yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Some Say This Goliath Fish, Once Overfished, Is Now a Nuisance | National Geographic


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

They are fish that can range from a tasty 30-pounder to something the size of a Volkswagen. You'll see spots where this, you know, multiples like 14, 15, 20 Goliath Grouper swimming around. The Goliath Grouper population is getting out of hand. They were historically overfished; fishing pressure really peaked in the 1980s, and there was a very noted and dramatic decline in population numbers, especially in Florida. So there was an emergency closure in 1990.

They have responded quite encouragingly to the protective measures. Laws were enacted to protect the fish, which I think were good laws. And now, 20-30 years later, they definitely are nuisance fish. What they end up doing is, yeah, for fishermen trying to bring a fish up, they often end up fighting the Goliath Grouper who wants the same fish they have. They are opportunistic predators, so they do readily and often steal fish that are hooked and being reeled in by anglers.

A lot of anglers are concerned that Goliath Grouper are eating up all of the grouper and snapper species that we have that are important fishery species. The reality of that is that Goliath Grouper typically eat lower on the trophic level. They do eat a lot of bait fish and crustaceans. They'll eat a lot of crabs; they don't naturally take snappers and groupers on their own.

It comes at the time that we need to start thinking about how do we manage this. Right now, I think a lot of guys would like to see some sort of a lottery system like for alligators or moose or elk, where you buy into a lottery, you're given a tag if your name's chosen, and it allows you to go out and harvest one of these fish.

The stock assessments that have been performed for Goliath Grouper have been inconclusive as far as total recovery of the population goes. The data that we have definitely shows evidence that the population is recovering, but to what level is still relatively inconclusive. So if there's ever going to be any sort of a limited take, it would need to be managed based on scientific evidence and it would have to be monitored very carefully. You have an animal that, once it invades, can really increase in population numbers very rapidly.

More Articles

View All
Identifying transformation described with other algebra and geometry concepts
We’re told that a certain mapping in the x-y plane has the following two properties: each point on the line ( y = 3x - 2 ) maps to itself. Any point ( P ) not on the line maps to a new point ( P’ ) in such a way that the perpendicular bisector of the segm…
Fireflies Put on a Spectacular Mating Dance | Short Film Showcase
[Music] It’s late summer in the highland forests of Mexico. Billions of fireflies are hiding in the underbrush, waiting for the perfect night to find a mate. But most nights, something is off, and so they keep waiting. The fireflies prefer a moonless nigh…
🚛 🚗 The Interstate's Forgotten Code 🚗 🚛
The interstate highway shields hide within them long forgotten knowledge. As our great ancestors could navigate by the signs in the sky before the creation of the compass, so too before GPS could they navigate by these signs. Come with me and learn how to…
Young Haitian Photographers Capture Haiti in a New Light | National Geographic
If Haiti doesn’t want you here, she is living everything in her power to make you so miserable that you will run screaming for the next airplane out. But if she loves you, if she sees in you a kindred spirit, she rings your heart out every day and she has…
Weathering and erosion | The geosphere | Middle school Earth and space science | Khan Academy
Growing up in southern Idaho, one of my favorite places to visit was Swan Falls, a gorgeous canyon formed by the Snake River. All throughout my childhood, I remember scrambling over the boulders down in this canyon and playing in the cool water at the edg…
How did Reagan's policies affect the economy? | US Government and Civics | Khan Academy
How did Ronald Reagan’s policies affect the government and economy? What Ronald Reagan believed is that good programs—he had been a New Deal Democrat—he believed that what had happened was good programs that had tried to help people who needed the help: …