A good post from Ray Odor. I guess he wants to relive the good ole days and shoot himself a jewfish 
Seriously though I understand they can be a menace. I haven't had a problem yet but I don't dive so many wrecks.
Display MoreThis is the report I presented to the commission two years ago. Evidently they don't want any help, only justify thier own existance by unverified clorsuers.
Who’s eating your lunch?
Goliath Grouper???
17 plus years ago, the Goliath grouper was placed on the endangered species list.
This was deemed a good move, due to no regulations on catch, and restaurants buying them for pennies on the pound and selling them all the way from Key West to New York as Snapper fingers and Grouper filets. No one wants to see that condition exist again.
Time has marched on. The wreck or rock structure that once held one or two of these giants now is home to several dozen of them. The Goliath that weighed 250 pounds ten years ago has become a Giant of 400 to 500 pounds, requiring twice as much food. Likewise, the wrecks and rock structures that used to be teaming with Snapper, Grouper and Grunts, are sometimes almost barren, many sucked in by the giant vacuum machines. As a spear fisherman, I have many times had to race to a ‘free shafted’ fish to grab him before the Goliath did.
Most times he won. Not to sweat, there are still schools of Amberjack that frequent the wrecks. Watch out if you spear or catch one and he gets near the bottom, reel him fast as you can or get to your speared fish quickly or the big G will get him.
We have urged the fisheries commissions, both State and Federal, to come up with a plan to allow the taking of this food fish on a limited basis. Each time, we are told, “we have to do more research on the fishery”. How do you research a fishery if you have no samples coming out of the water? How would you examine stomach contents if you have no available stomach? How can you count the herd if you don’t go down where they live? We tell you there are hundreds of them and they devour crabs, lobster, grouper and all sorts of sea life, yet in the six years since the NMFC promised to take a hard look at it, little or nothing has been done.
I have made a schedule below to add a little impetus to your start.
1.Decide on a limited tag issue system, i.e. the Gator hunt or Lobster stamp.
.This would provide a control record for those targeting the species.
2. There would be no charge to the person requesting the tag, however, he/she would be required to sign a waiver that would indicate they must contact the specified scientist or marine biologist on reaching shore with their catch. The stomach contents could be taken by the contact or saved on ice for them to pick up.
The length, girth and estimated weight would be given to the contact, and, if possible, a picture. If the fisherman was a diver, the estimated size and number of the herd should be noted. Underwater pictures would be valued.
3. Tags should be evenly dispersed between divers and fishermen.
4. Tags should be dispersed in every portion of the state, so the stomach contents in one area would not be the determining criteria.
RAY ODOR
