ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — A man from St. Petersburg faced charges after unlawfully catching a goliath grouper, as noted in an arrest affidavit by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
Malcom Woods, 63, “willfully harvested and kept” a goliath grouper he caught in the waters off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge on Sunday.
Through the 20th century, goliath groupers were heavily overfished, resulting in significant declines in their numbers. To address this, fishing for these fish was banned in 1990. However, in 2022, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reintroduced limited recreational fishing for goliath groupers.
Harvesting is only allowed from March 1 to May 31, and anglers have to hope to get one of the 200 permits available each year.
Securing a permit, which is only available via a random lottery, allows you to catch only one fish measuring between 24 and 36 inches.
In Woods’ situation, he was fishing outside of the authorized season, lacked a permit, and had caught a fish smaller than the permissible size. He now faces two misdemeanor charges: possessing a goliath grouper and possessing a goliath grouper when it was not the open season.
