Conservation

Conservation — 3 Comments
24
Oct 12

Finning, sharks and Ted Williams

Yeah, I kind of like this, both the story and the idea of stopping shark finning.  Here is a bit of the story, relating directly to bonefish.

“You see all dat black,” says Moxey casually. “Dat’s all bonefishes. Stay in the boat till the tide fall.” The black is the shadows cast by the iridescent-silver fish. They’re being pushed from deep water by at least 200 lemon sharks. Geysers erupt all around us. Dark dorsal fins and golden backs cleave the flat at appalling speed, sending bonefish into the air like welding sparks. I can’t stand the wait.

I’ve been on flats in Andros with sharks circling (but not 200) and I swam with sharks in Belize. I love sharks and I understand that apex predators are important.

According to the best data, fins from 26 million to 73 million sharks are annually traded on the global market.

A leopard shark from the Bay, and my girl.

Conservation / Locations — 4 Comments
09
Oct 12

Belize, January, Tournament to benefit BTT

You know where I’d love to be January 23 – 27? I’d love to be back down at El Pescador for a three day tagging tournament, benefiting the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust (ya know, if we put together a group, I probably COULD come down for this… just say’n). This is put on by the good folks at El Pescador and their stable of excellent guides. Here’s the skinny.

Belize, Bonefish… I dig it.

To: 2nd Annual Grand Slam Tagging Invitational to Benefit Bonefish & Tarpon Trust at El Pescador

When: Wednesday, Jan 23 – Sunday, Jan 27, 2013

Where: El Pescador, Ambergris Caye, BelizeWhat: A 3 day tagging event

Why: To raise money for Bonefish and Tarpon Trust whose mission is to support research to help understand, nurture, and enhance healthy bonefish, tarpon, and permit populations.

El Pescador will donate US$250 for every paying angler entering the 2nd Annual Grand Slam Tagging Invitational to benefit BTT. The total sum raised will be donated in the tournament grand champion’s name to BTT. The grand champion with then receive the corresponding benefits associated with that level of membership. The grand champion will also receive one (1) spot, with the entry fee waived, to compete in the 2014 March Merkin invitational permit tournament in the Florida Keys.

El Pescador has worked with BTT and their tagging program since 2009. We tag permit, bonefish and tarpon in order to answer basic questions about population, growth rates and movements.

The tournament requires anglers and guides to not only measure the fish before release, but to tag them and/or genetic test them as well. This is a charity tournament benefitting Bonefish Tarpon Trust. Tournament information is available at
http://www.elpescador.com/fishing/btt-tournament
Information about tagging as well as scientific and conservation issues affecting Bonefish, Tarpon and Permit around the world can be found at www.tarbone.org

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Conservation — 1 Comment
08
Oct 12

Stop Proposed Dredging in Key West

To accommodate the arrival of “mega cruise ships,” the cruise ship industry has presented a proposal to dredge and widen the harbor and main ship channel of Key West. And it has already gained support from local businesses.

via Stop Proposed Dredging in Key West | MidCurrent.

That just sounds like a horrible idea, doesn’t it?  Can we get together to oppose this? Bigger cruise ships in Key West… do the Keys need that?  That sounds like Bad Idea Jeans to me.

The Lower Keys Guide Association agrees on the crappiness of this idea. At their site they have a form letter and email addresses of the council members who will vote on this. Let’s generate some heat on this.

Ugh.

Conservation — No Comments
04
Oct 12

Really. It is time. Join BTT.

Maybe you have been putting it off. I can understand that. I’ve put one or two things off, sometimes for years. There are things you really should do, but maybe you don’t have all the information, or maybe you just have too much other stuff to do. I get it. It happens.

Here’s something you should make the time for. You should join the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust. They are the folks who are trying to keep us all in bonefish and tarpon and permit for generations to come.

Right now there’s a promotion and you could both join BTT and possibly win a H2 rod (the new Helios, which is pretty much pure sweetness).

Here’s a story in the Florida Sportsman.

Conservation — 1 Comment
25
Sep 12

The Science of Tarpon

This is just frigging cool and features a few guys you’ve probably come across on the blog. Awesome.

I saw this over at Flatswalker, which you should be reading.

[vimeo clip_id=”47187988″]

 

Conservation — 1 Comment
21
Sep 12

Garbage and the Ocean

Garbage In. Garbage Out.

Conservation / Fish Tails — 3 Comments
05
Sep 12

Interview with Andy Danylchuk

Andy Danylchuk, Ph.D. is one of the foremost researchers when it comes to bonefish. He’s a pretty interesting guy and his work is critical to those of us who like to chase silver on the flats.

I recently got to meet Andy at the IFTD show in Reno. I pumped him for good info and asked him to do an interview for the blog, which he agreed to. Here it is.

A friend of Andy’s with a good release photo. (photos from Core Angling).

Andy, what has you particularly excited when it comes to bonefish, tarpon or permit research right now?

Still so much more to discover.  Although anglers focus so much on these icons, we still know relatively little about them.  Every piece of research about their ecology, movement patterns, and best way to handle them once caught can contribute greatly to the conservation and management of this trio.

Photo from Core Angling.

What has you most concerned when it comes to bonefish right now?

Not learning enough about them in time to make the best decisions related to their conservation and management.  For instance, it wasn’t until a few years ago when we finally had some stats related to how air exposure can influence the susceptibility of bonefish to predation following release.  Many have seen bonefish getting attacked by sharks and cudas after letting them go, but one of our studies showed that for every minute of air exposure, the chances of a predation increases by six times.  Even if half of the anglers targeting bonefish work to eliminate air exposure for the fish they catch, that increases the chances of survival for a good number of fish.  Same is true for learning about their essential habitats, like where the juveniles live or where bonefish spawn.  It wasn’t until recently did we discover that bonefish in The Bahamas form large aggregations and move to deeper offshore waters to spawn.  Finding and protecting these spawning aggregation sites might prove to be a critical piece of the ‘conservation’ puzzle.

What is one of the weirdest things you’ve seen out on the flats?

First on my list would be golf balls – I have a collection of them from various flats.  It is amazing how startling it is to come across a golf ball when you are in a search pattern for bonefish or permit.  The second oddest was a computer monitor that got caught up in the mangroves. 

Every once in a while someone comes up with a claim of a 20 pound bonefish. Hawaii, New Caledonia, South Africa. Do you think there is a 20 pounder out there and if so, do you think it could be caught?

Anything is possible

What should the individual angler be doing to help preserve bonefish populations?

Learn and apply best practices for catch-and-release.  Minimize or better yet, eliminate air exposure; reduce handling time by using barbless hooks and simply being prepared; stay tuned for updates from groups such as Bonefish & Tarpon Trust as these best practices become more detailed/refined.  Also, just recognizing that one person – the angler – can make a difference when it comes to each fish they interact with.

Another good release. Photo from Core Angling.

What more should the industry be doing to preserve bonefish populations?

Promote a general conservation ethic – having advertisements and magazine articles describing and showing images that reflect known best practices; showing support, even in a non-monetary way, for conservation efforts.

Thanks Andy. Keep up the good work. 

 

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Conservation — 11 Comments
02
Sep 12

Hey Industry, we can do better

I know this is a point that both Aaron Adams and Andy Danylchuk want to make, so I’m going to start things off.

Industry… we/you can do better. New bonefishing anglers have a picture in mind when they head out with their guides for their first fish. It is a picture put in their minds by the industry itself. The vision is of the angler with the standard grip-and-grin photo. That photo is pretty bad for the fish.

I’ve been in that photo. My first bonefish were held out of the water for way too long. I didn’t know any better. The guide I had wanted us to have the right shot and the fish likely paid the price for that. I took my lead from the guide. I didn’t know better and when I found out, well, I regret those pictures now.

The photo collage is taken from various fly fishing businesses. Each one shows a fish way out of the water, posed, gripped or otherwise man/womanhandled.

Some nice fish, poorly handled.

It does seem to be harder to find a bonefish on a gear maker’s site that has a poorly handled fish, but there are a lot of guides and lodges out there with photos setting poor examples.

Basically… keep the fish in the water. That fish should either be in the water, or clearly dripping water as you take it out for 2 seconds. Any pic of an angler sitting in the middle of the boat is likely a bad photo. Let’s all do better.

Sound good?

Conservation — 4 Comments
26
Aug 12

Some cool permit action from the Chum

I saw this a few weeks ago over at Moldy Chum and I thought “damn… that is cool.”

A permit from Puerto Rico, caught and fitted with an acoustic transmitter. Very fine work conducted by Dr. Andy Danylchuk and team.

Well done.

Funny thing… I met El Guapo from the Chum at the party industry show. There, he says, “You know who I’m meeting after this is Andy Danylchuk. I want to introduce you to him. You should come along.”

Awesome. I got to hear about it first hand and I’m going to try to do some things on the conservation front with Dr. Andy.

… and that is why you go to the show.

Conservation — 8 Comments
09
Aug 12

Things that bum me out… shark killing

I get an email from Field and Stream and the subject includes “587 Pound NY Thresher Shark.”

I like Thresher Sharks. They look kind of cool with the extra long tail. There is even a Thresher Shark Research and Conservation outfit.

I had a feeling I wouldn’t like what I would see, but I open the email anyway and this is what I saw…

Crap.

I am not a fan of killing sharks just for the sake of killing sharks. In fact, I’m pretty firmly in the “don’t do that shit” camp. Sharks are a pretty key part of the ecosystem out there, top predators usually are, and taking them out of the system just so you can get this picture makes me a bit pissed.  Thresher sharks don’t kill people, although I did read about someone that may have been killed by the tail of one of these sharks as they were pulling it in a boat somewhere.  There was zero cause to kill the thing.

I think most fly fisherman would likely NOT have killed the beast, but the non-fly Field & Stream subscribers likely would and that is why they presented it front and center in the email. I hope more of the C&R ethic can make its way into the bait and kill crowd, but I don’t know how that will happen.

I applaud the Shark-Free Marina effort for trying to get there.

These are American Bison skulls… killed for fun, driving the Bison to the brink of extinction.

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