Abstract

Reef fishes across the globe are threatened by human exploitation as well as the adverse effects of pollution, habitat destruction, and climate change. Many species are fished almost out of existence. One such species is the goliath grouper, Epinephelus itajara, which is considered critically endangered by the IUCN. Few sightings have been documented throughout most of their historical range in the Atlantic from North Carolina to Brazil and Senegal to Congo (the Pacific population was recently deemed a separate species, E. quinquefasciatus (Craig et al. 2008)). The exception to this trend is in Florida, where goliath grouper populations have been recovering since the fishery closure in 1990. Our dive surveys (N = 695) as well as those submitted to the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) over the past 15+ years (N = 27542) document the recovery of goliath grouper throughout their former range in the United States. The recovering population initially increased off southwest Florida offshore of the high-quality mangrove nursery of the Ten Thousand Islands. From there the population grew to the north and south, eventually increasing off Florida’s central east coast. Tagged adults (N = 2044) and juveniles (N = 2963) show extreme site fidelity, both in essential mangrove nursery (Koenig et al. 2007) and on offshore reefs. Movements of great distances appear to be associated with spawning migrations and emigration from juvenile to adult offshore habitat. Understanding these patterns of population recovery and movement can ensure that appropriate management policies are implemented in the U.S. and abroad.

PDF Preview