The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the Nassau grouper as critically endangered, due to commercial and recreational fishing and reef destruction.

[5][6] The Nassau grouper is a medium to large fish, growing to over a meter in length and up to 25 kg in weight.

By the light of the full moon, huge numbers of the grouper cluster together to mate in mass spawning.

Furthermore, its historic spawning areas are easily targeted for fishing, which tends to remove the reproductively active members of the group.

The species is therefore highly vulnerable to overexploitation, and is recognised as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.

The governments of the United States, the Cayman Islands, and the Bahamas have banned or instituted closed fishing seasons for the Nassau grouper in recent years.

[8] Many conservation methods have been put in place to help the grouper, including closed seasons, when fishing is not allowed.

[10] However, analysis of declines in both populations as well as the size spawning aggregations has led to the species being uplisted to critically endangered by the IUCN Red List in 2018.

The Nassau grouper was placed on the World Conservation Union's redlist of threatened species in 1996, and it was determined to be endangered because its population has declined by 60% in the past 30 years.