GOLIATHS DAVIDS AND
Off limits since 1990, Florida anglers may be able to keep goliath grouper again soon.
Text and photos by Capt. Dave Lear
T 20
HE BIBLE’S Old Tes - tament is loaded with parables about faith and morals. But fisheries management? Per haps, in the example of David and Goliath.
As the story goes, the young shep-
herd David volunteers to fight the giant Goliath, who challenged the army of Israel. Goliath is protected by armor and carries a sword and javelin. David wears a simple tunic and has only his shepherd’s staff, a slingshot
The number of
goliaths plummets to the point of near col-
lapse. In 1990, Florida banned all harvest, which is still in effect.
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and pouch of stones for weapons. When the giant advances on David, the teenager slings a stone through a gap in the armor, striking Goliath in the forehead, knocking him down. David then uses the giant’s own sword to kill him and cut off his head. With their champion vanquished, the Philistine army is routed and David eventually becomes king. Flip the calendar forward a few
thousand years to Florida nearshore waters in the 1980s. There is no armor or serious protection for goliath grouper (called jewfish back then).
TIDE
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