The Cayman Islands Department of Environment (DoE) has launched a public awareness campaign about rules designed to help protect local marine life that are threatened by a number of issues, including overfishing, according to a story published by the Cayman News Service. The DoE is urging people who are going fishing to follow the laws, which apply to all individuals and businesses, and should be adhered to when planning fishing trips. “Our goal is to promote a sustainable recreational fishery that will serve the public for years into the future,” DoE Senior Research Officer John Bothwell told the Cayman News Service. “Refraining from taking marine life when they are spawning is a major component of a sustainable fishery. It is one of the reasons why the Cayman Islands, and other fisheries jurisdictions around the world, have closed and open seasons, along with bag and size limits, for marine life that is at risk of being overfished.”

The threats to local Cayman Islands fish populations also include global warming, coral bleaching and invasive species like lionfish.

Closed season on Nassau groupers (Epinephelus striatus) began on December 1 and are in effect until April 30.

Around the full moons of January and February, the Nassau grouper populations in the Cayman Islands aggregate for a mass reproduction event.

Since 2002, scientists from the islands' Department of Environment, REEF, Scripps Oceanography Institute and Oregon State University have been monitoring Nassau grouper spawning aggregations across the Cayman Islands in their Grouper Moon project.

The regulations also include year-round fishing bans on sharks and rays, and the Department of Environment is raising awareness about shark conservation. The DoE's Cayman Islands Sharks Project works to conserve shark species and their environment. By employing acoustic tags, underwater camera traps and diving surveys, the DoE, along with Marine Conservation International, has been studying, monitoring and working to protect sharks in Cayman since 2009. Since 2015, sharks have been protected under the National Conservation Law in coastal and offshore Cayman waters. In order to monitor their populations and behavior, this work now also includes a Sharklogger program which involves a network of divers, snorkelers and diving centers on all three islands who are recording their dives all year around. This work is supported by the Cayman Islands Brewery’s White Tip shark conservation fund.