U.S.: Goliath grouper's comeback creates conflict

Kate Spinner Sarasota Herald-Tribune 22 Oct 11;

SARASOTA, Fla. -- When anglers targeting sweet-eating snapper instead see the hulking shape of a 400-pound goliath grouper at the end of their line, expletives usually follow. Not in awe over the size of the fish - the Gulf of Mexico's largest grouper that can reach 8 feet in length and top out at 800 pounds - but in anger over the loss of their dinner.

The goliaths often eat hooked or speared game fish before anglers can get them in the boat. While reputably tasty, the giant groupers are protected and illegal to keep. "They eat any fish you put a hook in," said Captain Gary Gilliland, who works at Economy Tackle in Sarasota. "Most recreational guys that want to catch something different, they hate them."

As goliath have grown in size and number, so has the vitriol toward the giant fish, a product of their partial rebound since a 1990 ban on their harvest saved them from extinction.

The goliath's rebound, driven by continued state and federal restrictions, has created an unusual conflict between wildlife officials who see them as threatened and anglers who see them as a nuisance.

In Southwest Florida, more fishermen are having encounters with goliaths, in part because of the expansion of artificial reefs that concentrate fish and anglers in the same places.

As a result, fishermen - both commercial and recreational - are beginning to demand the right to harvest goliath. Conversely, conservationists want the federal government to give the goliaths further protection by putting them on the endangered species list.

To help solve the conflict, scientists Christopher Koenig and Felica Coleman of Florida State University are beginning a 3-year study to document the goliath's recovery and figure out whether it makes sense to allow anglers to catch and keep them.

Formerly known as jewfish, goliath are the largest groupers in the Western North Atlantic, thriving mainly in tropical regions. They can reach 800 pounds and live 50 years.

They prefer to eat box crabs and require little sustenance because of their lazy habits. When goliath see a hooked or speared fish, however, it looks like easy dinner, and they will defend their claim to it, giving fishermen the perception that goliath are ravenous beasts.

"They're like big puppy dogs, they really are. I could show you video where they come right up to you and you could put a hand on their face," Koenig said.

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A partial recovery

Although large numbers of goliath grouper seem to have returned to the shallow, offshore waters between Tarpon Springs and Marco Island, including Sarasota's coast, they are rare elsewhere.

The International Union for Conservation, of which the United States is a member, considers goliath critically endangered, just one step away from extinction in the wild. A petition to put them on the U.S. endangered species list was filed last year by WildEarth Guardians.

A misconception exists that goliath have fully recovered because of their increasing interaction with fishermen, said Captain Tom McLauglin, who runs catch-and-release charters for goliath grouper out of Englewood.

"It's rebounded in really small areas. They tend to congregate most heavily in areas we fish a lot," McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin also fishes commercially, spending 300 days a year on the water. Artificial reefs draw large numbers of fish, including goliath grouper, away from smaller, natural reefs. On top of that, artificial reef locations are widely publicized.

While most fishermen are respectful, some do not follow fishing laws and there is virtually no law enforcement on the water, McLaughlin said.

He often finds goliath pierced with stainless steel J-hooks, which are illegal and deadly. He also finds them regularly wounded by spears, proof that fishermen sometimes target them illegally.

On one occasion, in Boca Grand Pass, McLaughlin found three dead goliath tied to an anchored rope. They had been speared.

"There are a lot of instances of people killing them or injuring them because they think they're catching their fish," McLaughlin said. "The ironic thing about it is they are killing a fish that is 20, 30, 50 years old in favor of a fish that is 5 years old."

Other fishermen argue that allowing a restricted harvest of goliath grouper would help to alleviate fishermen's frustration and return balance to the reefs.

"It's long overdue, 10 years overdue," Gilliland said, adding that sometimes 30 goliath will congregate at a wreck or reef. "There's not any reason that I can see to not let people take them."

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A goliath scapegoat

When regulators start talking about overfishing of game fish such as smaller groupers and red snappers, and instituting smaller bag limits, some fishermen blame goliath.

The refrain that goliath are eating all the fish is common, but it is based on faulty logic, scientists say.

"They remove themselves from the equation," Koenig said. "They don't see themselves as having an impact on all these species they are fishing for."

Koenig's research - an analysis of stomach contents from more than 100 goliaths - shows that more than 60 percent of the goliath diet consists of crabs, not healthy snappers or other groupers. Research using stable isotopes also shows that goliath eat low on the food chain, more like pinfish than sharks.

Further, reefs inhabited by goliath host more abundant and diverse fish populations than reefs where they do not. One reason, Koenig speculated, is that goliath tend to expose more structure by digging out ledges buried by sand.

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Opening up goliath fishery

There is tremendous pressure from fishermen to once again allow the harvest of goliath groupers, but state and federal regulators say science has not shown that the species can handle it.

Data on the fish is weak. Scientists do not know how many there are now, nor how many existed historically.

With the help of anglers, Koenig and Coleman's 3-year project will attempt to correct that by establishing the age, location and abundance of goliath. Fish are not killed during the research.

Koenig says he doubts goliath will ever recover enough to fully open the fish to commercial and recreational harvest. Without tight restrictions, he said, fishermen could bring the goliath population back down to 1990 levels in two months. "They're too easy to catch," Koenig said.

The fish do not fear people and they spawn all at once in large groups, making them susceptible to swift overfishing.

In addition, goliath rely on healthy mangrove forests more than most other groupers. They spend the first four to five years of their lives living among the mangrove swamps.

Past drainage projects, commercial agriculture and development have ruined or polluted most of Florida's mangroves. The few that remain are concentrated in Southwest Florida. Koenig ties a direct link between those healthy mangroves and the goliath's isolated population rebound.

McLaughlin worries that fishing regulators will allow goliath to be fished too heavily in too few areas. That many fishermen also view them as expendable, sparks his concern.

"There are a lot more now than it used to be, but who's to say that's how many there should be," he said.