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Conservation News
TIPPETS
Initiatives
A Year of Successful Fundraisers
2014 was a year of very successful fundraisers for BTT. In
addition to the Boca Grande, Naples and New York City
fundraising events, we added the inaugural George Hommell Jr.
Florida Keys Habitat Fundraiser in Islamorada and the Evening
With a Legend event in Boston. Including this years 5th
International Bonefish and Tarpon Trust Symposium in November,
the events helped raise record funds for BTT.
The proceeds from the fundraising events are hugely important
in helping BTT reach our programmatic goals. We would like to
thank everyone who organized, sponsored and attended these
events for their generous support. Please visit http://www.btt.org for a
list of 2015 events or to start an event in your city.
Costa’s Project Permit
Through our tagging research, we believe that most permit tend
to be homebodies, but there is evidence that some permit move
greater distances. In April 2014 an angler reported a recaptured
permit near Lake Worth, FL. It traveled over 65 miles north of the
Special Permit Zone where it was originally tagged over two
years prior, grew 2.25 inches and gained 2.5 lbs.
This discovery came on the heels of a BTT permit tagging trip
where contributing scientist Dr. Zack Jud successfully placed the
first ever satellite tags on two Florida Keys permit.
Every bit of data that we gather through Project Permit is vital to
the future of the permit fishery. Although we have made much
progress in the past five years, we still lack information on
fishing effort, harvest, habitat use, migration patterns, age
structure, and growth rates. Please report any tagged fish that
you catch directly to BTT.Florida Keys Initiative
For the second year in a row, scientists, guides, and volunteers
from Bonefish and Tarpon Trust searched for baby bonefish in
the Florida Keys. We are happy to announce that despite finding
no juveniles the prior year, this year we were successful in
locating juvenile bonefish in one location of the Upper Keys.If you find juvenile bonefish, please let us know the location and
date (email: [email protected]). Please do not collect
the juvenile bonefish; a research permit is required.FWC Agrees to Cuda Workshops
In the winter of 2014, representatives from Bonefish and Tarpon
Trust, the Lower Keys Guides Association, Keys Keeper, The
Florida Keys Fishing Guides Association, and the Snook and
Gamefish Foundation attended the FWC Commissioner’s meeting
in Key Largo, FL to express their concern for the declining
number of Great Barracuda in southern Florida.The state of Florida has a bag limit of 100 pounds of barracuda or
two fish per-day and both recreational and commercial fishing
for barracuda is largely under regulated, which has led to
overfishing concerns. The Commissioners agreed that the issue
is worthy of future workshops in Monroe County to asses the
public opinion on the local barracuda population.Photo by Dan Dow
Photo by Dan Dow