After talking to some dive buddies over my last few trips out, each time the subject of changing hunting conditions/environment came up. How fish that used to be very easy to target, and curious by nature, are acting very shy and much harder to approach close enough for a responsible shot. Also the perceived decline of certain species that used to be abundant, based on much less frequent sightings is something that stood out to me.
It seems like many reefs are becoming predator free zones, populated only by ornamentals, lacking of all but the smallest of predators. Often only consisting of species not desired by fishermen/divers. Then on the flip side of that are reefs that are stacked with Goliath Grouper the size of small cars. With no real predators once they reach that size, I think they are putting quite bit of pressure on other predatory reef fish.
Has anyone else noticed a difference in target species behaviour and hunting environment in the last 5 years? I'm not just interested to hear from divers in my area, I'm interested to see if others are noticing changes in their locale as well.
Curious to see what your observations are.
Dive safe,
G