The annual Nassau Grouper Closed Season begins December 1, 2017 and runs until February 28, 2018. BREEF (The Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation) calls on everyone to respect the closed season and choose an alternative during the spawning period.

Around the winter full moons, they form large groups called spawning aggregations or 'schools' to reproduce. The Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) grows slowly, taking over seven years to reach sexual maturity.

Their habit of aggregating together in predictable times and places to reproduce has led to the collapse of the fisheries in many other countries as well as it being listed as “endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

It is critically important that the closed season continues from December to February and is enforced effectively, particularly from foreign poachers, but also from local illegal fishing.

Many fishermen have reported seeing more young Nassau grouper in the sea than in the past, and this may be a result of the closed seasons allowing their parents to spawn in previous years.

BREEF thanks our enforcement agencies- The Department of Marine Resources, The Royal Bahamas Defence Force and The Royal Bahamas Police Force for their work to protect our marine heritage.

As advances are made in new technology, facilities, training and resources, they can more effectively protect our waters from international poaching.

The closed season, along with the creation of new Marine Protected Areas that safeguard important habitats and act as fisheries replenishment zones, are our best tools to sustain our fishing industry in the face of fishing pressure, coastal development, natural disasters and other threats.

BREEF is working with fishermen, scientists and other partners to better understand the remaining grouper spawning aggregations and determine how best we can protect them.

We can all do our part to protect the Nassau grouper for future generations by obeying fisheries regulations, observing the closed season by not catching, purchasing or selling Nassau grouper during the closed season, asking government to both manage and establish more Marine Protected Areas to protect Nassau grouper spawning and home sites and last but not least, reporting any illegal activity to law enforcement agencies.

For more information about the Nassau Grouper Closed Season and why this species is endangered, visit the BREEF website at www.breef.org or call our office at (242)327-9000.

1Female Nassau Grouper (center) surrounded by males during spawning. Photo By: Casuarina McKinney-Lambert/ BREEF

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