LKGA Introduces Virtual Seminar Series

Free to LKGA Members, a new virtual seminar series will feature curated, topically relevant presentations over the next few months.  These seminars seek to bring exciting topics of interest to our membership with an opportunity to learn ways to help LKGA’s mission of education, conservation and advocacy of our local ecosystem.

The inaugural seminar session will feature leading researchers studying permit (and other fish) aggregations, spawning activities, behavioral shifts, and depredation understanding association with the 7-year closure of Western Dry Rocks.  In 2021, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) established a seasonal (4-months per year) closure to protect a spawning aggregation site for multiple fish species at Western Dry Rocks, an offshore bar about 10 miles southwest of Key West. The closure, which runs from April 1 to July 31, covers one square mile of habitat that’s near currents that distribute eggs and larvae throughout south Florida. The closure was put into place to protect spawning fish and reduce depredation mortality, which one study estimated was almost 40% at the site. The closure will also hopefully benefit the commercially and recreationally important species that aggregate to spawn at Western Dry Rocks, including permit, mutton snapper, gray snapper, and yellowtail snapper.

To register for this seminar, click here.