So every year around the month of February in Jupiter, Florida divers from all round go diving to see the lemon sharks. During this period the lemon sharks come in to mate and check out divers. The lemon sharks can reach lengths 7 to 10 feet and weighing in at 400 lbs or more. On Feb 4th, Matt, Brendal, Alex, and I had to go see this for ourselves. We called up Jupiter Dive Center and away we went on the quest to see lemon sharks. To our surprise not just Lemon Sharks but Nurse Sharks and Goliath Groupers as well!!! Its amazing to see all these large animals because it seems like because of fishing pressures the larger apex predators are slowly being wiped out.
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What is so great about divers is they want to see these creatures underwater…ALIVE. So a lot of people in South Florida have rallied together to push a Ban on the fishing for Lemon Sharks. The main point is….sharks are worth more alive than dead. Tons of people from all over will come to Florida to do the dives with the lemon sharks. One lemon shark alive can bring in thousands of tourist dollars where as when one is killed thats it one profit of a few hundred dollars. Also don’t forget that this creature is an apex predator which is vital to our world’s ocean food chain…one break in the link means distruction of other creatures…and YES Man included!
So on Feb 18, 2010 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the ban of fishing both commerical and recreational of the Lemon Sharks!!! The ban goes into affect March 23, 2010. But this not the end…lets rally together to get Hammerhead Sharks on this same path!!!!
Here are some ways to help…
1. Attend FWC workshops and commission meetings
2. Provide Scientific Research, check out what R.J. Dunlap Marine Conservation Program is up too!
3. Stay informed and get involved…join Shark Safe Network and Shark Savers!
4. If you fish for sharks please support the 100% catch and release campaign…don’t support the take of sharks for shark fishing tournaments…make your local marina a 100% catch and release marina…check out Oceanic Defense for the information!
The Atlantic goliath grouper is a large saltwater fish of the grouper family. The goliath grouper is found primarily in shallow tropical waters among coral and artificial reefs. And the ones we found were on an 80 foot wreck site, because it is spawning season in West Palm beach for these fish. Groupers may reach extremely large sizes, growing to lengths of 8.2 feet (2.5 m) and can weigh as much as 800 pounds (363 kg). We got to see many that tipped the scales at ~ 500lbs!!! In Florida, the largest hook and line captured specimen weighed 680 pounds (309 kg). They are usually around 400 lb when mature. Considered of fine food quality, the goliath grouper were a highly sought after quarry for fishermen of all types. The goliath grouper’s inquisitive and generally fearless nature make it a relatively easy prey for spear fishermen. They also tend to spawn in large aggregations returning like clockwork to the same locations making them particularly vulnerable to mass harvesting. We were lucky to see at least 30 individuals this day we went diving on the Mizpah wreck. Until a harvest ban was placed on the species, the species was in rapid decline. The goliath grouper is totally protected from harvest and is recognized as a critically endangered species by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The U.S. began protection in 1990 and the Caribbean in 1993. The species’ population has been recovering since the ban, however with the fish’s slow growth rate it will take some time for populations to return to their previous levels. Now the groupers only threat is human sport fishing, because currently there is no ban on fishing or spearfishing of these creastures…bummer.
If you would like to go out on this trip while the large group of groupers are in town contact Scuba Adventures. I really liked their boat and their staff, they seem to really care about the groupers and of other species of fish.
Once again I was out teaching Reef Check Eco Diver on the Pro Diver 2. We started off in te classroom doing our dry run throughs, and I was teaching the boys about the iindictor species. Well one species we record are sea eggs…and I told the boys that sea eggs look like Hostess Snowballs too me…so we walked over to 7-11 and bought Snowballs and I had them eat the “sea eggs” 
When we went out to set up practice surveys we encounter a nurse shark, plus we had both a lobster and 3 Flamingo tongue snails on our transcets…very cool. Everyone had a good time and we can’t wait to get out on some real surveys!!!
