Upcoming Goliath Grouper Workshops

[silverking]

Goliath grouper workshops scheduled August through October; FWC needs your input

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) needs your input on goliath grouper management, including the possibility of a limited harvest in Florida state waters.

The FWC is hosting several goliath grouper public workshops throughout the state in August and October. Share your input and learn more about the current status of goliath grouper by attending one of these workshops.

Workshops will be from 5 to 8 p.m. local time:
Aug. 1: Key West, Key West Marriott Beachside Hotel, 3841 N. Roosevelt Blvd.
Aug. 2: Marathon, Hyatt Place Marathon/Florida Keys, 1996 Overseas Highway.
Aug. 3: Key Largo, Murray Nelson Government Center, 102050 Overseas Highway.
Aug. 8: Crystal River, Plantation on Crystal River, 9301 W. Fort Island Trail.
Aug. 9: Carrabelle, Franklin County Senior Citizens Center, 201 NW Ave. F.
Aug 16: Pensacola, Sanders Beach – Corinne Jones Resource Center, 913 S. I St.
Aug. 17: Panama City, Bland Conference Center, 4750 Collegiate Drive.
Oct. 9: Jacksonville, Pablo Creek Regional Library, 13295 Beach Blvd.
Oct. 10: Titusville, American Police Hall of Fame & Museum, 6350 Horizon Drive.
Oct. 11: Stuart, Flagler Place, 201 SW Flagler Ave.
Oct. 12: Davie, Old Davie School Historical Museum, 6650 Griffin Road.
Oct. 16: Pinellas Park, Bill Jackson’s Shop for Adventure, 9501 U.S. Highway 19 N.
Oct. 17: Port Charlotte, The Cultural Center of Charlotte County, 2280 Aaron St.
Oct. 18: Naples, Collier County Public Library - South Regional, 8065 Lely Cultural Parkway.

If you cannot attend an in-person meeting, submit comments online by visiting MyFWC.com/SaltwaterComments. Staff is working on a virtual workshop that should be available online in the near future. Additional details and updates to these meetings will be posted at MyFWC.com/Fishing (click on “Saltwater Fishing,” “Rulemaking” and “Workshops.”)

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[tailwaters]

Over the years I've heard a lot of people complain about the number of Goliath in our waters. These comments mainly stem from the frustration of having their catch stolen or the belief that they eat everything on a reef. I might not agree with this reasoning but do understand the frustration. For me to form an opinion if a season is justified or not two basic questions need to be answered first. The first is are they any good to eat in the first place. I'm not referring to the small one's. I'm talking about a 250lb plus fish. It's been my experience that a lot of species just don't taste that good when they get big. Red fish, Black drum, King Mackerel and AJ's are a few that come to mind. My other question has to do with health/safety. Do these big fish carry any toxins they could be detrimental to our health? Something like high mercury levels or Ciguatera?

[silverking]

If they're anything like sow trout, they would be loaded with worms at that size. Not an expert but also suspect they would be prone to ciguatera since they frequent wrecks/reefs and are at the top of the food chain.

A common management proposal I've heard is a tag lottery harvest similar to tarpon with a likely slot size. The big ones are very slow growing and likened to the marine equivalent of elephants. I don't fish offshore much anymore, but there used to be a serious fishery for them in Everglades National Park backcountry using stout cane poles. It'll be interesting to hear the summary of public comments and see what the commission comes up with.

[Juan]

Growing up in the Keys, I've caught many Goliath grouper (or Jew FIsh as we always called them.) We would eat a few of the small ones and either release or give away the big ones to the commercial lobster and stone crab fishermen to be cut up and used for bait. The big ones are certainly edible but I remember their meat being far too flaky for my liking and most of the time we found the fish over about 50 pounds to be full of worms/flukes. There were just too many better fish to keep for eating purposes.
I know the Florida Keys are over populated with them these days. It's hard to not catch one on a reef or around most all of the bridges from Homestead to Key West but are there really that many up here in the panhandle? I've heard stories of people catching one now and then, but I have yet to see one up here. I'd support a limited harvest in certain counties... (especially in Monroe, Broward and Dade counties) but IMHO there should be some kind of study done to determine how many are in an area before they open season.

[fishdux]

The Panhandle has way too many of them. Any large piece of structure or reef will likely have several of them waiting to steal your catch. If you have heavy enough tackle to get one to the boat it will likely look like its wearing braces from all the hooks in its mouth. I would fully support a tag system to let people keep one every now and then. Oh and by the way, I fish out of St Marks.

[Salty Gator]

Growing up in the Keys, I've caught many Goliath grouper (or Jew FIsh as we always called them.) We would eat a few of the small ones and either release or give away the big ones to the commercial lobster and stone crab fishermen to be cut up and used for bait. The big ones are certainly edible but I remember their meat being far too flaky for my liking and most of the time we found the fish over about 50 pounds to be full of worms/flukes. There were just too many better fish to keep for eating purposes.
I know the Florida Keys are over populated with them these days. It's hard to not catch one on a reef or around most all of the bridges from Homestead to Key West but are there really that many up here in the panhandle? I've heard stories of people catching one now and then, but I have yet to see one up here. I'd support a limited harvest in certain counties... (especially in Monroe, Broward and Dade counties) but IMHO there should be some kind of study done to determine how many are in an area before they open season.

They are most definitely here. When fishing for black snapper in 65 plus feet we really have to horse them in or the goliaths get them. We were on a public reef a few months back and had 3 huge ones trying their best to take our snapper. The guys that dive will tell you they are on most every wreck and reef

[big bend gyrene]

I don't say this in a way to justify / advocate whether or not to have a season on them, but my own personal observation is we have no shortage and that goes for close-in structure as well as deeper structures too. Multiple goliath reside at each of the structure rich spots I like hitting to see if cobia are home.

As for a stance on a season, I don't have an issue with one if it's measured to ensure that some representative population survives as I think they're cool to have around / see from time to time. Much like with the short lived FL bear season though, it won't surprise me if people's emotions end up trumping science even if the numbers actually support a season.

[Juan]

I had no idea they are that plentiful up here. I don't often fish offshore but when I do it's out of PC usually fishing private numbers but also a lot of Hathaway bridge rubble and I've never caught one. Didn't see any around any wrecks or bridge spans when I did a lot of diving either but that's been about 10-12 years ago. I guess they just like the Big Bend better.
Found an old pic of a few we probably ate.

[woopty]

Oh yea...we got 'em...