FWC cuffs man who speared protected goliath grouper off Pompano Beach: officials
Florida wildlife officers arrested a man who they say shot a state-protected goliath grouper just offshore of Pompano Beach on Monday.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission police added that 44-year-old Juan Nealon tried to surreptitiously discard his catch when officers signaled for him to come to shore, which he denies.
The officers said they saw Nealon in a canoe close to the beach and tried to contact him from shore. FWC spokeswoman Arielle Callender noted that “despite repeated commands to stop,” Nealon paddled farther away from the beach and purposely tipped his canoe to get rid of the fish and his speargun.
The officers went into the water and found the grouper, which weighed more than 100 pounds, with the spear lodged in its body, Callender said.
Nealon was arrested on a total of seven misdemeanors, including spearfishing within 100 yards of the beach, harvesting a goliath grouper without a permit and spearing a goliath grouper.
He told the Herald the entire incident was a mix of ignorance of fishing regulations and not realizing the police were trying to get his attention. He also said he did not intentionally try to conceal the fish that he shot.
Nealon, a professional musician, said he got excited when he saw the large size of the grouper and pulled the trigger without realizing he’d violated the regulations. He called a friend from the canoe, who told him it was illegal to harvest goliaths and to try to release the fish alive back in the water. He said that’s what he was doing when the officers saw him from the beach.
He said he rarely shoots fish when swims in the ocean and was actually looking for invasive lionfish, which are legal to kill.
“I’m an Earth-friendly hippy. I do music for a living, I don’t even hurt ants,” he said, adding he was surprised he was cuffed and booked into jail for about 12 hours before posting a $500 bond.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Nealon said. “I understand now, but what’s with the hostility?”
Goliath groupers are highly protected in Florida. They almost went extinct from overfishing in the 1980s, and the FWC banned their harvest in 1990.
They can grow up to eight feet long and 800 pounds, in addition to having a long lifespan — between 30 and 50 years old, according to the FWC.
After years of lobbying from various fishing interests who maintain the species not only made a comeback, but were wiping out other species because of their voracious appetites, the FWC agreed in 2022 to open a very limited goliath grouper season.
Still, not many people can harvest them. The season is open from March 1 through May 31, and anglers taking part are chosen from a random lottery. The bag limit is one fish per person, per season, per the FWC.
Callender said the public can report conservation violations by downloading the agency’s Wildlife Alert app, calling the Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (888-404-3922), or submitting a tip online at MyFWC.com/Wildlife-Alert.
