The Grouper Moon Project
What is being done to protect Nassau grouper?
A social and ecological cornerstone of Caribbean coral reefs, the Nassau grouper is a Caribbean icon. Normally solitary and territorial, during the winter full moons grouper travel, sometimes over great distances, and “group” together to spawn at the same sites every year. The predictable nature of these spawning aggregations renders them vulnerable to overfishing, and now one-third to one-half of the originally known spawning sites in the Caribbean are inactive.
In 2002, the Reef Environmental Educational Foundation (REEF) launched "The Grouper Moon Project" - a collaborative effort with the Cayman Islands Department of Environment to study the last remaining active Nassau grouper spawning aggregation in the Cayman Islands.
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