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


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.


26
Aug 10

South Beach Belize… douchebags.

I enjoyed my recent interview with Lori-Ann Murphy of El Pescador.  After talking with her I did some more poking around on-line to see what I could find out about development or over-development in Ambergris.

The first thing I found was nice little video by Wil Flack, good friend of Lori-Ann and seemingly all around good guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSrWsFRPuQM?fs=1&hl=en_US

South Beach Belize… it sounds pleasant, doesn’t it?  Wouldn’t it be nice to retire down in Belize… grab your rod in the morning after you’ve had your coffee and go and catch a bonefish in out your front door?  It does sound nice.  The downside is that they have to dredge the bejesus out of the flats and bulldoze the hell out of the mangroves to get that front door there.  All those mangroves are where the fish live/grow/hunt.  You nuke the mangroves and you nuke the fishing.

I don’t even know that much about saltwater fishing, but I can understand that pretty well.

This is what greed looks like.

Sounds like these guys have been botching the job since day -1 (and more).

You can seen the construction, right up against a protected area.

It is a little difficult to figure out what exactly is happening on the ground.  I found the website for Ambergris Caye Citizens for Sustainable Development and their listing of the status of current projects. They seem to think that the project has not been green-lit, although it is easy enough to find folks selling South Beach Belize property.

It sounds like the project is on hold for now.  Before you go and drop some coin on a little bit of raped and pillaged Belize, just think that these guys sold plots for a project that isn’t even in the bag.  That can’t be good.

I have no idea, but I can’t get this video to embed in this post… here’s a link to a video called “How South Beach Belize Will Impact Ambergris.”


25
Aug 10

A coming together of favorite things

(First, just a note, you can be entered to win some Skinny Water Culture gear by emailing me the account of your first bonefish. bonefishonthebrain@gmail.com)

As you may have guessed, I dig Skinny Water Culture gear.  So, I was really excited to read on their blog about a bonefishing trip and a re-capture of a bonefish tag.

I think he's from Texas

Nice fish and nice tag.

They got word back about the fish and it’s 658 days between tagging and recapture.  Awesome.

Bonefish tagging… it’s important stuff.  The Bonefish & Tarpon Trust does tagging as does the Bonefish & Tarpon Research Center at the University of Miami.  Keep up the good work guys!


17
Aug 10

Help BTT, Spread the Journal

This from the most recent Bonefish & Tarpon Trust Newsletter.

Bonefish & Tarpon Trust is constantly looking for ways to expand its coverage to reach new members and lodges.  The annual journal has been a big hit, and we use it as a major outreach tool. A large expense to BTT is international shipping , which makes it difficult for us to distribute the Journal to lodges. The next time you plan a fishing trip to your favorite lodge, contact BTT in advance to receive copies of the BTT Journal to take with you on your trip and leave behind for others to read.  Contact bonefish @ mote.org

The Journal is great.  I loved mine, until someone swiped it at the Fly Fishing Show in Pleasanton.  I was working the booth for BTT and had it to show folks, but someone must have thought it was a give-away since they walked off with it.

So, if you are going to Andros, Exuma, Abaco, Belize, Mexico, Los Roques or to the mythical/fictitious bonefishing lodges of San Diego Bay, take some of their Journals with you and help spread the word (or, just cut them a big, fat check so they can pay the shipping).

Bonefish and Tarpon Trust


12
Aug 10

Bonefish and Tarpon Trust to auction Borski Abel Reel

Artist Tim Borski and Abel Reels have once again stepped up to the plate in support of BTT. They have donated a bonefish special edition reel to BTT for auction. BTT has Reel #2 of 100 (Tim has Reel #1). This special edition reel will be auctioned by BTT in the near future. We expect a nice donation from this reel – the Redfish special edition reel donated by Tim and Abel Reels last year fetched more than $3,000. Stay tuned for details on the auction. If you are interested in bidding on this reel and would like to be updated when an auction is scheduled, please email us at bonefish@mote.org.

via Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.

This reel is not remotely in my price range, but if I had the money floating around and I was going to choose between a new couch or this reel, I’d choose this reel.  The Bonefish and Tarpon Trust is the shiznit… although I’m not cool or urban at all enough to pull of using “shiznit.”


11
Aug 10

Bonefish and Tarpon Conservation Research, or Why Michael Larkin is Awesome

I got a package from bonefish and tarpon researcher Michael Larkin the other day… it had in it two things that = totally ruling.

First, it had a bonefish tongue. That’s right… the tongue of a bonefish.  This bonefish didn’t get into hot water, it got into cold water, in Florida, back in January, and it died. It is an amazing thing.

Not a licker

Tongue... bonefish tongue.

Crunch

This was the last thing a few crabs and shimp ever saw.

The second thing in the package was a shirt.  It was important for a couple reasons… I needed to do laundry and it is a shirt supporting the Bonefish & Tarpon Research Center at the Rosenstiel School at the  University of Miami.

Damn, I look goooooood.

Buy this shirt. Support these people.  Check out the research.

Get the shirt!

Here's a shirt you need to own.

Find the shirt at Bonefish&Tarpon Conservation Research.


09
Aug 10

Restoring Palmyra Atoll – NYTimes.com

Back the 4th of July I posted up a little story about bonefish on the far-far away atoll of Palmyra in the South Pacific.  The New York Times has finally caught up with my semi-journalistic prowess and put up a great little story about the atoll, complete with some links to some more conservation goodness.  Check it out.

United States Fish and Wildlife Service and Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium institutions hope to restore the lagoon system. Researchers have mapped changes in the atoll through time and are measuring water flow and the amount of silt suspended in the water to determine how these factors affect biodiversity.

via World War II Still Shapes Atoll’s Ecosystem – Scientist at Work Blog – NYTimes.com.

There's bones there.

That's US soil there.


30
Jul 10

Chalk Sound National Park

Our pools are just one kid peeing in the pool or a dirty diaper away from a verdant bloom. Chalk Sound’s fate rests precariously on the functionality of the human septic systems that now line its shores.

via Chalk Sound National Park: Beauty and ecology.

A pretty looking spot in T&C that is facing some challenges.  Thar be bonefish there as well.

Purdy


21
Jul 10

Bonefish Pictures in Magazines

If you want that bonefish you just caught to survive, it is a really good idea to leave the fish in the water.  There is ample evidence to support that.  If you’ve sniffed around at the fringes of catch and release for bonefish the studies and best practices are pretty easy to find.

Many anglers were first exposed to bonefish, permit or tarpon in fly fishing magazines.  I know I was personally inspired to find my first bonefish by an article I read and the pictures I saw.  Inspiration is good.

The Bonefish & Tarpon Trust is hoping the inspiration can be done with the fish in the water.  Basically, they are hoping that magazines will start showing fish in the water to help anglers model this good behavior.

Here’s the full text of their letter to the fishing media asking them to use photos that support the best practices in catch and release fishing for bonefish, tarpon and permit.

Sounds good.

Support BTT