Conservation

Conservation — 1 Comment
20
Feb 13

Home bodies

OK, a couple weeks back I posted about bonefish traveling far and wide as tagged fish have shown up sometimes hundreds of miles from where they were tagged.

An alert (and knowledgeable) reader pointed out that while some fish do move, most of the fish tagged in that study (and in others) don’t. They stay right there.

In one study I found, two of the tagged fish returned to the same flat repeatedly (over a span of 40 and 61 days). The fish were locals. All the shrimp knew their names. They were homebodies, not the island-hopping world travelers that grabbed the headlines.

Of 11 tagged fish, 7 (64%) were detected repeatedly over time-scales ranging from days to months; 2 remained in the study area over the life span of their acoustic transmitters (40 and 61 d), revealing a very high degree of site fidelity.

This has some conservation significance as well, I’m sure. I’m just guessing here, but if bonefish display “site fidelity” and you destroy that site and degrade it to the point where it can’t support the prey that live there, well, you probably destroy the bonefish who call that particular bit of habitat home. If, on the other hand, you preserve that flat, you likely preserve those bonefish and that population. That’s just me guessing, but it sounds like a good guess, doesn’t it?

Nice bone, tagged and ready to go. Photo by Cameron Miller.

Nice bone, tagged and ready to go. Photo by Cameron Miller.

Conservation — 3 Comments
19
Feb 13

Adopt a Bonefish

From the good pages over at Moldy Chum.

Adopt a Culebra Bonefish!  We need to raise $19,500 for 30 transmitters to implant in bonefish, with purchase and deployment of each tag costing $650.  Please consider Adopting a Bonefish as part of this project.  As a thank-you, we will name the bonefish tagged in your honor, and you’ll receive a thank-you packet, including a photograph of the bonefish and its personal details, (length, weight, sex when known), as well as bi-yearly updates on their fish’s status!

Contact Dr. Andy Danylchuk (danylchuk@eco.umass.edu) to adopt your bonefish today.

Of course, I did an interview with Andy.

If you care about bones, consider giving some coin to Andy so he can keep doing his good work.

Conservation — 2 Comments
18
Feb 13

Addictive Fishing responds

On Sunday I called out Capt. Blair at Addictive Fishing for a video with some really bad bonefish handling. He replied today.

Bjorn,

Hope you show Flip, Stu, Rick and many other fishing show host from many years ago doing things they don’t do any more either as well.

I believe that was the first and last time I held a bone in that manner.
I was following what the guides were doing at the time down in the keys. Boga Grips were promoted to use then, but not now and haven’t used one for many years.
Feel free to use my response to your e-mail when you are “making an example”.
 
Blair
Certainly, he has a point.  As the science has come out, we have changes our behaviors. So, I’m very glad to hear that Capt. Blair no longer thinks this is acceptable.  That’s good news.
What still bugs me is that this example of horrible handling is still live with no disclaimers or retractions. If someone watches that today they will think “this is how it must be done.” It is a teachable moment that teaches the wrong lessons. It is an opportunity to move things in the right direction.
At least we all agree this is not the right way to do it.

At least we all agree this is not the right way to do it.

Conservation — 7 Comments
17
Feb 13

Addictive Fishing… bad

Worst bonefish handling ever. This is Addictive Fishing fishing off Key Largo (the bone badness starts at about 8:30).

Worst. Handling. Ever.

A reminder… here is how to handle bonefish.

If you’d like to email Capt. Blair, his email is blair@addictivefishing.com.

This is what I wrote him this morning…

Hi Capt. Blair,
I just watched a video of you, I think, fishing in Key Largo. You caught a bonefish, a really nice one. What happened next really shouldn’t have happened. You put that bone on a Boga grip and had it out of the water for a long, long time.

Odds are fair to good that the fish didn’t survive it’s encounter with you. When handling bonefish you need to do two things… minimize handling and minimize air exposure. You should never, ever put a bonefish on a Boga.

From the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust:

Handling:

Minimize handling of all fish; slime and scales can be removed or damaged with excessive handling, thereby greatly increasing the risks of infection. In addition, recent research has shown that mechanical lip-gripping devices can cause damage to mouth tissue if the bonefish struggles against the device, so their use is best avoided.

  • If you have to handle a bonefish, use clean, wet hands and gently support the bonefish from beneath the head and belly. Nets, mechanical lip-gripping devices, and wet cloths can cause injury to the bonefish.
  • Use hemostats, pliers, or a hook-removal tool to quickly remove the hook while keeping the fish in the water, and have your pliers ready and available to facilitate a quick release.
  • Avoid exposing bonefish to air, even when taking a photo. If you must remove the bonefish from the water, limit it to a maximum of 15 seconds.
  • Touching the gills can cause damage and impair the ability of a bonefish to breathe.
  • If a lip-gripping device is used, it’s best to use them only to restrain a calm fish in the water while removing the hook. If a fish’s weight is desired, attach a sling to the device, and cradle the bonefish in the sling rather than hanging the fish vertically by the jaw.

http://www.bonefishtarpontrust.org/catch-and-release/bonefish-catch-and-release.html

As a public figure you need to set a better example. I, myself, will be making an example of this video to show people how not to do it.

I hope the next bonefish you catch has a better shot at survival.

Bjorn

Conservation — 1 Comment
16
Feb 13

Could Gaff and Drag be done in Florida?

Looks like the PTTS could be dealt a major blow (and that would be divine justice) as Tarpon look set to be declared a Catch and Release species in Florida.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted Wednesday to move forward with plans to put an end to “gaff and drag,” PTTS-style fishing by making tarpon a catch-and-release only species. All seven FWC commissioners endorsed the measure. (from Save the Tarpon)

Ah… so good to see some things moving in the right direction. The PTTS being drug to the trash heap of history would be things moving in such a direction.

Good job to those who have been pushing on this.

Awesome shot by Jim Klug.

Awesome shot by Jim Klug.

Conservation — 3 Comments
15
Feb 13

975 Tarpon in 2012

975.

That’s a pretty good sample size and that is the number of juvenile tarpon caught and sampled in 2012.

Oh, that’s by ONE ANGLER!

John Mallory is the angler and he lives, as you might suspect, in Florida on Merritt Island. The next closest guy had caught 216, which still sounds mighty impressive.

These aren’t the big guys, but they are still tarpon and still jump several feet out of the water when caught, you just don’t need the rod to be an 11 wt.

When I think about John’s accomplishment I can’t help but think “that must have been a lot of fun.”

John was taking part in the FGA/FWC “Spirit of Tarpon” DNA Sampling Challenge, a joint promotion of the Florida Guides Association and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

This is about getting the data to base policy on and so I’m grateful to John for all the fun he had out there.

Tarpon in Belize

Tarpon in Belize

 

Conservation — 4 Comments
08
Feb 13

How not to handle an 11 pound bonefish

I would love to catch an 11 pound (and 12 ounce) bonefish. I’d really, really love to. My largest fish is maybe 7 pounds (I was told 7.5, but that means it was probably 6). At some point I might actually achieve this dream if I keep after it and fish in places where hogs like this live.

I can imagine that this guy was really very happy to have crossed paths with such a magnificent creature, to have hooked it and to have landed it. I mean, come on… that thing is huge. It is the fish of a lifetime.

So, I was kind of bummed to see this fish held up by a boga grip.

Damn nice fish and damn poor idea to boga that damn nice fish.

Damn nice fish and damn poor idea to boga that damn nice fish.

Boga grips are bad news for bonefish. They should not be used.  It is likely an education issue. People see fish being gripped with a Boga and they think “well, this must be how things are done.”

It isn’t.

Knowing is half the battle. Spread the news.

—

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Conservation — No Comments
07
Feb 13

Official Statement on Nomination of Sally Jewell as Interior Secretary

Here is the official statement from Bonefish on the Brain on President Obama’s nomination of Sally Jewell, CEO of REI, to be Secretary of the Interior:

 

 

“Cool.”

 

Don't screw it up.

Don’t screw it up.

 

That is all.

Conservation — 1 Comment
06
Feb 13

Traveling Bones

Zack Jud keeps a pretty awesome little blog going called The Abaco Scientist. He heads out there to, well, do science. Some of that science involves bonefish. He’s doing the tagging and whatnot that will help figure out just where these fish go when we let them off of our hooks.

Some really interesting stuff is turning up. I know in the past we’ve seen a bonefish tagged off Miami show up in Andros. Zack has seen a bonefish tagged in Abaco show up in Eleuthera. It’s a 100 mile journey.

This has implications. Bahamian fish move. They move far and wide. They move between islands and they move, sometimes, even across the gulf stream to FL waters. So, knowing that, when crafting a conservation plan, you have to look much broader than simply an island or a coast line.

Getting it done.

Getting it done.

Conservation — No Comments
16
Jan 13

Smell you later

I almost forgot about Science Wednesday.  By that, I mean to say I totally forgot about Science Wednesday, but I figure slightly delayed is still pretty good.

So… let’s talk about what happens to those C&R bonefish. It turns out they stink. They stink no so you or I would notice, but if you were say, a Negaprion brevirostris, you would likely take notice. That’s a lemon shark and while you might like lemon with your fish, it turns out that the lemon has a bit of a taste for fish as well. In this case, it is stinky bonefish they are partial to.

You catch a fish, the fish gets stressed and it releases some chemicals. I had thought that chemical was cortisol, but it turns out that particular chemical is too weak to detect. The ammonia and urea, on the other hand are put out there in quantities that scream “Here I am, come eat me!”

This is why bonefish handling is so important. You need to minimize the fight time and air exposure so that fish is capable of doing what it needs to do when it gets release, which is going really fast to get away from young lemon sharks who are attracted to the chemical neon sign that fish is putting out reading “Bonefish, all you can eat (supplies limited).”

One of the authors of this study is Andy Danylchuk.

Thanks for the pull. Sorry it didn't work out.

Thanks for the pull. Sorry it didn’t work out.

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