- REBREATHERS - SPORT DIVERS ... - Stingray Divers

They’re Baaaaaaackk!
Not that long ago, any type of encounter
with these reef giants off Florida’s east coast
would have been a rarity. Now, divers see
them on a regular basis, especially on the
region’s various wrecks. This return is the
result of a complete ban on the killing of
goliath grouper, which was implemented in
1990, and has now been in effect long enough
to allow an increasing number of juveniles to
reach maturity.
But though the goliaths are once more
becoming a fixture of Florida’s reefs and
wrecks, it is too early to determine the exact
extent of this comeback. Working jointly with
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in
their efforts to determine the fish’s overall
22
population status, Florida State University’s
Dr. Chris Koenig warns “Whenever a species
begins showing signs of making a progressive
comeback, certain dangers seem to follow,
particularly public perception. We’ve gone
from a long period in which we haven’t
been seeing them, to now having something
large - even a 50-lb youngster looks huge -
suddenly in our face.”
These sightings, especially on sites such
as wrecks that concentrate the fish, may
create a false sense of its actual numbers,
he says. “The misconception may be that
they are getting out of control and taking
over everything!”
In the waters of the Southern Gulf of
Marathon Romance
When a large number of big fish
congregate, it’s usually for one purpose:
to perpetuate the species. In the Gulf,
spawning activity begins in late July, while
the east coast populations start to get
busy by late summer. As the dog days
of August heat up, so do the hormones,
triggering the need for these big reef fish
to travel distances up to 90 miles to reach
their rendezvous point.
For example, a pair of adult fish tagged
by FSU beneath an old Phosphate Dock
in Boca Grande traveled a distance of
65 miles out to the wreck of the Baja
California to take part in the summer
spawn. They returned to their home under
the dock a couple months later.
Mexico this perception is very much the
rule. On Spearboard.com’s forum threads
on goliaths can get volatile. Even people
who don’t live in the state, like Spearboard
member Mako993, weighed in on the thread.
The comment: Interested in a Limited Goliath
Grouper Harvest? Here’s How We Get One.
“Yeah, if they’re not harvested even minimally,
they’ll walk all over you because they’ve lost
their fear of man, the top predator in the
food chain. Sounds like we need to put the
steel to those fellas down your way - sign me
up for a harvest if a law ever passes. They’re
decent eating.”
continued on page 24
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007