into the hole if I am not in scuba gear.

Dive Master told me it is a Goliath Grouper. Perhaps someone can give a positive ID on it.

 

[jlyle]

In 26 years of diving in Cozumel, we have seen one goliath grouper. It was on Colombia deep and I have a picture around here somewhere. The above image sure looks like one.