The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has approved a limited harvest of goliath grouper in Florida waters beginning in Spring 2023.
Fishing for goliath groupers was banned in 1990 due to overfishing. Now up to 200 harvest permit tags will be issued via random-draw lottery.
There are restrictions put in place, including:
- Limiting harvest to one fish per person per open season
- A maximum of 50 goliath groupers can be caught from Everglades National Park
- The season only lasts from March 1 through May 31
- Allowable gear will be hook-and-line only.
- A slot limit of 24 to 36 inches total length.
- Post-harvest requirements, such as proper utilization of the harvest tag, reporting harvest data and submitting a fin clip for genetic analysis.
- The harvest will be prohibited in federal waters
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“After decades of closure to this fishery, we welcome this opportunity for a highly regulated, limited take of goliath grouper,” said FWC Commissioner Robert Spottswood. “In addition, the post-harvest data reporting will help guide future management decisions for this species.”
However, the harvest did have some opposition. Divers talked about the dangers of fishing on known spawning aggregation sites while researchers said not enough data has been collected since the fish was first protected.
