There were 21 whole fish in the catch.
When the season opens in April, the size of the catch is limited to between 20 and 30 inches. Additionally, there are only 85 fishers licensed to catch the fish.
But, with all this, the numbers are dwindling as Courtney Weatherburne found out in her story which aired on January 8th
One of the species of fish that has shown a tremendous downturn is the Nassau Grouper which is now critically endangered. There was a flourishing population at the Northeast point aggregation site in the Glovers Reef Atoll, but that is not the case anymore.
Myles Phillips, Marine Science Coordinator, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
"In the 60's and 70's when Nassau Groupers was the most caught fish in Belize or British Honduras then, they were seeing these fish at these sites, it was estimated in the tens of thousands of fish coming to breed every winter season but now you are very lucky that at any of these sites you see more than a few hundred."
Laws were passed in 2009 to protect the Nassau grouper in Belize.
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