Coleman & Koenig in the News

Officials charged with protecting Florida's wildlife and ecosystems don't seem to understand science - or care about it


In an article published in The Invading Sea, Dr. Chris Koenig and Dr. Felicia Coleman take the Florida Fish and Wildlife agency commissioners to task for ignoring the best available science when making decisions about wildlife.

Goliath Grouper Research Continues Beyond the FSUCML


As the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission debates reopening the Goliath Grouper fishery in Florida state waters, stakeholders and policymakers turned to FSU researchers for their expertise on the matter. Former Marine Lab Director Dr. Felicia Coleman, former faculty member Dr. Chris Koenig, and former PhD student Dr. Chris Malinowski were recently interviewed by National Geographic about the ongoing debate.

Goliath grouper fishing may be allowed in Florida again after 30-year ban


The largest grouper in the Atlantic Ocean is so big that it can eat a four-foot-long shark in one gulp and makes noises so loud that nearby scuba divers feel an effect much like a sonic boom. These fish, named goliath groupers after the giant of Biblical legend, can reach more than eight feet long and weigh over 800 pounds. But their gargantuan size offers little protection against the proposed lifting of Florida’s fishing ban for this threatened species.

Mercury on the Rise in Goliath Grouper


A new study led by former FSUCML graduate student Dr. Chris Malinowski (Dr. Felicia Coleman and Dr. Chris Koenig’s lab) investigates the health and reproductive consequences of mercury toxicity on Goliath Grouper (Epinephelus itajara). This newly published paper builds off of their two previous manuscripts: one on spatial mercury patterns in Goliath Grouper off the coasts of Florida (2019) and the other a baseline health assessment of Goliath Grouper (2020).

Atlantic Goliath Grouper: To Fish or Not to Fish


Read the recent Fisheries article by Koenig, Coleman, & Malinowski about the drawbacks of re-establishing a fishery for the threatened Atlantic Goliath Grouper, including: the loss of nursery habitat, increasingly destructive episodic red tide and cold snap events that decimate juvenile populations, and the effects of mercury contamination on survival. Add to this the human health risk of consuming these mercury-contaminated fishes, and the argument supporting the fishery evaporates.