A little PSA from the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust. Consider joining. I’m a member.
Archives
18
Oct 09
San Diego Bonefish… Get yer fin clip on
Reading the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust website revealed this little nugget about San Diego Bones.
Breaking News – Bonefish Genetics
It wasn’t long ago that word go out that people were catching bonefish in San Diego Bay. Now, with the help of some anglers who collected fin clips for bonefish research, BTT’s collaborators on bonefish genetics research have reported that San Diego anglers are catching two different species of bonefish! These are Albula esuncula, and Albula species A. If you fish for bonefish in San Diego and want to help, send us an email at bonefish @ mote.org and we’ll send you a fin clip kit.
17
Oct 09
Catch and Release Florida Bonefish
Some fights should be easier than they end up being. In Florida, the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust is trying to make bonefish a catch and release only species (they are also trying to get permit to be catch and release only). In Hawaii there is a long cultural history of eating bonefish (O’io), but the cultural depths of that practice in Florida are as shallow as the flats where these magnificent fish are found.
We know a few things about bonefish in Florida…
- They are big
- There are about 300k of them in Florida waters
- That number is a fraction of the bonefish population of 30 years ago
- A single bonefish contributes about $3,600 per year to Florida’s economy and about $75,000 over its lifespan.
So, the importance of bonefish minus the cultural weight of the fish should make this pretty easy… right? Maybe, maybe not.
I read in the minutes (page 29) of one meeting of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission where the Coastal Conservation Association Florida took the bold position of opposing any change to size, bag or gear restrictions and also opposed catch & release for both bonefish and permit. They also opposed a tagging program. Ah… with friends like these, Florida’s remaining bonefish may want to slide down to Belize, where both permit and bonefish are protected species and catch and release only.
To help the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust out, check out their page about making bones C&R in Florida and let your voice be heard. Let’s not be out-conserved by Belize. Come on folks.
lease support BTT’s effort to make bonefish catch and release in Florida by contacting the Commissioners and voicing your support. You can contact them by email (link to email not working) or by mail at the address below:Mr. Rodney Barreto
Chairman
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Farris Bryant Building
620 South Meridian Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600
26
Aug 09
Pirates of the Flats
No, not the Disneyland ride or a blockbuster movie. This is a new TV show, a bunch of legends, idols and… well, and an actor, out on the Flats fishing for bones, talking ecology, talking about their amazing lives… this is going to air on ESPN of all places, starting 12/27/2009 in January 2010. ESPN is starting to air more soccer and now fly fishing… now if we can just get Yvon Chouinard on Sports Center and Jim Rome eaten by a Bull Shark.
Check out the Tin Shed at Patagonia.com for all the goodies (they seem to have taken that down)! You not only see the trailer, but also photos by Val Atkinson (who is simply bad-ass at what he does, check out the link, as it is his own website and slide show of the Pirates).
The show has even linked up with the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, so they are really hitting on all cylinders.
Tom Brokaw quoted about the project in USA Today:
NBC News’ Tom Brokaw, in doing his first TV fishing series, says he “didn’t quite know what I was getting into, except it was a chance to go fishing with my friends. … I belong to an informal fishing posse, kind of an aging boys club. You end up in these fishing camps where the emphasis is on good fishing, good wine and lots of good storytelling.”
In Pirates of the Flats, an independently produced series that ESPN will announce today and will debut in January, the posse — including actor Michael Keaton, mountaineer Yvon Chouinard and author Thomas McGuane — went to the Bahamas in search of the elusive bonefish. And don’t get the wrong idea, says Brokaw, just because bonefish can weigh just 3-5 pounds: “It’s not just blind casting. You’re stalking the fish. … They’re ghostly, quite primordial.”
Update – turns out this is filmed mostly in the Bahamas.
26
Aug 09
Florida Bay Ecology on the Brink?
It seems the one constant when it comes to watery ecology is this… things appear to be heading toward utter and total destruction. The AP story below says that Florida Bay’s ecology is headed toward collapse with the cascade of damage and ruin already a good number of domino’s down the path. The culprits are pollution, diverted flows, urban sprawl… really this could be just about any water issue around the country. The more things change, the more they stay the same, they say.
ISLAMORADA, Fla. — Boat captain Tad Burke looks out over Florida Bay and sees an ecosystem that’s dying as politicians, land owners and environmentalists bicker.
He’s been plying these waters for nearly 25 years, and has seen the declines in shrimp and lobster that use the bay as a nursery, and less of the coveted species like bonefish that draw recreational sportsmen from around the world.
“Bonefish used to be very prevalent, and now we don’t see a tenth of the amount that we used to find in the bay, and even around the Keys because the habitat no longer supports the population,” says Burke, head of the Florida Keys Fishing Guides Association.
Doesn’t that sound good?? No? Yeah, to me either.
Everglades Foundation, one of the orgs trying to get things sorted (and it looks like they are having some success).
25
Aug 09
Help Stop the Netting in Nassau
Ran across this blog from Nassau that talked about illegal netting of bonefish taking place in Nassau. The author of the post (Nassau Fly Fishing) says that just a few emails will make a difference and so I encourage y’all to do just that… email the Minister of Fisheries and ask that he step up enforcement of illegal netting and poaching. Encourage him to follow the example of Belize, where gamefish such as Bones, tarpon and permit are catch & release only.
See the whole post and find the email address to mail to here. http://nassauflyfishing.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/34/
These douchebags are netting bonefish.
So… Go get’em!
