.
>>Major funding for this
program was provided
by the Batchelor Foundation,
encouraging people to preserve
and protect America's
underwater resources.
>>NARRATOR:
It's an imposing fish,
sure to inspire awe
in those who see it.
At a time when other large fish
are rapidly disappearing
from the world's oceans,
this giant is making a comeback
in Florida.
>>It's a unique feeling
to be able to get close
to a marine animal
that's as big as you.
>>NARRATOR:
This is the goliath grouper,
a fish once almost hunted
to extinction.
>>It's like going to a park
where you never saw a bear
for years and years,
and now you see
a dozen big grizzly bears,
I mean it's an impressive thing
to see.
>>NARRATOR:
But the goliath's return
is not a welcome sight to all.
>>Both spear fishermen and rod
and reel fishermen believe
the goliath grouper is eating
everything on the reef
and is destroying the ecosystem.
>>NARRATOR: But what does
the scientific data show?
Are goliaths' really
overpopulating the reef?
Or is this species just now
beginning to recover?
>>NARRATOR:
They are an impressive sight,
the largest fish on the reef.
They can weigh
up to 1,000 pounds
and exceed seven feet in length.
Goliath grouper, which used
to be known as jewfish,
historically were found from
as far north as the Carolinas,
across the Caribbean
and south to Brazil.
The fish can also be found
off the west coast of Africa,
and a distinct subspecies exists
in the Pacific.
Today, they are considered
critically endangered
by the International Union
for Conservation of Nature.
>>Everywhere except the
southeastern United States,
they are indeed
critically endangered.
Of course, they're protected
throughout
all U.S. possessions:
Puerto Rico,
the Virgin Islands, as well as
southeastern United States.
They were on the threatened
species list, but they have
been since taken off that list
because their population
in the southeastern
United States
is on the road to recovery.
>>NARRATOR: Goliaths are
a shallow water species,
rarely found at depths
below 200 feet.
They need water temperatures
above 60 degrees Fahrenheit
to survive,
which limits their range.
And for the most part,
they are curious,
but shy creatures.
They often retreat
to their favorite hideout
when humans approach.
>>These are animals
that don't move much.
They sit.
They love wrecks.
They love caves.
They love any kind of structure
that typically has an overhead
for them.
It gives them a sense
of security, I suppose.
>>Basically, I kind of joke
about calling them
the "couch potatoes"
of the grouper family.
>>They don't even eat
every day.
>>NARRATOR: Aside from
their tremendous size,
divers and fishermen
can easily distinguish goliaths
from other grouper species
by the brown stripes
along the sides of their bod
and their distinctive
rounded tail fin.
Recreational fishermen
have long enjoyed
Florida's waters for the
impressive catches they yield,
which used to include
goliath grouper.
Historical photographs
show proud anglers posing beside
their massive catches,
fish larger than themselves.
In those days,
the resource seemed endless.
>>The wrecks offshore,
at 100, 150 feet probably had
over 100 jewfish each on them.
They were just absolutely
packed.
>>NARRATOR:
Don Demaria, who used to work
as a commercial fisherman,
says goliath grouper
are an easy target.
He started spearing them
commercially in the late 1970s
on remote wrecks
in the Gulf of Mexico.
>>We'd catch most of these
jewfish between Key West
and Tampa, mostly off
the Fort Myers area.
There seemed to be the biggest
concentration of them.
And we'd bring them back
and sell them in Key West.
In Key West it was always a
local delicacy among the conchs.
>>NARRATOR: Don and
his colleagues discovered
that goliath grouper tend
to aggregate around
certain wrecks and ledges
in the summertime.
>>That's when they
aggregated to spawn,
which was the ultimate downfall
of the fishery is that
they aggregate in these
large groups.
>>NARRATOR: With the advent of
modern-day navigation devices,
fishermen could soon locate
these aggregation sites
easily in the offshore waters
of the Gulf.
>>But over the years
more and more people got into it
and it didn't take much.
Very little extra pressure
and I saw spawning aggregations
go from 100 fish down
to in one case just one fish,
other areas none.
One of these wrecks
was the "California."
This wreck had an unbelievable
amount of fish on it,
way over 100.
And I went there after
a charter dive boat
and it was just sickening
what we saw.
There were fish swimming around
with spears in their sides.
Others had big hook and line
like broken chain-type rigs
where they had broken off.
And it's my understanding
they took something like 30 fish
back to Marco Island,
these fish would average
about 200 pounds each,
took their photographs with them
and didn't have enough ice
for the fish
and they ultimately it just got
wasted.
>>NARRATOR:
That was in the late 1980s.
Don and his friends decided
to take action.
>>Don knew so much about
goliath grouper behavior
and populations
and it was just amazing.
And thank god he became
a conservationist because
he could have probably
wiped them out by himself.
And he actually went to the
fishery management councils
and said, "You've got to stop
fishing on this species;
can't take this level
of fishing; it's going
to be completely annihilated."
When you have a commercial
fisherman that comes up to you
and says, "save this fish"
you pay attention to it.
And I would say that he
single-handedly convinced
people.
That's not usually the way
it happens.
It usually takes a long time
before there's
scientific evidence
that a population is in trouble.
>>There were people
locally that grumbled about it,
but there was just so few fish
left that there
just wasn't much opposition.
>>NARRATOR: And so, in 1990,
the goliath grouper fisher
was closed in U.S. waters.
Today, the harvest
of this species
is a second degree misdemeanor
that carries a fine.
A few years after the closure,
marine ecologists
Dr. Felicia Coleman
and Dr. Chris Koenig
began studying the life history
of these giant fish.
The husband and wife team,
who work at the coastal
and marine laborator
at Florida State University have
conducted a number of studies
over the years to gain a better
understanding of the species.
To collect their data scientists
spend many hours at sea.
Chris works closely with
local captains and fishermen
who often have an intimate
knowledge of the sites
where the grouper can be found.
One of them is Tony Grogan,
who operates a popular website
for spear fishermen.
Tony often volunteers his boat
to take scientists
into the field.
>>I'm a big advocate
of good science
and sound fisheries
management decisions.
>>NARRATOR: In recent years,
goliath grouper have again
started to aggregate on wrecks
and ledges near
Jupiter, Florida,
close to where Tony lives.
By the 1960s,
most of the goliaths
along South Florida's Atlantic
Coast had been fished out,
so it is very encouraging to see
the animals return.
To collect valuable data
about the fish,
the grouper need to be
brought up to the surface.
Usually, Chris sets a hand line
to capture the goliaths,
but on this trip Tony
and his friends came up
with another idea.
>>We're actually fishing,
hook and line,
long line underwater
and we're using a lift bag,
to send the goliath grouper up.
We tie off the lift bag
away from the wreck,
so we can catch them and
prevent them from running back
into the wreck,
and very carefully send them
up on the lift bag.
Cool, they got one.
Look over there!
>>Good job, Jim.
>>NARRATOR: Once the fish
is on the surface,
it needs to be brought up
to the boat for a work-up.
This particular goliath grouper
is relatively small
and therefore easier to handle.
Chris can tell how old the fish
is by removing parts
of its dorsal fin ray.
>>That's the so-called
soft ray.
It lays down rings
like the rings of a tree
and so we can estimate
age of the fish.
>>NARRATOR:
Traditionally, fish are aged
by looking at the rings
found in their ear bones.
But since this would require
killing the fish,
Chris and Felicia discovered
that taking a piece
of the dorsal fin ray
works just as well.
>>We felt like it was
very important not to sacrifice
those fish.
You can remove the rays from
the fish and they can re-grow.
You can go back and check on
a number of different things
like growth rate
of individual fish,
if you can repeatedly capture
the same individual.
>>NARRATOR: Historically,
goliath grouper can live
to be at least 37 years old,
but because of the severe
fishing pressures in the past,
the current population
is still relatively young.
>>All of the individuals
we've looked at are under 18,
which is the time of the fishery
closure in 1990.
So their population
was clearly beat way, way back.
>>NARRATOR:
Next, it's time to analyze
the stomach contents
of the fish.
This is done by inserting
a metal tube into the mouth
of the fish, and pulling out
whatever food may be
in the fish's stomach.
>>By and large,
they're eating crabs, shrimp,
they're eating some lobster.
They're eating stingrays
and things like that.
Now that just gives you
a snapshot of what
the fish just ate.
>>NARRATOR: To really get
a comprehensive look
at the diet of the fish,
scientists need to conduct
a chemical analysis
of tissue samples.
>>And what you're looking for
there is a signal or a signature
that tells you what the diet
is made up.
So the studies that we've done
on goliath grouper
strongly indicate that
these guys eat crustaceans,
not fish primarily.
>>NARRATOR: Having this kind
of data is not only interesting
from a scientific standpoint,
but it also helps to shed light
on a big controversy
that has been brewing
since the number of goliaths'
has gone up again
in Florida waters.
>>A lot of the fishermen
are under the impression
that goliath grouper
are destroying the reefs
by focusing on feeding
on the other grouper
and snapper species,
leaving fewer for them to fish.
Now an equally plausible
explanation for what they think
is happening is that all
of the grouper and snapper
have basically been fished out.
And the reason they're seeing
goliath grouper is because
it's a protected species and so
that's what's left on the reef.
There's no question
that they're opportunistic.
If they see a fish going by
on a hook or piece of bait,
they'll take it.
>>NARRATOR:
But, Felicia says,
snapper and other grouper
species do not seem to be
their preferred diet.
Once all the scientific data
has been collected,
and the fish has been tagged,
it is time to release it.
>>We're going to lower it.
>>We've tagged thousands
of fish over the last
ten or 12 years, and we find
the same fish on the same rock
year after year after year.
And that's not to say
that the fish don't move.
When sex comes into the picture,
they'll go 100 miles
and participate
in spawning events,
but they'll come back
to the same rock.
>>NARRATOR: Scientists aren't
sure how these fish know where
to join up for these
annual aggregations
that have been documented
in the Gulf of Mexico
during the late summer months.
In recent years, the fish
have also been gathering
in the Atlantic, near Jupiter.
It is suspected that these might
be spawning sites as well,
and to test that hypothesis,
Tony and the scientists
head back out later in the day
to study the aggregation sites.
But will they be able to gather
goliath grouper eggs,
the ultimate proof that spawning
is taking place?
>>The information that
we've gotten from studies
done on sound output
by goliath grouper
during spawning indicate
that they spawn around
a new moon on dark nights,
somewhere between midnight
and 3:00 AM in the morning.
And this is evidence, as I said,
but we don't have any real proof
that they're doing this,
and proof would constitute
collecting their
fertilized eggs.
>>NARRATOR: Chris deploys
plankton nets in the water
at night, in hopes of catching
some eggs.
Meanwhile, his colleague,
Jim Locascio,
who studies fish acoustics,
prepares to deploy a hydrophone
in the vicinity of the nets.
>>The dominant sounds tonight
in this environment
are probably going to be
by the goliath grouper
at an expected
spawning location.
Sounds produced by many
species of fish are done so
in a specific behavioral
context, most often
it's associated with courtship
and spawning.
And in most cases,
almost without exception
it is the male that produces
the sound,
courting advertising,
for a female.
This is a hydrophone
that is connected to the top
of the housing and it is just
like an underwater microphone;
it is going to be
recording ambient sounds
in a frequency range
that is within the sounds
made by the goliath grouper,
which is quite low,
below 100 hertz
about 40 or 50 hertz,
very low frequencies.
>>All right,
it's on the bottom, Tony.
>>NARRATOR: If this location
is indeed a spawning site,
the dominant sounds recorded
should be those
of the goliath grouper.
Goliath grouper are famous
for the very loud booming sounds
they make-- not just to attract
potential mates--
but also as a defense mechanism
to scare off
potential predators.
>>They're very deep resonating
booms and they make them
with their swim bladder
and muscles that are attached
to the swim bladder.
They vibrate those muscles
at a rapid speed,
say 100 times a second
or in that range.
The closest thing I can liken it
to on land is like a sonic boom.
>>Oftentimes divers are able
to feel the sound
before they hear it.
And you feel it in your lungs,
it's a concussion
from that pressure.
And so it's quite intimidating
as a diver if you aren't aware
the fish is around.
>>They do not appear to have
a diverse vocabulary,
that is the sounds
that are produced
when divers approach them
also seems to be the same sounds
that they produce with
and amongst each other.
>>NARRATOR:
Now it's time to sit and wait.
Early the next morning...
>>Just keep pulling.
>>NARRATOR:
...Chris and Jim retrieve
the nets and hydrophone.
Once ashore, the nets
are washed down
and their contents put through
a sieve.
>>It's fairly easy to separate
the eggs from other plankton.
And then, because of their stage
of development and their size,
we should be able to select
goliath grouper eggs
from whatever else we catch
because they should be
in very early stages
of development
when we pull our nets.
>>NARRATOR: While Chris
is taking a close look
at the plankton under
the microscope,
Jim analyzes the sound
he recorded on location.
>>We recorded a lot
of low frequency pulse sounds
that you can see
as the brighter signals
along the bottom of the picture
here of the spectrogram
and most of this energy is at
100 hertz or below 100 hertz.
So there's a series
of individual calls
that we can zoom in on
and look closely at
and identify the fish
as a goliath grouper.
>>NARRATOR:
Jim's sound recordings indicate
that the scientists documented
a spawning aggregation.
But the ultimate proof
is in the eggs,
thousands of which Chris
collected in his nets.
Later DNA tests of these eggs
confirmed what scientists
were hoping for: that goliath
grouper are spawning again
on Florida's east coast.
Once the fertilized eggs hatch,
the larvae will float
in the plankton for about
a month and a half.
>>They hatch out probably
in a day and a half.
But when they hatch out,
they don't have any mouths
and they don't have any eyes.
So, they're simply
floating around,
still living off
of their yolk material.
And over the next week or so,
they develop mouth and eyes
and they learn how to feed.
And then there's the growth
period, and by the time
they settle, they're about
three-quarters of an inch
in total length.
They undergo this metamorphosis
that takes about a week,
and then they're little groupers
and they live in the
mangrove leaf litter
in the earliest stages
and then move to the undercuts
in the mangrove habitat.
>>NARRATOR: The fish will spend
their juvenile years
in the mangrove forests
using the mangrove's prop roots
as protective cover
from potential predators.
North America's largest
remaining mangrove forest
is in the Ten Thousand Islands
area of southwest Florida,
the main stronghold
for juvenile goliath grouper.
>>We lost 28% of the mangroves
in the 10,000 islands area
just between the mid-'80s
and the mid-'90s.
That's a significant loss,
considering it went on
since the beginning of the 1900s
for mosquito abatement,
for agriculture,
for just development
of all of south Florida.
The east coast essentially
has no mangroves
of consequence anymore.
So there's a tight connection
between the habitat availabilit
and the success of this species.
>>NARRATOR: And it's not just
availability of juvenile habitat
that matters, but the quality
of that habitat
is important as well.
>>Water quality
for goliath grouper,
like most species, is important.
It's particularly an issue
in the juvenile habitat.
We looked at them
in a really pristine area
in the Ten Thousand Islands,
which is just incredible;
but there are a number
of rivers and canals
that lead into that body
of water.
For one reason or another,
the water quality is very poor.
And what happens in those areas
is that the densit
of goliath grouper
is not very high.
So if you think about
how you want to go about
protecting a species
like goliath grouper,
it takes more than closing down
the fishery.
You need to protect
the quality of water,
the extent of the habitat,
and keep fishing at a minimum.
>>NARRATOR: Goliath grouper
are easy to exploit.
They aren't difficult to catch,
and they can be found
in large groups during
the summer aggregations.
>>They're relatively slow
to mature.
They're staying in the mangroves
for five or six years.
And when they first go offshore,
they're not necessarily mature
at that time.
And yet, you're talking about
an animal that's
50, 60, 70 pounds
and it's still a juvenile.
>>They become sexually mature
at about four feet in length.
And so, they become sexually
mature as a function of size,
rather than age.
>>NARRATOR:
While some grouper species
change sex during
their lifetime,
Chris and Felicia say
no such evidence exists
for the goliath grouper.
Scientists and many others are
excited that the goliath grouper
population is on the road
to recovery.
Walt Stearns is a professional
photographer,
who also publishes
an online magazine
called "Underwater Journal."
His career has taken him
to underwater locations
all over the world,
and he is delighted to see
the fish make such a steady
comeback in Florida.
>>At the same time
I was working for dive magazines
covering central and southern
Caribbean and the Bahamas,
and I'm watching all grouper
populations just diminish.
Each time I went back I'd see
less of them, see smaller fish.
And here I'm seeing
the goliath grouper come back.
This is incredible to see
protection work.
>>NARRATOR: Unfortunately,
not everyone shares his view.
Some fishermen not only claim
the grouper are eating
all their game fish,
but they also accuse the species
of being aggressive
towards them.
>>I've never had any of them
get aggressive.
But, you know, some people will
sit there and give these stories
and it's like, "It came out and
grabbed me and grabbed my arm
and shook me like a rag doll."
And I was like, really?
I've never had that happen yet.
I mean, they're big enough
and strong enough
where they physically
can really hurt you,
but for the most part
they're big babies.
>>NARRATOR: On his web site,
Spearboard.com,
Tony hears from folks
on all sides of the issue.
>>The internet is a big, wild
and wooly place,
and there are opinions all over.
What I try to do is just take
the middle road
and ask questions about
do we know enough
to make an intelligent decision
about any kind of fishery
management decision.
>>NARRATOR: Both scientists
Felicia and Chris agree
that while the grouper's
recovery is encouraging,
it is too early to reopen
the fishery.
>>When you've got a species
that's critically endangered
throughout its range,
and you have one area
where it's recovering,
that being the southeastern
United States,
it doesn't make sense to open
a fishery again,
even at reduced levels,
when we really don't understand
what the population's doing yet.
>>I think that until
the entire population
has recovered throughout
its former range,
there should be no harvest
of goliath grouper.
>>NARRATOR:
Below the water's surface,
the goliath grouper is oblivious
to the controvers
it has stirred up on land.
It goes about its business
like its ancestors
have done for ages.
Most people, who have had
the privilege of seeing
these fish up close,
especially in large numbers,
agree that they are an awesome
sight to behold.
One that will hopefully
be around
for many future generations
to enjoy.
>>It's hard to think of anybod
who couldn't be fascinated
by them.
They're fabulous fish
and they're a key feature
of the ecology of this part
of the world.
>>I think it's one of those
animals that's worth a lot more
alive than dead.
People can go out to the reef
and these wrecks and see
these fish over and over again,
take pictures of it.
It's just you kill it one time
and it's over with, that's it,
a fish that took 30 or 50 years
to get to that size.
I just think it's something
that is unique to south Florida,
there's nowhere else
in the world where you can go
where it is documented to see
these large aggregations
of big groupers like this.
>>Major funding
for this program
was provided by the
Batchelor Foundation,
Encouraging people
to preserve and protect
America's underwater resources.