FSUCML faculty Christopher Koenig and Felicia Coleman's research, which synthesized data from over 30,000 surveys to map goliath density across space and time, shows that the recovery of the species is concentrated off the southwest coast of Florida. This research as well as Koenig and Coleman's new investigation will provide more insight into the impact and successes of the 1990 goliath grouper fishing ban.
As the critically-endangered goliath grouper become more visible in Southwest Florida waters, fishermen are increasingly asking for the right to fish them again. Regulators, however, say science has not shown that the species can handle the fishing pressure. Data on the fish is weak; both their current and historical populations in the region are unknown. The extent of the population increase as well as the viability of a limited goliath fishery is currently under investigation by FSUCML faculty, Christopher Koenig and Felicia Coleman, in a new three year study.
FSUCML faculty, Dr. Christopher Koenig and Dr. Felicia Coleman, are collecting new data on the once severely-overfished Atlantic goliath grouper in a new three-year study. The species is native to Florida's waters, and is currently making a comeback in the southeastern United States, after a 21-year fishing moratorium. Using nondestructive sampling techniques, Koenig and Coleman will examine specific conditions and behaviors supporting this species' population recovery along Florida's coastlines in both the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.
Dr. Felicia Coleman is a co-author on a new report released by the Pew Charitable Trust, A Once and Future Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem in which the expert working group makes recommendations for recovering Gulf resources and restoring the natural system. Recognizing that the Deepwater Horizon disaster of April 2010 was just the most visible, recent problem threatening the health of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem, the authors recommend going beyond the traditional restoration approach that targets specific habitats or species damaged by the oil to focus on the Gulf of Mexico as a whole to have it truly recover and thrive in an unpredictable future.
The article is on Drs. Felicia Coleman and Christopher Koenig (FSUCML) and Dr. Christopher Stallings (a former FSUCML postdoc and current USF professor) research examining the effects of the Gulf oil disaster on shallow water coral- and sponge-dominated reefs.
