Protection for a newly discovered ? but secret ? spawning area for black grouper and red hinds has been extended to the species, by the Ministry of the Environment.

Friends of Fish Chairman Ian Murdoch said a considerable number of fish swim from all over the Island to spawn at a certain location every full moon in June. ?We are going to be doing a week long assessment from June 21 to June 26,? he said. ?This will coincide with the full moon on June 22, which is when they should aggregate.?

For the last two years, large numbers of black grouper and red hind were seen spawning in that area, he said.

It coincides with Marine Conservation week, he said, which is what he is hoping Government will call the dates around the fish spawning. ?We will do it for the next three or four years in order to get good long range data on the fish,? he said.

The data will also be posted on Reef Environmental Education Foundation?s website at www.reef.org, he said.

The Fisheries (Protected Area) Amendment Order 2005, increases the protection area by 100 fathoms. But he said there could be other spawning grounds around the Island which have not been discovered yet.