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Spearfishing Regulations This area is for the topic of existing or proposed Spearfishing Regulations.

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Old 05-25-2009, 08:01 PM   #61
Ray Odor
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

Bob, I appreciate your position on this, but pictures, testimony, begging,cajolling or nothing else has ever worked. They have no proof, plus or minus, on any of thier positions, to make the insane rulings that they come up with. With the yearly decrease in catch limits on all they control, it only proves that all the decisions they have made in years past, have had a negative impact on stock assesments of all concerned species. In last weeks tournament your favorite catch, the American Red, were so stacked up that you couldn't shoot the grouper behind the school. Have they ever sent a state sponsored true diver down to observe? HELL NO! It might jepordize thier livelihood. Nuff said. It's hard to argue with those idots.
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Old 05-26-2009, 12:51 AM   #62
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

I say open em up... throw some regulations on it too... but if they dont do it soon... some divers might get swallowed by some big golliaths... oh & ray... i wish stuff bout me would pop up when i typed my name in google... but all that comes up is Mary Tyler Moore crap...
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Old 05-26-2009, 03:56 PM   #63
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

Open them, while you're at it open Snook, Pompano, Permit!
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Old 05-30-2009, 12:04 PM   #64
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

IMO it would be better to be open only to commercial. Otherwise you'd have rec. ppl going out killing 600lb fish and wasting huge portions of it b/c who eats 150lbs of filets?? It would just have to be strictly regulated for commercial guys.

On another note. I know Jewfish are hermaphrodites right? I am not certain on this though, are they asexual or do they become large males and then mate with the females? If the latter, then i'd say do some research and try to find out on average when they switch over to males and make a slot for that range. That way, you kill both male and females and still leave the much larger males to mate with a healthy population of smaller females. If they are asexual then the males are not needed and just kill them once they hit a certain size.. Again there would have to be strict regulations in order to not wipe them out again.
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Old 05-30-2009, 05:59 PM   #65
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

they are protogynous

female first, then become male

doing the research is a great idea, but as i've said a million times, it takes time and money..alot of money.
you'd need hundreds of samples to get a halfway accurate idea of when they change. and as with most other grouper, it still isn't well known what causes the change. we know its not strictly age or size, its likely sex ratio.

and another issue is that fish from the east coast may change at a different time than those from the keys, which could be different than those on the west coast. so you'd have to do seperate research in each area, and make specific regulations accordingly.

and as for males mating with smaller females, biologically its better for males to mate with the bigger females. the bigger the female the capacity to carry eggs can be exponentially higher.
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Old 05-30-2009, 06:16 PM   #66
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

If they decided to make a small season on them, for researching purposes, they could have rec. or commercial ppl do the harvesting for them. Just have a tag or something that you get and it allows u to harvest one goliath, and you have to let the biologists know that you got one and they need to come do their thing with it. That solves part of the time and money issue.

As far as wanting the bigger females to mate with.. If they switch upward of 100lbs, then you could make the slot from 90lb fish to 150 or so. Also make it a seasonal event, that way you still give the jewfish time to move throught the slot size so ppl don't wipe out all the eventual males. I'm sure a 90lb fish can hold A LOT of eggs. Plus if it is strictly regulated, you will still have some of the largest females able to reproduce. I know it's not perfect, but IMO it would work. Something needs to be done though in the gulf. I dive a lot of the shrimp boat wrecks out there and on a small beat down wreck you will have 8-12 Jewfish, ranging from 50-700lbs. Every dive you lose atleast one fish to a jewfish, and while fishing you often see them come up to the surface in 80ft of water chasing grouper and snapper
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Old 07-04-2009, 09:46 AM   #67
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

N o doubt It needs to be opened
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Old 07-05-2009, 07:09 PM   #68
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

I just thought of another bonus.. If they open up goliath's to only rec. ppl, then wouldn't it take some pressure off the grouper population b/c ppl would fill their freezers with 300lb goliath grouper?
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Old 07-05-2009, 11:59 PM   #69
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

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Originally Posted by kywestfreediver View Post
I just thought of another bonus.. If they open up goliath's to only rec. ppl, then wouldn't it take some pressure off the grouper population b/c ppl would fill their freezers with 300lb goliath grouper?
That seems logical to me. I wouldnt spear if I had 150 pounds of fillets in the freezer.
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Old 08-27-2009, 08:37 AM   #70
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

I have had a lot of requests from people who wanted to see the show but where outside the local PBS viewing area. While the show will be airing on 65 stations nationwide in the coming year, we at WPBT2 have decided to put the show online. So let us know what you think!

Part 1 of SUPER GROUPER
http://ka.uvuvideo.org/_Episode-101-...333/86294.html

Part 2 of SUPER GROUPER
http://ka.uvuvideo.org/_Episode-101-...179/86294.html
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Old 08-27-2009, 03:42 PM   #71
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

Wow! What great, illuminating, Videos.
I couldn’t have stated our case better myself.
I failed to see one Gag, black Grouper or Red Snapper in any scene that most times showed scads of Jewfish. All the nice rock ledges and wrecks, that usually house our food fish, were completely devoid of the above. Talk about “BUNNY HUGGERS”.
If I wanted a crop of corn, I would do away with the weeds. If I wanted deer, I would minimize the wolves and Coyotes. If (and I do) I wanted a good fishery, I would minimize the danger to them.
Can you honestly tell me the Goliath does not eat or frighten away the food fish from these areas? Their absence tells a scientist “nothing”? If you want to find the larger fish in their stomach, don’t pick the small Goliath. I would love to see the video of your arm down the throat of a 500 pounder. You are ruining Florida’s fisheries.
1-Give one permit a year per person to take a Goliath.
2-The stomach contents of that fish will be made available to the NMFC and/or FSU scientists.
3- Pay a bounty for the scavenging Goliath.
100 #-$100.00 Bounty
200#-$200.00 Bounty
300#-$300.00 Bounty
400#-$400.00 Bounty
Etc.
Just watch the video. I rest my case!

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Old 08-27-2009, 04:46 PM   #72
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

hmmm....

lets go one step further ray.....and kill all the sharks as well, cause they prey on grouper too.

wait...then we need to kill the jacks that feed on the juvenile snapper and grouper in the nursery habitat

hell....while we're at it...lets kill off all the fisherman....then there will be TONS of fish in the sea!!


killing off a natural predator to increase the stock of another fishery so that we can harvest even MORE of that fishery.

GREAT IDEA!!
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Old 08-27-2009, 05:36 PM   #73
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

Jnicholson, thanks for sharing those videos with us. I thoroughly enjoyed them as well as others in my family. I definitely look forward to seeing additional video made available by you.
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Old 08-27-2009, 05:59 PM   #74
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

I say it should. Striped Bass can be harvested in New Jersey and there are "slot" limits. They are not fished commercially. I say leave the bigger fish alone. That is you breeding stock. Pay for the privilege of harvesting a 100 to 200lb fish. And use the fees collected for habitat preservation/ conservation.
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Old 08-27-2009, 06:06 PM   #75
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Re: Should the Goliath Grouper fishery be re-opened?

Quote:
Originally Posted by keezdiver View Post
hmmm....

lets go one step further ray.....and kill all the sharks as well, cause they prey on grouper too.

wait...then we need to kill the jacks that feed on the juvenile snapper and grouper in the nursery habitat

hell....while we're at it...lets kill off all the fisherman....then there will be TONS of fish in the sea!!


killing off a natural predator to increase the stock of another fishery so that we can harvest even MORE of that fishery.

GREAT IDEA!!
He wasn't proposing to kill all the goliaths. He did propose a managed harvest of them. Selling permits for one take per person up to a determined number seems reasonable.

What if it was opened only to free diving. Yes, they could a large number in the shallows, (of which there are many here in the mangroves of Belize and I'm sure FL also) but the ones down deep would be safe and could breed unmolested.
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