Baked Bahamian Grouper

Quick, festive and very Bahamian! This Baked Bahamian Grouper is sure to please your onboard guests. Recipe serves four.

Ingredients

3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 small onions, peeled and sliced
1 sweet bell pepper, seeded, cored, and cut into strips
.3/4 cup canned crushed tomatoes
5 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper
2 lbs. skinless grouper filet, cut into 4 servings
1 tsp. lemon pepper (or 1/2tsp. lemon zest, 1/2tsp. black pepper, 1/4 tsp. salt)
2-3 pinches cayenne or one chopped 1 jalapeno pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and peppers; cook until soft, stirring often (about 10 minutes). Stir in tomatoes and paste, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring often, until onions are very soft (about 15 minutes).

Season sauce with salt and pepper. Place grouper in a baking dish. Season fish with lemon pepper and cayenne. Top with sauce and bake until fish is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Serve over plain rice.

By Lori Ross, Southern Boating May 2018

More Bahamian Recipes:

Arugula Pineapple Salad

Sky Juice

Baked Coconut Shrimp

Sweet Banana Cake

Goliath Grouper on the Rebound

Rebounding goliath grouper spurn FWC workshops

FOR A 10-YEAR-OLD BOY ON VACATION FROM OHIO, the offshore fishing trip with his grandfather was enough of a treat. Heading out from the New Pass Inlet in Sarasota, Florida, day boats didn’t have to travel far for tourists to have a successful day of Goliath Grouper fishing in the 1960s.

I can still remember the high pitched noise as line played out and deckhands came running to help Gramps as he struggled to land a 321-pound goliath grouper. The battle lasted nearly an hour, and for the retired bank messenger who had moved from Cleveland to Siesta Key, it was the catch of a lifetime.

Since 1990, it’s been illegal to land the goliath groupers. Overfished in the ’70s and ’80s, these beasts can top 800 pounds, measure over 8 feet in length and have been known to live at least 35 years—some marine biologists believe up to 50 years.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is hosting 15 workshops across the state from the Panhandle to Naples through October to gather public input on goliath grouper management, including the possibility of a limited harvest season in Florida state waters.

Goliath grouper populations have substantially recovered since the harvest prohibition took effect. According to the FWC, “There have been increases in abundance in certain areas (Tampa Bay, Charlotte Harbor and the Ten Thousand Islands), and the distribution of goliath grouper populations has extended into areas of its former range throughout Florida, including the Big Bend and Panhandle regions.”

Continued regulation may be focused on areas where the species spawns and the young mature. The Ten Thousand Islands off southwest Florida is of particular interest where young goliath grouper spend up to six years in mangrove habitat—a nursery of sorts.

Interestingly, they have been known to form spawning groups of 100 or more. Courtship behavior is regularly observed at chartered wrecks or rock ledges in the eastern Gulf during the full moons of August and September. For boaters and anglers interested in attending one of the workshops, a list of dates and locations is on the FWC website myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/rulemaking/workshops.

By Alan Wendt, Southern Boating September 2017

Mating Season for Groupers

They do WHAT during the full moon?

Every year from November to March, Nassau Grouper spawn (mate) during the Full Moon.

A spawning aggregation site may attract hundreds and sometimes thousands of fish. Historically some aggregations had tens of thousands of fish. Nassau Grouper undergo a number of color changes during breeding. The most distinctive change is the bi-color phase in which the upper side of the fish becomes a dark color and the lower side a light color. The distinctive saddle-shaped marking at the base of the tail is still visible.

The color changes vary, but there are four distinct changes visible:

Normal – The typical coloration of a Nassau grouper.
Bi-color – Top of the fish is dark, and lower part is white. Around the time of spawning, a high proportion of Nassau groupers will demonstrate this coloration.
White belly – These are a lighter version of the normal color pattern, and can have white abdomens swollen with eggs.
Dark – Found in courting and spawning fish, the entire body is dark.

CLOSED FOR MATING. Thanks again to BREEF for this goofy photo.

The closed season for Nassau Grouper is from December 1 through February 29. 7. Spearfishing is restricted to free divers only and only with the use of a Hawaiian sling, and not for Lobster which has to be taken by hand. 2.

If you support the Nassau Grouper closed season, please visit BREEFs Facebook page to like, share and post this link for all to see.

That’s one observant turtle! Thanks to BREEF for the photo.

Let the world know that we love the Nassau Grouper and want it around forever. #breef242 #nassaugrouper