Despite being split as a board, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission agreed to move forward with a plan to allow limited harvest of Goliath grouper, which has been closed to harvest since 1990.
Commissioners Rodney Barreto, Robert Spottswood and Gary Lester seemed to favor reopening the fishery to a limited harvest, while commissioners Mike Sole, Steve Hudson and Gary Nicklaus argued against it at this time. Commissioner Sonya Rood opposed allowing harvest of Goliath groupers from artificial wrecks and spawning areas that are home to large concentrations of lumbering fish can weigh in excess off 300 pounds.
However, the commission voted, with Sole being the lone dissenter, to move forward with allowing a strictly regulated and severely limited harvest of the species. Nicklaus and Hudson said they voted only to bring the issue back for the board for further discussion.
Hope for rare species as villagers remove invasive umbrella trees
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Hope for rare species as villagers remove invasive umbrella trees
Walk in the forests of Tanzania’s East Usumbara Mountains and you may be lucky enough to hear the metallic call – peedoopeedoo – of one of the world’s rarest birds, the Long-billed forest warbler (Artisornismoreaui).
The Long-billed forest warbler (Artisornismoreaui) found in Amani Nature Reserve feeding chicks photo: Markus Lilje, Amani Nature Reserve
This species lives nowhere else on Earth and, according the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, there are fewer than 250 mature individuals.
Conservationists fear the bird will be silenced forever by the steady march into its territory of invasive umbrella trees. These trees also threaten other local species of endangered birds, reptiles, insects and plants. But now there are glimmers of hope, thanks to a project that has supported local villagers to remove umbrella trees a
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