In the wake of the recent online workshops about opening up the Florida population of Goliath Groupers to harvest, DEMA urges your action to help protect this vulnerable species.
There is no scientific evidence to support the idea that the grouper population has recovered sufficiently to allow this harvesting, even if it is in a limited way. The commission is scheduled to vote on this potential environmental disaster on March 2 and 3, 2022.
DEMA is asking members of the public to get involved by taking a couple of steps:
- Submitting your comments to the commission asking for the fishing moratorium to be kept in place.
- Attend the March meeting en mass to show the strength of feeling in the diving industry about this issue.
The importance of preventing this harvesting cannot be overstressed, and harvesting them will have a detrimental effect on the diving industry in Florida as a whole, according to DEMA.
You can find the FWC Goliath Grouper criteria here, plus DEMA’s comments that you are free to use here. You can email your comments directly to the commission here and here.