Grouper ban in effect

Monday, October 10, 2005

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The grouper ban will last until at least mid-December.

Grouper is a staple for many seafood restaurants in the Tampa Bay area and across the state.

Restaurants are used to adjusting to the annual ban of commercial fishing for all grouper species every year. But this year it's hitting home earlier. The red grouper quota of more than five million was expected to be reached over the weekend.

Grouper's served at Friendly Fisherman as often as it's caught in the Gulf of Mexico.

"We go through 50 to 70 pounds a day," Kathleen McDole of the Friendly Fisherman said.

But there will be no more shallow grouper fishing, effective Monday. That means the fish will take a sabbatical from the Friendly Fisherman menu until at least mid-December.

"We will not have any fresh grouper," McDole said. "We only serve fresh grouper, local fresh grouper."

According to federal regulators, red grouper is being over-fished in the gulf.

"With another ban now, they're going to have to move or get other jobs," McDole said.

Not every restaurant owner said they're going to feel the ban. Staff at Dockside Dave's in Madeira Beach said they'll have enough grouper coming in from other sources to get them through the fall.

"It's the most popular item on the menu," Brenda Gregory said. "We fillet it fresh every day right out back."

McDole said the Friendly Fisherman still has other seafood options for customers.

"Now we'll be offering snapper, amberjack, mahi, salmon," she said.

Just not the most popular item on the menu.

"It's been a mainstay in this restaurant for almost 30 years," McDole said.

Florida fishermen harvest 90 percent of the grouper in the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the state's commercial grouper fishermen dock around Clearwater and St. Petersburg.