B_&_T_J_2015_

It’s not going to be quick—the bonefish

population didn’t decline overnight either—

and it’s not going to be easy, but we’re making

progress and have a strong strategy in place.

This is an update on where we’ve been and

a look into the future.

Establishing a Strong Foundation

The first order of business was to make sure we were on
solid footing.

Fishermen tend to like big numbers, whether it’s number of
bonefish caught or the weight of a monster tarpon. So it’s no
surprise that $465 million—the annual economic impact of
the flats fishery in the Keys—made a big splash when the
data were released. This gave guides and anglers a launching
point for touting the importance of the flats fishery, and it
gave us leverage in our conservation and advocacy efforts
because that economic impact is closely tied to the health of
the flats fishery and habitats.

Another important step has been the Fishing Area Mapping
process. Working with many guides and anglers in the Keys,
BTT mapped the spatial dimensions of flats fishing effort,
and overlaid these maps on habitat data. We’ve been
working with Keys guides and anglers to use these maps to
advocate for habitat and fisheries protections. For example,
in response to a proposal to close an area entirely to protect
seagrass habitats, why not make it a pole/troll/paddle zone?
The Fishing Area Maps provide the information we need to
make these recommendations.

The goals of the mapping effort are to ensure that flats

anglers have places to fish in the future by protecting

habitats, reducing user conflicts that impact the fishery, and

using the catch-and-release ethos as a conservation tool.

These data are being applied to numerous ongoing

management plan revisions, including the Florida Keys

National Marine Sanctuary, Everglades National Park, and

Biscayne National Park.

We’ve also worked with guides, anglers, and the Florida Fish

and Wildlife Conservation Commission on improving

regulations. Bonefish and tarpon are now catch and release

(although a tarpon can be kept with a special harvest tag if it

is being submitted for an IGFA World Record), and the

regulations promote proper catch and release handling

practices. And the Florida Keys are now a Special Permit

Management Zone, which has stricter regulations than the

rest of the state.

The

Florida Keys

Initiative

No Small Challenge

D R. A A R O N J. A D A M S

is Director of Operations for

Bonefish & Tarpon Trust

The Florida Keys Initiative is BTT’s approach to a challenge that is four-fold:

1) Figure out what has caused the drastic decline in bonefish in the Florida Keys

2) Figure out a way to fix the problems

3) Restore the bonefish population

4) Keep tabs on and protect the overall flats fishery

Photos by Dan Dow