Abstract

Fishing for goliath grouper was banned in United States waters in 1990 after a noted dramatic decline in population numbers. After eighteen years of protection, the species is reportedly showing signs of recovery along the west coast of Florida, with increasing accounts of underwater sightings and capture on hook and line. To assess the abundance and size distribution of adult goliath grouper within the study region, designated sites have been established over natural and artificial habitat across a range of depths (7 - 45 meters). These sites are visited regularly to identify seasonal changes in fish presence. Research has been ongoing since November 2007 and goliath grouper have been observed during 70% of all surveys (94/132 dives). When present, the minimum number observed at a site has ranged between one and 25 individuals. Abundance of individuals was significantly higher over artificial habitat and increased with site depth. Identification tags have been attached to 113 fish and 15 re-sightings have been reported. Time at large has ranged from 1 – 204 days (mean = 47 days), and straight line distance between sightings has been measured to 203 kilometers. However, the majority of re-sights occurred at the initial tagging site. Research is ongoing but these preliminary data are providing information regarding the population of goliath grouper within a defined study region.

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