Tropic Star Lodge Dolphinfish Research Update
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44" bull prior to PSAT deployment.
Image: W. Merten
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Last week, the Beyond Our Shores Foundation (BOSF) embarked on our sixth research expedition to Tropic Star Lodge to continue our work in describing the movements, life history patterns, and population dynamics of dolphinfish in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) Ocean. While the frequency of catching dolphinfish was lower than in previous years, our team, which included Bryant Stokes and Jessica Harvey, managed to tag and release 29 dolphinfish in 5.5 days of fishing. Of those 29 fish, 12 were tagged and released with popup satellite tags. In addition, participants in the TSL Annual Billfish Tournament worked to tag and release an additional 25 fish, which brought our week's total to 54 dorado tagged and released for science and conservation. With our effort last week, a total of 63 satellite tags and 1,361 conventional tags have been deployed in the ETP since 2018! A special thanks goes out to Costa Del Mar for their support of several tagging awards during last week's tournament. This work is sponsored by the Guy Harvey Foundation, additional sponsors and supporters of BOSF, and in partnership with Tropic Star Lodge. To read more about our research in the ETP, visit dolphintagging.com/etp.
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Fall Fundraising Continues - Support Our 2025 Effort!
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New Mid-Atlantic Bight Movement to North Atlantic
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Brian Leonard passing the 32" bull
Image: W. Merten
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In late October, a satellite tag associated with a 32" bull tagged and released while fishing aboard Dr. Ike Blakemore's vessel Marlin Gull, with Captain Kenny Midgett as well as mates Chris Whitley and Brian Leonard, surfaced in the North Atlantic Ocean just outside of the Canadian exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the high seas. The tag remained with the bull for 26.25 days; it surfaced only 35 miles from the location of a tag that surfaced on June 1st last summer that was associated with a 36" female. The 36" female was tagged and released aboard Marlin Gull on May 3rd and exhibited a very similar movement as the bull. Upon further investigation of the location where the tag associated with the female surfaced, according to the Global Fishing Watch (GFW) map, apparent foreign pelagic longline (PLL) effort was active in the area. For the bull, apparent PLL was not detected, but vessels may have been in the area that were not transmitting automatic identification system (AIS) data, which is information used by GFW to calculate apparent fishing effort. We suspect that these tags surfaced prematurely due to PLL effort.
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New Wahoo Movement - Mona Island to Southern PR
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48" wahoo carries tag for 20.66 days.
Image: W. Merten
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On November 2nd, the tag associated with a 48" wahoo tagged and released in mid-October off Mona Island surfaced 95 miles away from the deployment site and 30 miles off Ponce, Puerto Rico. Currently, the satellite tag is still transmitting in the Caribbean Sea. Once complete, we will receive a geolocation track, depth, and temperature use for this fish. In 2024, we have deployed five satellite tags on wahoo that ranged in size from 46" to 49" fork-length off Mona Island. Since 2021, our group has deployed 11 satellite tags on wahoo in the Mona Passage. Click here to read more about the preliminary movement data we have compiled from those deployments. We remain committed to continue to expanding our research on this iconic game fish species. To read more about our research to date, visit beyondourshores.org/wahoo.
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Fall Fundraising to
Support 2025 Tagging Effort
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The Beyond Our Shores Foundation (BOSF)
is a 501(c)3 that was founded in 2017 to expand the Dolphinfish Research Program and research on data-deficient pelagic fish and fisheries. Over the past seven years, BOSF has distributed 36,937 tags in thousands of kits to anglers around the world. This level of tag distribution over seven years matches that of the entire first 16 years of the tagging program, which shows both tremendous growth and demand. With tag distribution over two times higher than the past, the annual average of tag deployments and recaptures has also increased. This year, we have logged 1,537 tag deployments and acquired 44 new dolphin recaptures, bringing our program total to 37,127 deployments and 850 recaptures. To date in 2024, BOSF has distributed 578 tagging kits or 5,627 tags to anglers throughout the region in order to increase data collection on dolphinfish, wahoo, and additional species. Help our program continue to expand tag distribution and data collection in 2025. Tax-deductible donations can be made via the links below. Contact us for corporate sponsor information if you would like your company to support our work.
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| | Federal and State Grant Partners
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| | Eastern Tropical Pacific Research Partners
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