Bottom fishing powerfully impacts reefs

The most classic bottom fish for most anglers is the grouper. Whether red, gag, black, yellowfin, or Warsaw, a good grouper in the ice chest means a successful day for lots of folks. - Saltfishing.about.com

However, grouper play a critical role in the ecology of coral reefs and removing them upsets the fragile balance of reefs.

The reef’s Web of life breaks down when grouper aren’t present to eat damsel fish, which literally tend gradens of algae, as one food source. Excess algae growth smoothers the live coral, killing it.

The more grouper taken from the bottom, the more damsel fish live to garden more, setting a system-wide collapse of the reef ecology.

Bottom fishing tends to remove the older and larger grouper (the ones of breeding age) needed to repopulate the grouper population on the reef.

In addition, anchoring to stay in one place to fish often hits coral, and the damaged coral usually dies.