Times of the Islands Winter 2015-16

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green pages newsletter of the department of environment & maritime affairs This juvenile Nassau grouper is showing typical behavior of remaining stationary in a rock ledge as snorkelers or divers swim by. The Iconic Nassau Grouper Regionally endangered, locally abundant Story & Photos by John Claydon, PhD & Marta Calosso, MS, MA — TCI Nassau Grouper Project leaders Go on any SCUBA dive or snorkel trip in the Turks & Caicos Islands and you would be very unlucky not to see a Nassau grouper or two. It is no exaggeration to say that there is nowhere else in the world where you encounter this species so frequently. When they see you from a distance, they usually remain quite stationary except to turn their heads to track your movement as you swim by. Often they can be curious, and they may approach divers — however, this is typically a sign that the fish is accustomed to being fed which should not be encouraged. 30 www.timespub.tc
green pages newsletter of the department of environment & maritime affairs It is also quite easy to find them on a dinner plate: many restaurants will offer this locally caught fish, usually listed simply as “grouper” on the menu. We take this for granted, but in some other countries Nassau groupers have become so rare that it is illegal to catch them. In fact, the species is considered endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the organisation tasked with assessing species’ risks of extinction. Nassau grouper is usually considered to be a coral reef fish, but that is a little misleading. When grouper spawn, eggs are released high above the substratum; eggs then hatch into larvae and spend about forty days in the water column drifting offshore and potentially dispersing long distances in the currents. Eventually, once they have grown about an inch long and become capable swimmers, larvae are ready to swim back to shallow areas and settle, but typically the habitats they choose are not reefs, but seagrass or algal areas. In the TCI, early juvenile Nassau grouper often use discarded conch shells and “blowout” ledges — the shelter formed by exposed roots and rhizomes in seagrass beds. After spending about a year in their early juvenile habitats, Nassau grouper migrate to shallow patch reefs, and then to deeper reefs, where they become reproductively mature at four to eight years of age. While some reef fishes breed year-round, Nassau grouper has a very short spawning season of two to three months only, which in the TCI runs from December to the end of February and synchronises with a phase of the moon. Nassau grouper breeding can be spectacular: they form aggregations of thousands (reportedly up to one hundred thousand) with individuals capable of migrating over sixty miles to spawn at the same location year after year. Unfortunately, the demise of Nassau grouper throughout the region is directly linked to fishing spawning aggregations. Large numbers of big fish found at the same time and place each year are attractive targets for fishers, but such fishing has rarely been sustainable, and sometimes an aggregation of tens of thousands can be “fished out” in a few years. When this happens, the local population crashes, the fishery is no longer viable, and your chances of seeing one on a dive are close to zero. From top right: Nassau grouper are common fare in TCI. Here, they are shown at the fishing dock in South Caicos. Renowned local fisherman and free-diver Conrad Kennedy displays his impressive catch of Nassau grouper in South Caicos. Early juvenile Nassau groupers commonly shelter in discarded conch shells. Times of the Islands Winter 2015/16 31
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Times of the Islands Winter 2015-16

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