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Conservation — No Comments
08
Nov 10

Fall Bonefish Census… not awesome

Well, the numbers are in from the Fall bonefish census and the picture is not rosy.  Numbers are way down.  The Miami Herald (America’s most bonefishy newspaper) break the story.

About 60 guides and anglers who poled across the flats from Biscayne Bay to the Marquesas Keys west of Key West on Oct. 23 counted about 200,000 bonefish — way down from the mean estimate of 339,595 over the past eight years. Ault said the past three fall censuses have been below that mean but not nearly as low as the latest count.

Nice to see Joe Gonzalez getting recognized for the effort he’s put in to helping out…

Some South Florida flats guides — especially Miami captain Joe Gonzalez — have taken up the cause of bonefish research.

Gonzalez, 50, has tagged more bones than any other captain — about 1,700 during the past seven years.

Here are the folks doing the work.

Joe G with a tagged bone. (photo from Sam Root)

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Conservation — No Comments
11
Apr 10

Bonefish Census – April 21

It’s Census Time… although, if you are prone to government conspiracies and believe Obama is the Anti-Christ, you probably aren’t filling yours out… and that’s OK by me.

However, it is also Bonefish Census time, and that is important business.  April 21st is the date for the “Great Counting.” The Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, as you might expect, is at the center of it all, along with Miami University.

Fall census results have indicated a population of just over 320,000 bonefish in the Florida Keys fishery. We want to use the Spring census to calibrate our Fall estimates and to determine if there is a seasonal component to the bonefish population size estimates. Of particular note, your participation in this year’s census is critically important because we are trying to get a handle on the extent to which January’s extremely cold weather has impacted the Florida Keys bonefish population.

Get the info you need at the BTT website and if you are out there, you should take part.

A Bruce Chard Bonefish from them there Keys.

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