Head here to sign up.Ĭopyright 2021 WLRN 91.3 FM. One coastal restaurant closed shop due to the rotting smell of dead fish, Spectrum. She shares her reporting, the latest news out of the Keys and much more. Floridas red tide has killed 3 million pounds of marine life, including a manatee and a 400-lb grouper. The newsletter will arrive in your inbox every two weeks and is written and curated by WLRN’s southernmost reporter Nancy Klingener. Want to keep up with the latest stories out of the Florida Keys like this one? Sign up for The Tieline, our newsletter focused on all things Keys and Monroe County. The two-day recreational season is scheduled for July 28 and 29 this year. Thursday, the commission is scheduled to hear a presentation about lobster mini-season, with a special emphasis on the Florida Keys. There are no plans to consider re-opening the fishery in federal waters. A final decision on the grouper’s status could still be months away.Īny decision would apply only to state waters. The commission meets Wednesday and is scheduled to tell staff whether to come back at a future meeting with a proposed rule. That would have allowed catching 100 fish a year for four years. Staff at the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recommend a limited, highly-regulated harvest, similar to what was proposed a couple years ago. Others, especially divers, say the goliath isn't that plentiful yet and that they're most valuable as an ecotourism attraction. Recently some people say the fish has made enough of a comeback that they're becoming a nuisance, saying that they take people's fish off of lines or spears. It's been illegal to catch and keep a goliath grouper since 1990. And they grow really slowly, so it takes a long time for the population to recover. The goliath grouper is found primarily in shallow tropical waters among coral and artificial reefs. They were once so overfished in the southeastern United States, they were considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act. They're susceptible to cold snaps and red tide. The goliath grouper is the largest grouper species in the Atlantic Ocean weighing up to 800 pounds. Goliath grouper can grow to massive size - 800 pounds and 8 feet long.īut they gather in big groups to spawn, which makes them easy to catch.
State wildlife officials are considering whether to allow people to catch and keep goliath grouper for the first time in more than 30 years.
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