\u201cSpawning aggregations of Nassau grouper back in the \u201960s and \u201970s on average used to have like 30,000 fish, and Caye Glory in particular used to have 100,000,\u201d said Phillips, who was formerly a research coordinator at Glover\u2019s Reef Atoll for the U.S.-based conservation group Wildlife Conservation Society. However, decades of intense fishing during the predictable aggregations have resulted in steep declines, the study noted, and the species is now critically endangered.<\/p>\n
At the turn of the century, Northeast Point had around 3,000 groupers spawning, according to the study, making it one of two sites in Belize where more than 1,000 fish still gathered. A 2001 study estimated that the population at this site would \u201cdisappear\u201d by 2013, but the aggregation survived.<\/p>\n
According to Phillips, this is the result of measures enacted by the Belize Fisheries Department to protect the groupers. These measures, however, have not been sufficient to stop the decline altogether. In 2018 and 2020, only around 900 fish attended the annual reproductive gathering. By 2023, the latest year included in the latest study, just 463 individuals were recorded \u2014 a 97% drop since 1975.<\/p>\n
Northeast Point\u2019s seclusion contributed to the decline, reducing outside recruitment of new fish. It sits far from other reefs in Belize, and the atoll is surrounded by waters some 300-1,000 meters (about 1,000-3,300 feet) deep, which Nassau groupers can\u2019t easily cross since they prefer to stick to the reef. Tagging studies have helped show the fish that spawn at the Northeast Point FSA also use the territory as their home ground and don\u2019t typically migrate off site, according to Phillips.<\/p>\n By contrast, he said, the Caye Glory aggregation was so large because the site is connected to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, which extends 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) between Mexico to the north and Honduras to the south, giving fish from far away a clear path to reach the spawning site.<\/p>\n In an email interview with Mongabay, Alicia Eck-Nunez, a fisheries officer at the Belize Fisheries Department, said that due to the rough waters and difficulty accessing the Northeast Point FSA, the department has deployed hydrophones to help monitor spawning based on the sounds the fish make.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce processed, these data will provide valuable insights into fish behaviour and can identify timing, intensity, and duration of spawning events at the site,\u201d she said. However, she added that there\u2019s currently \u201cno in-house capacity\u201d to do this analysis.<\/p>\n Strict management measures exist to protect Nassau groupers at the Northeast Point FSA from overfishing, but inadequate enforcement is what\u2019s mainly driving the decline, according to the study.<\/p>\n Phillips said illegal transboundary fishing contributes to overfishing. \u201cThe location is so close to Honduras, it\u2019s easy for them to get there undetected, and it\u2019s convenient; they can see the enforcement agents coming. We have gone out to the site and seen boats dropping gear, dropping fish, all kinds of things, and heading out,\u201d he said, describing how fishers jettison evidence of their illegal activity as they try to avoid arrest. \u201cAnd every year we would go diving at the site, we would see new fishing lines, new hooks, new anchors discarded at the bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n He noted that the tumultuous waters near the FSA make enforcement difficult and costly.<\/p>\n While there\u2019s a nationwide closed season from Dec. 1 to March 31 for Nassau grouper, fishing is always closed at Glover\u2019s Reef \u2014 in theory at least. That\u2019s because in 2009, the Belize Fisheries Department made a \u201cgentleman\u2019s agreement\u201d with the fishers of the GRMR, according to Eck-Nunez. The fishers agreed not to catch Nassau groupers year round, and in exchange, the department let them dive for conch and lobster within the atoll.<\/p>\n The agreement still stands, but not all fisherfolk comply, according to a local fisher Mongabay interviewed for this story, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal from colleagues and the fisheries department.<\/p>\n The fisher said both local and transboundary illegal fishing are major problems at the Northeast Point FSA, and enforcement has never been sufficient to stop it.<\/p>\n Local fishers can\u2019t have spearguns within the atoll; if they\u2019re caught with one, authorities assume they\u2019re targeting Nassau groupers. Other regulations place a size limit of 20-30 inches (0.5-0.75 meters), a requirement for Nassau grouper to be landed whole, and a requirement for all fish fillets to be landed with a skin patch to allow identification.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fisheries department has been doing a lot. There is always more you can do, but being reasonable and realistic, they have done quite a lot to try to manage the species,\u201d Phillips said.<\/p>\n Yet doing more appears to be the only way to give the groupers a chance. \u201cClosure of management gaps, including chronic enforcement resource deficits, may not guarantee recovery, but has been a necessary precursor to recovery of other fish spawning aggregations in the Caribbean,\u201d the study points out.<\/p>\n The Belize Fisheries Department declined to answer questions about its enforcement capacity and limitations at this and the country\u2019s other Nassau grouper FSAs.<\/p>\n The paper noted that Nassau grouper FSAs have already been extirpated at other sites in Belize, including Rocky Point and Gladden Spit. But at the other 12 other extant FSAs where the species is protected in the country, populations have remained stable over the last 20 years, Phillips said, emphasizing that the fates of Belize\u2019s FSAs have been varied. For example, the Sandbore Caye aggregation has been stable since 2000, he said. And the famously massive Caye Glory aggregation, thought to be extirpated in the early 2000s, has reappeared \u2014 though with only around 2,000 fish, it\u2019s just a wisp of its former size.<\/p>\n The Belize Federation of Fishers, however, emphasized the long-term decline of Nassau grouper and failure of management to effectively protect the Northeast Point FSA, in a release responding to the new paper. \u201cThis is not just a biological crisis \u2014 it\u2019s an institutional governance failure,\u201d the release said. \u201cDespite two decades of protective regulations, enforcement remains under-resourced, and illegal fishing continues unchecked.\u201d<\/p>\n It called the survival of the spawning aggregation at Glover\u2019s Reef \u201ca matter of national and regional urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n Phillips, M., Tewfik, A., & Burns-Perez, V. (2025). Impending extirpation of an isolated Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) population at Glover\u2019s Atoll, Belize, based on two decades of monitoring. Coral Reefs, 44(5), 1513-1533. doi:10.1007\/s00338-025-02697-8<\/p>\n Sala, E., Ballesteros, E., & Starr, R. M. (2001). Rapid decline of Nassau grouper spawning aggregations in Belize: Fishery management and conservation needs. Fisheries, 26(10), 23-30. doi:10.1577\/1548-8446(2001)0262.0.co;2<\/p>\nCitations:<\/h2>\n