Conservation

Conservation / Locations — No Comments
02
Nov 10

Bonefish & Tarpon Trust and El Pescador

Hey, look… you can help out BTT by heading to El Pescador.  Doesn’t that kind of rock?

I’m headed there myself… 18 days from today and I should actually get a line wet.

BTT Auction: 7 Nights at El Pescador Lodge in Belize

El Pescador Resort on Ambergris Cay, Belize, has generously donated a trip to be auctioned by BTT to raise funds for research. Have you been looking for a place where you can take a non-fishing spouse (or a spouse that doesn’t think about fishing all day), and haven’t been able to find just the right place? El Pescador may be what you have been searching for.

via Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.

Conservation — 2 Comments
27
Oct 10

Richard Leaves Belize With Millions of Dollars In Damages

Well, I hope the folks down there at El Pescador are doing OK in the wake of Richard coming through like Keith Richards through an expensive hotel room.

Power got knocked out, while houses on stilts were blown away in the city after Hurricane Richard made a landfall south of the the City of Belize Sunday night.

via Hurricane Richard Weakens, Leaves Belize With Millions of Dollars In Damages | Golf Talk.

We don’t have to deal with that kind of stuff here in CA… earthquakes, sure… massive forest fires, OK… but Hurricanes? Not so much.

Hurricanes are a reason that the over-development that is either on the doorstep of Ambergris  (or somewhere in the living room) is important.  The mangroves, as I understand it, help absorb the force of the storms… they buffer.  When you screw with that perfect and time-tested system, well… you lose even more habitat, you lose the prey, you lose the fish and you lose the fishery.

So… put that bulldozer away and sail that dredge into deep water for an artificial reef and I hope the hurricane shutters worked.

Conservation — 2 Comments
22
Oct 10

Shark Free Marinas

I could get behind this… Shark Free Marina’s sounds like a good idea.  Basically, it lets folks know that your marina doesn’t support the harvest of sharks.

Therefore, the Guy Harvey Foundation, The Humane Society of the United States, and various other organizations have teamed up with the Shark-Free Marina Initiative (SFMI) for a singular, historic purpose: to reduce worldwide shark mortality. SFMI certifies sport fishing and resort marinas as ʻShark-Freeʼ thereby prohibiting any shark from being landed at their dock. The SFMI team is being advised by Dr. Bob Hueter, Director of Shark Research at the Mote Marine Laboratory and John Le Coq, co-founder of Fishpond USA.

via Fly Rod and Reel’s Blogs: Conservation – 2010 October – Shark Free Marinas – by Ted Williams.

Conservation — No Comments
15
Oct 10

Releasing bonefish

Deneki just put up a really important post about catch and release angling for bonefish.

On my first bonefishing trip the guide made sure we got lots of hero shots… every fish was held up for the grip and grin.  If you are new to bonefishing, you might not see much wrong with that.  Trout, after all, can be held out of the water for longer than you’d think, with still really high survivability.

Bonefish live in an environment where their speed is their best defense.  It is drastically different from the world of a trout.  You release a trout that is a bit dazed and it can recover.  You release a bonefish that is a bit dazed and it is on the menu for sharks and cudas.

You might not SEE the fish die, like that trout that goes belly up, but the odds are, if the bonefish is dazed at all when it gets released, it will likely die.

So… snap the picture of the fish IN the water if you can.  When you have enough pics, just let the fish go without the photo.

Drop the Grip and Grin and the fish will live to fight another day.

Conservation / Locations — 3 Comments
30
Sep 10

Bimini – A cautionary tale

There are still bonefish in Bimini.  Doubtless, there are still lots and lots of bonefish.  However… it is certain that there will be fewer bonefish than there used to be and the main culprit will certainly be Bimini Bay Resort.

You can’t dredge the flats, rip up the mangroves and fill in the tidal creeks and pretend it doesn’t matter… well… I guess you can… and there are plenty of folks out there willing to do  just that.

This is the Before shot... go to the site to see the After... it ain't pretty.

Of course, the issue isn’t unique to Bimini… it is happening all over the bonefishing world (OK, not everywhere, but enough places to matter).  It seems too many people want the Bahamian/Caribbean Dream and are willing to pave over and cut down anything they need to in order to get it.

Go to Bimini soon… who knows how it will fish in a decade or so.

Conservation — No Comments
24
Sep 10

The best fishing, most endangered

I’ve been thinking about places that are on the verge of being lost.  I’m trying to put together a list of places where bonefish are found that are  in real trouble, either short term or long term.

It seems like development threatens several places around the Caribbean… Belize, Bimini, Abaco, Nassau and more.

It seems that the environmental toll of the oil spill won’t really be known for years.

There are places where netting is still a real issue, from the Cook Islands to Hawaii to Puerto Rico and more.

There are other places where the fishing has suffered from too many rods… I’m not really talking about fishing that has just got tougher.  Sure, that’s a bummer, but the fish are still there.

I’m talking about places where the fish are going away… where the fish are in trouble.

So… what places do you think should be on the list and why?

Conservation — 2 Comments
17
Sep 10

Bahamian Flyfishing Federation (BFF) – Nice

Organizing is a good step in efforts to preserve what the Bahamas has to offer.  I’m hoping the BFF will be a loud voice advocating to preserve bonefish habitat throughout the Islands.

Several bonefish guides from the islands of Abaco, Andros, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama and New Providence have initiated a proposal to start a Bahamian Flyfishing Federation (BFF) that will support the flyfishing industry by forming a national partnership with all industry stakeholders to promote the conservation of bonefish, tarpon, and permit populations as well as the habitats on which they depend. The vision of the BFF is a Bahamas that is the best fly-fishing destination in the world for current and future generations to enjoy.

via Fishing guides propose to start Bahamian Flyfishing Federation (BFF).

Conservation — No Comments
15
Sep 10

Silvers of a different latitude

I have yet to fish Alaska.  I’ve fished up in BC a couple times and loved it.  My dad is a bit confused why I’d rather fish in Andros than the Dean, but I keep telling him that I really, really like flipflops and palm trees.

Still, anglers who pursue Gray Ghosts on the flats of Belize are often the same folks that chase Silver Salmon and monster bows in the wilds of Alaska. A buddy of mine sent along an action alert and I wanted to put it out here for all those world-traveling anglers.

Pebble Mine is a horrible, horrible idea, of course.  You can have a say in how things go down… this is how, courtesy of NRDC.

The Obama Administration is inviting input from across America on how to protect our nation’s most cherished wildlands and other outdoor spaces.

Please take a few minutes right now and tell administration officials — in your own words — why they should save Bristol Bay. The deadline for submitting your message is September 30.

I know this action involves more than the usual click of a mouse, but I’m sure you’ll agree it’s time well spent for the sake of stopping the Pebble Mine. A thoughtful and personal message from someone like you can make a big difference!

Here’s how to do it:

Visit the America’s Great Outdoors website and register to participate.

Then, explore the Ideas page:

  • Post your own idea.
  • Vote to “promote” ideas that call for protecting Bristol Bay.
  • Join conversations on ideas that matter to you.
  • Share with your friends and encourage them to vote.

Or email your personal message directly to ago@ios.doi.gov

Please keep these talking points in mind as you write:

  • Pebble Mine threatens Bristol Bay’s clean waters, wild salmon, wildlife and traditional subsistence ways of life.
  • Public lands in the Bristol Bay watershed should be closed to large-scale metallic sulfide mining. Protecting habitat, subsistence and recreation resources should be the top priority.
  • The federal government should provide strong oversight of the Pebble Mine permitting process and analysis of cumulative impacts to the Bristol Bay watershed.
  • Relationships between federal and tribal governments should be strengthened.
  • Standards for mineral development in wetlands should be tighter.
  • Clean Water Act standards for large-scale metallic sulfide mining should be more stringent.

You can also refer to our SaveBioGems web page about Bristol Bay if you want more information.

No Pebble Mine

Conservation — 9 Comments
13
Sep 10

Kauai Bonefish Netting

I’m culturally insensitive.  I say that because this makes me angry.  I know they’ve been taking and eating bones for a long time (probably not with modern nets though).  Still, I think it is a sad, sad thing to kill a bunch of bonefish to sell them (I have not heard of them being sold before).

A bonefish is worth more living than dead.  These fish are too wonderful to end their lives in a nylon net.  If thinking that makes me an a-hole, I’ll just have to live with that.

It was a good catch, they said, and then they drove off to take it to market.

via Food, people, life, stories. » Blog Archive » Pulling bonefish from the sea, Kaua’i style.

Damn.

All the other stuff / Conservation — 2 Comments
10
Sep 10

Aquarium Day

Today I went to the aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences with my folks, my daughter, a friend of mine and the little boy she nannies for.  Kids at the aquarium… always fun.

One of my favorite areas is right inside the aquarium… it is a shallow, white sand enclosure that has rays, black tip sharks and a few small tarpon, mixed in with other fish.  The small tarpon are really small… maybe 20″ or so.  On my last trip there were three.  Today… well… they said there were 2, but I think they double counted.  I saw one.  I asked what had happened and they suspect one of the black tips was doing a little pantry raiding at night.  I’m suspecting that the small tarpon they said “must be hiding” was an encore pantry raid.

Feeding time... the official feeding time, that is.

Down below, in the main aquarium, you can also see another tarpon, but this one isn’t small… it’s a pretty nice fish, actually.

Mr. T

While we were there I thought I’d check to see if I might be able to actually see the bonefish they have in their collection… caught in 1918 off Sausalito.  I didn’t get a call back until we got home, but I was told that “Sure,” I could set  up a time to take a picture of the Bonefish of the SF Bay.

I asked about the size of the fish… turns out it is about 11 inches… a juvenile. That does explain a bit.  As I understand it, the juveniles have a much higher tolerance to low temperatures than do the adults. It does make you wonder what was happening with the ocean conditions around 1918.

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