The species has been closed to harvest since 1990. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission board will discuss the Goliath grouper fishery at its May 12 virtual meeting. FWC staff will provide a review and discussion of Goliath grouper, including biology, updates on ongoing research and stakeholder opinions. They will seek commission approval on next steps for Goliath management in state waters, including whether to prepare a draft rule for limited harvest, according to the FWC agenda. The FWC board last discussed reopening the fishery in 2018, and FWC staff proposed allocating 100 tags a year for up to four years to fishermen who want to harvest them. At that time, some fishermen claimed the large fish were eating smaller snappers after being hooked by fishermen. They claim the population has rebounded, but opponents argued it hasnât and the population never recovered from a 2010 cold snap that killed many juvenile species of fish.