Ask Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the FWC to Stop the Planned Annual Killing of Juvenile Goliath Groupers in Florida

To fully comprehend the reason for this petition, please watch this YouTube Video titled: Our Goliath Wisdom Extended Preview 10-2022

https://youtube.com/watch?v=7038napqqAQ&feature=share

In the year 2022, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commissioners (FWC) bowed to fishing community pressure by allowing the start of recreational fishing for goliath groupers, formerly known as Jewfish, which are a marine species of super-sized fish that has been protected from fishing for over 30 years.

Almost one hundred prominent marine scientists told the FWC Commissioners they believe this species has not yet recovered from its close call brush with extinction sufficiently to sustain even a small re-opening to hook and line fishing of this once critically endangered species.

FWC calls it a limited harvest of only 200 juvenile goliaths per year and they claim it will not impact the overall recovery of the species. FWC Commissioners approved this harvest to start in 2023 with almost no scientific support outside of their agency staff scientists over which they exert significant influence.

The October 2022 FWC press release announcing the start of the first harvest application process says:

“The highly regulated, limited take of goliath grouper is an exciting and unique opportunity to provide access to this resource after decades of closure and we believe limited access is sustainable,” said FWC Commissioner Robert Spottswood. “We also look forward to collecting the post-harvest data to help guide future management decisions for this species.”

This scientific purpose justification by Commissioner Spottswood is flawed because FWC can collect the same post-harvest data without killing 200 juvenile goliaths annually. Non-lethal data collection has been done by many goliath grouper scientists for decades of scientific research.

Regardless, a brand new scientific development since they approved the harvest must be brought to the FWC Commission and the public’s attention. Hopefully, the Commissioners will re-consider their decision at one of the FWC public meetings before the 2023 juvenile goliath grouper harvest start of March 1, 2023.  

In this present year 2022, the physical counts by researchers of Goliath groupers at the Palm Beach County spawning sites during the spawning summer season have dropped by approximately 50 percent. A spawning aggregation is where fish gather to reproduce. This goliath grouper counts decline of 50% in just one year is very significant and has not been seen by scientists in this location before now. The pro-creation of future generations of juvenile goliath groupers may be in jeopardy and killing juvenile current generations now seems particularly unwise.

For example, last year on August 22, 2021 sixty spawning age goliath groupers were counted at the MG111 artificial reef site by two scuba diving Florida International University scientists. Compare that 60 goliaths count last year in 2021 to this year in August of 2022, when researchers have been seeing reliable and consistent counts of only 25 to 30 goliaths at the same MG111 site and other important spawning sites which normally would have 40 to 60 goliaths during spawning season.

Since goliaths were protected from fishing in 1990, over the past few decades, the goliath population has recovered to where ocean researchers during the summer months of July through October typically see between 40 to 60 goliaths on each of several wrecks and natural reefs offshore near the Jupiter, Palm Beach and Boynton Beach inlets.

The scientific data being collected at multiple goliath spawning sites in Palm Beach County and others at Gulf of Mexico sites spans many years. The research papers are almost ready to be published as several articles in scientific journals. The FWC Commissioners should at least wait for this science before killing juveniles.

Professional lobbyist FWC Commission Chairman Rodney Barreto publicly admitted that the fishing community’s pressure to kill goliath groupers is the number one complaint Barreto hears. Barreto also said he has been trying to open goliaths to harvest for over 15 years. Please realize that fishing goliaths was closed to save the species from extinction in 1990 which is 32 years ago which implies that half that time Barreto was trying to resume fishing goliaths. The citizens of Florida deserve better environmental agency leadership.

Governor Ron DeSantis has in the past shown strong leadership by vetoing or otherwise objecting to state legislature bills or regulatory matters brought to his attention that do not make sense. This governor has proven he cares about Florida’s environment and that he will stand up to swamp creature lobbyists and lawyers representing special interests. Hopefully, he will do the same on this juvenile goliath grouper harvest issue.

Governor Ron DeSantis established the Florida Chief Science Officer position in his Executive Order in January 2019 creating the Florida Office of Environmental Accountability and Transparency. Dr. Mark Rains is the second state Chief Science Officer in Florida’s history.

Governor DeSantis should ask Dr. Rains to look into the FWC Commissioners’ goliath grouper juvenile harvest decision that flies in the face of the science-based environmental policy standards his new office advocates. Dr. Rains should inquire of some of the over 100 prominent external scientists why they adamantly oppose the FWC Commission goliath harvest actions led by real estate developer commissioners Barreto and Spottswood.

Clearly, the proposed juvenile goliath harvest is unwise at this time. Goliath grouper are truly a mysterious fish species we are only beginning to understand. They should have continued protection from fishing because this species contributes so much to robust reef ecosystems which in turn makes commercial and recreational fishing better.

Please send emails to the following addresses expressing your thoughts on this matter:

Email the Florida Governor at:

GovernorRon.Desantis@eog.myflorida.com

Email the FWC Commissioners at:

https://myfwc.com/contact/fwc-office/senior-staff/commissioners/

Email the Chief Science Officer Dr. Mark Rains at:

Public.Services@FloridaDEP.gov

If you are motivated to take monetary action by the issues presented in this petition, please heed the advice to conservationists from FWC Commissioner Gary Nicklaus and enter the harvest lottery to possibly save a juvenile goliath grouper.

Go to the website “Goliath Grouper Harvest Permit” at the following link to read the rules and apply for a permit between October 15 and October 30 of the year 2022. If you miss this deadline, please sign this petition and you will be notified in a petition update for future years harvest application time periods.

https://myfwc.com/license/recreational/saltwater-fishing/goliath-grouper-harvest-permit/

You do NOT have to buy a fishing license to participate in the random-draw lottery as confirmed by recent inquiry of FWC. Only lottery winners who want to kill one juvenile goliath grouper need to have a fishing license if they are required to do so in order to fish. The cost to apply for the permit lottery is $10. If you win the permit lottery, be prepared to have your credit card charged $150 dollars if you are a Florida resident or $500 dollars if you are an out of Florida resident.

As FWC Commissioner Gary Nicklaus says, you can decide to not harvest a juvenile goliath fish. If you do not harvest a juvenile goliath, you must report that no harvest occurred to the Commission’s harvest reporting system within 24 hours after the assigned harvest period closes. FWC’s open season to kill a juvenile goliath is between March 1, 2023 and May 31, 2023 and in future years.