NOAA NEWS: Goliath Grouper Removed from Species of Concern List - Harvest Still Prohi

[Blind Squirrel]

NOAA FISHERIES SERVICE NEWS RELEASE
SOUTHEAST REGIONAL OFFICE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 28, 2006

Media Contact:
Kim Amendola - NOAA
727-551-5707

NOAA Removes Goliath Grouper From Species of Concern List
Harvesting Still Prohibited

NOAA Fisheries Service removed goliath grouper (formerly known as
jewfish) from the species of concern list in early February because a
recent status report showed a significant increase in abundance to the
U.S. population segment. The report also showed the species is
re-establishing throughout its historical range. These positive
enhancements are the results of protective management measures
established over a decade ago by state and federal agencies. In spite of
this information, the stock is still considered to be overfished under
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act; therefore,
all recreational and commercial harvest is still prohibited.
NOAA Fisheries Service created the species of concern list in 2004 to
identify species about which the service has concerns regarding status
and threats, but does not have sufficient information to list the
species as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Twenty-five marine species, including goliath grouper, were added to
this list.

The fisheries service has been monitoring the status of goliath grouper
since the early 1990s. In 2004, a team of scientists from the service’s
Southeast Fishery Science Center, Southeast Regional Office, and state
resource agencies prepared an assessment that indicated the goliath
grouper stock in south Florida waters was recovering. Based on that
assessment and inquiries from stakeholders, Dr. Roy Crabtree, the
Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries Service’s Southeast Regional
Office, directed staff to prepare a status report for the continental
U.S. population of goliath grouper. This latest report showed that
protective management measures resulted in an increased abundance of
goliath grouper throughout its range; therefore, the species was removed
from the species of concern list.

“This is becoming a success story,” Crabtree said. “Federal and state
conservation and regulatory measures have prevented elevation of the
species to the endangered or threatened status.” Management efforts
began on the species in the early 1980s when the South Atlantic Fishery
Management Council prohibited spearing of the species and the state of
Florida implemented an 18-inch minimum size limit to protect juveniles.
In 1989, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council implemented a
50-inch minimum size limit. Finally, both councils and Florida
prohibited all harvest of the species from federal and state waters in
1990. Federal fishery management councils and individual state agencies
would evaluate future regulatory actions.
Goliath grouper is the largest of the western Atlantic Ocean groupers.
They can reach a maximum length of approximately eight-feet, weigh up to
approximately 880-pounds, and can live for over 35-years. The body color
is brownish yellow, grey or greenish, with black spots appearing on the
topside of its head, body, and fins. Mangrove habitat is thought to be
the primary habitat for juveniles (up to approximately three-feet) and
adults are often found on artificial reefs, overhangs, bridges, piers,
and shipwrecks. In the western Atlantic Ocean, this species ranges from
Bermuda and the Carolinas (though rarely) down through the coast of
Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
NOAA Fisheries Service is dedicated to protecting and preserving our
nation’s living marine resources and their habitat through scientific
research, management and enforcement. NOAA Fisheries Service provides
effective stewardship of these resources for the benefit of the nation,
supporting coastal communities that depend upon them, and helping to
provide safe and healthy seafood to consumers and recreational
opportunities for the American public.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the
U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security
and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and
climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our
nation’s coastal and marine resources.
Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS),
NOAA is working with its federal partners and nearly 60 countries to
develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet
it observes.

–30 –

* *
*Media Note *

For more information on:

Goliath Grouper
http://www.sefsc.noaa.gov/sedar/Seda...WorkshopNum=06
/(assessment)/

http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdf/Fin...th_Grouper.pdf
/(status report)/

Species of Concern List
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/concern/

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/magact/

Endangered Species Act
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/laws/esa.htm

[Blind Squirrel]

Not what we want, but at least a first step. It was funny, because at the Snook Symposium in late January, the biggest complaint, other than there not being enough big snook, was that they were having a hard time practicing catch and release, because the juvenile jewfish kept eating the snook at the boat!!

[Powerhead]

Doesn't someone have a Avatar with the little kid peeing on Roy Crabtrees head?

I guess someday our great-great-grandchildren will be able to eat Jewfish. By then they'll be the only fish left in the ocean.

[Megabeast]

I guess we've gotta get more jewfish to eat redfish/snook to get them harvestable again. Sucks for you south florida guys, they're in check pretty good up here. They run from divers, the way it should be. But then again, we don't have idiots hand feeding them up here either.

Originally Posted by Powerhead

Doesn't someone have a Avatar with the little kid peeing on Roy Crabtrees head?

Not me

[stickitfishy]

Oh, wouldn't it be nice to have lobster again some day! Or if you could fish on a wreck and actually land the fish that is on your line instead of feeding the resident jewfishes. Or not have to worry about being molested by one! Okay, time to stop dreaming.

[Spleen]

I don't mind the jewfish. They're big & beautiful and they're a big attraction for the commercial dive boats w/ their tourists. I have no problem giving up a few bugs or fish a year to them. I could see a lottery style goliath season, but I think a wide-open season would suck.

[Powerhead]

Originally Posted by Spleen

I don't mind the jewfish. They're big & beautiful and they're a big attraction for the commercial dive boats w/ their tourists. I have no problem giving up a few bugs or fish a year to them. I could see a lottery style goliath season, but I think a wide-open season would suck.

A lottery system would generate a hugh amount of money for the state and keep the population in check.

I like them too. It feels good the see a management plan work well. But, to see GG's like a gang of Thugs hovering over a wreck with hardly any other fish in site isn't to pleasing.

[Ray Odor]

Why not set a minimum size limit on them like any other self respecting fish?
It works for every other fish they control. Put a limit, 1 per boat, and minimum size of three ft. After all, it's the very big one's who are eating our Red Grouper, crabs, lobster etc. by the bucket full. Thin the herd of Gentel seafood maurauders of their 200lb a week diets of seafood .
Ray Odor

[Gutshot!]

Lottery sounds good to me

[alagig]

I am glad to see the first step taken. now lets just hope they decide to allow a harvest soon

[Spleen]

Originally Posted by Powerhead

I like them too. It feels good the see a management plan work well. But, to see GG's like a gang of Thugs hovering over a wreck with hardly any other fish in site isn't to pleasing.

No doubt. Another issue here is that I suspect the GG predators, namely sharks, are in smaller numbers these days. There has to be an animal at the apex to create "balance". Man could be that animal. Bears were protected in NJ until they got to be such a problem that they allowed a lottery-style culling season. We're talking about BEARS in NEW JERSEY. If the geniuses in Tallahassee can manage red grouper, snapper, etc. GG can certainly be a managed resource too.

[mrfish87]

It seems the term management is interpreted as closure in this case. If that is the way to "manage" species....woe is it for us and the red snapper...
Lottery for hebrews......hmmmm......doable I guess. I think you guys that see them all the time should invite some of those fisheries "suits" on afew dives and see the population in action. We are beginning to se some over here...but not regularly.
Limited harvest like the Warsaw (1 per vessel per day)would seem reasonable.

[Christof]

Originally Posted by NsearchOFfish

Not me

Boy, he does look like the idiot he acts like.... What a friggin tard this guy is...... Too bad he doesnt have any balls, he could actually do the fisheries some good then....

Christof

[Scott Hooker]

Roy-boy pretty much established himself as an incurable moron during the grouper closure fiasco. No matter how concrete the evidence placed before him, he resolutely stuck to obviously bad data, which he cited like a broken record.
I support the tag idea, and/or a size window (45' to 65"?) for a closely monitored harvest. I think that it would be prudent to leave the largest fish alone, as breeders, and because I think that many of the real monsters would simply get wounded by non-expert spearos trying to harvest them. What about a manditory powerhead clause? That would certainly increase the odds of quick, clean harvest.
-Scott-