Abstract

Goliath Grouper, or mero "Cherna" Epinephelus itajara is the giant from the Serranidae family. Its high food consume demand, lost of natural habitat, and slow growing rate, has driven its fisheries till the point of being overexploited. Due to this situation, the first efforts to protect this specie were given out by authorities in the USA, Brazil, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. It has been included in the Red Book as a critical endangered specie. In Mexico, fishery for this specie is still allowed and it is regulated inside the Carta Nacional Pesquera under the Serranidae family and categorized by Norm NOM-065-PESC-2006 where a fishing permission is managed, with minimum size and temporary closed fishery. In the NOM- 059-ECOL-2001 this specie is not enlisted in any endangered specie category. In the Yucatan Peninsula, with actual questionnaires responded by the fishing sector, have shown a huge decrease in this specie fisheries since five years ago, meaning an over exploitation of the Epinephelus itajara. Even though, in Mexico, regulated zones for this specie are commonly known as Marine Protected Areas, as the case on Isla San Pedro Mártir, located in the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico and Yucatan Peninsula. The prime objective of this work is to promote and present a new law iniciative in order to forbid this specie fishery in front of the National Fisheries Comission using a total prohibition and also send this iniciative to SEMARNAT to be included in the Norma-059-ECOL-2001, along with other endangered especies as a good conservational & management strategy.

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