“The longest teeth in their mouth are an eighth of an inch. But in the Gulf of Mexico, the snapper fishery has been below sustainable levels for 20 years.” Big Game of the Ocean “People think because it is big, it has to eat a lot. “We’ve been trying to knock down these arguments for years,” Koenig says. Koenig, whose fascination with goliath groupers dates to his boyhood when the fish was considered worthless, and his wife, Florida State University scientist Felicia Coleman, posted a “fact or fiction” paper online to refute false claims and clarifying the groupers’ dining habits and biology. They have been here for millions of years, much longer than we have.” They were part of the natural environment. “People make up all kinds of reasons why the fish must be destroyed,” Koenig says. Photographer Swims With Huge Goliath Groupers The arguments may sound plausible on the docks, but do not add up in the science lab, says Chris Koenig, a retired University of Florida marine biologist who has studied goliaths for decades. These top predators are becoming so protected, they are starting to prey more and more on the rest of the fish.” “If you ask most fishermen, they say we need to get rid of the goliath. “They’re not selective in what they eat,” Barr says. ( See more National Geographic magazine pictures of goliath groupers.) They know they are going to get fed.”īarr and others also blame goliath groupers for the decimating fish stocks on the Florida reef, including snapper and smaller grouper. They hear the sound of our boats and that’s the dinner bell. “The goliaths will catch every single fish that you hook. “There are a lot of spots we don’t go to anymore because you won’t catch anything,” says Brice Barr, a charter boat skipper and president of the Key West Charter Fishermen’s Association. Several videos online show the goliath grouper's antics, which, includes a grouper dragging a fisherman and stealing his catch. But as numbers recover, sports fishermen and charter boat operators in the Keys complain that the fish has become a pest. It is still listed as critically endangered, however, and is rarely seen in many places where it was once plentiful. states and the federal government banned catching the goliath-and now, the population is making a comeback. Fished to near extinction in its western north Atlantic habitat by 1990, U.S. Not all hold such a reverential view of the goliath grouper, which can reach 800 pounds. “I didn’t know it was her favorite fish until much later.” “As ocean icons, it seemed normal that two beautiful goliath groupers we saw almost every day would be named after my grandfather and Sylvia,” Cousteau says. The other grouper was named JYC, after Cousteau’s grandfather, Jacques Cousteau. Fabien Cousteau named the distinctive Atlantic goliath grouper after famed ocean scientist Sylvia Earle when the curious fish and her larger companion repeatedly visited Cousteau during his expedition in the undersea laboratory Aquarius off Key Largo in 2014. She is six feet long, friendly as a golden retriever-and a rarity. Somewhere in the warm waters off the Florida Keys lives a fish named Sylvia.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |