Goliath Grouper Count + Tagging

2018 to present

Partners: Florida Sea Grant, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Destin-Fort Walton Beach Natural Resources Team

Destin-Fort Walton Beach Natural Resources participates in the Great Goliath Grouper Count (GGGC), a fishery-independent citizen-science survey established in 2010 as a partnership between Florida Sea Grant and FWC to fill data gaps on goliath grouper abundance and distribution. This species is difficult to assess as traditional stock-assessment data (landings, size, and age composition) is largely unavailable due to its protected status since 1990.

Each June, Natural Resources Team divers and local citizen scientists survey artificial reef sites off Destin-Fort Walton Beach and log standardized observations of goliath grouper size and abundance, which are compiled by Florida Sea Grant and FWC. Data collected locally has been used to explore open questions about the species in Northwest Florida, including where regionally observed adults may be migrating from, since goliath grouper are known to rely on mangrove habitat as juveniles, a habitat type that is scarce in Northwest Florida. In addition to annual counts, Destin-Fort Walton BEahc have begun tagging goliath grouper and count contributions support the broader FSUGG (Spawning migration patterns of the Atlantic Goliath Grouper) tagging dataset maintained through the FACT Network and FWC.

Research publication.