Grouper Species Being Eaten to Extinction

Grouper Species Being Eaten to Extinction



March 2007 – Twenty of the world’s 
162 species of grouper are headed towards extinction unless 
better management or conservation measures are introduced 
quickly, according to the first in depth assessment of these 
important commercial fish. 
Groupers are the basis of the multimillion dollar live reef 
food fish trade based in Hong Kong, and around the world, 
consumers pay up to $50 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) for grouper. 
They are one of the most valuable groups of commercial fishes 
in chilled fish markets of the tropics and sub-tropics. 
Eight grouper species already are listed by IUCN-The World 
Conservation Union as being in danger of extinction, and the 
new assessment proposes adding 12 more species. 
A panel of 20 experts from 10 nations determined the 
extinction threat facing groupers at a recent workshop in Hong 
Kong. 
The workshop at the Department of Ecology and Biodiversity of 
the University of Hong Kong, KHU, was the first systematic 
assessment of the commercially important species, said Dr. 
Yvonne Sadovy, chair of the IUCN Grouper and Wrasse Specialist 
Group and associate professor at HKU. 
Dr. Yvonne Sadovy joined The University of Hong Kong in 1993 
after five years as director of the Fisheries Research 
Laboratory of the government of Puerto Rico and then as 
biologist with the Caribbean Fishery Management Council of the 
U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service. 
"The results are worrying and highlight the urgent need for 
fishery management, more effective marine protected areas, and 
more sustainable eating habits for consumers of these fishes," 
said Sadovy, who organized the workshop. 
Increasing international trade to meet "an insatiable demand 
for grouper" poses a major threat, workshop participants 
concluded. 
The workshop is part of a worldwide study of marine life 
called the Global Marine Species Assessment by the IUCN, 
Conservation International and numerous other partners that 
provides scientists with baseline data for analyzing threats 
to ocean species. 
"Overfishing could decimate another major food and economic 
resource for humans, similar to the loss of the cod stocks off 
New England and Canada that has put thousands of people out of 
work," says Roger McManus, senior director of the marine 
program at Conservation International based in Arlington, 
Virginia. 
The square-tailed coral trout, Plectropomus areolatus, is 
considered threatened. 
The threatened groupers include two species of coral trout 
grouper, which are mainstays of the live reef food fish trade 
in Hong Kong. Both can be found in Hong Kong fish markets, but 
they face heavy and unmanaged fishing pressure that is rapidly 
reducing their populations. 
In North and South America, too, heavy fishing of grouper for 
the chilled fish markets poses a threat to their survival. 
The Nassau grouper, Epinephelus striatus, once one of the most 
commonly landed groupers in the islands of the Western 
Atlantic Ocean, now is listed as Endangered under the U.S. 
Endangered Species Act and has nearly disappeared from most 
Caribbean reefs. 
The Hong Kong grouper, Epinephelus akaara, is prized as a food 
fish. 
Groupers are among the oldest fish on coral reefs, with some 
species reaching more than 50 years old. Several species only 
reach reproductive maturity later in life, making them 
particularly vulnerable to fishing before they mature. 
Commercial fishing that targets reproductive gatherings of 
adults further hinders replenishment of unmanaged populations, 
the workshop concluded. 
Workshop participants identified the need to better protect 
outer reef areas and to manage spawning aggregations of many 
of the threatened grouper species. Outer reef areas are often 
not incorporated into Marime Protected Areas, and spawning 
aggregations necessary for continued reproduction of many 
grouper species are rapidly eliminated by uncontrolled 
fishing. 
The outcome of the workshop highlights the need for 
sustainable consumption of these important fish species. 
Scientists say the pending inclusion of these 20 species on 
the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species reflects the 
widespread failure to successfully manage fisheries associated 
with coral reefs. 





 

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