Made possible by a grant from the Guy Harvey Foundation
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March Satellite Tag Recapture off Puerto Rico

On March 8th, we received our 12th overall satellite tag recapture report and 3rd for dolphinfish tagged off La Parguera, Puerto Rico. The tag recovered on March 8th was attached to a 40.5" female that was caught by a recreational vessel named Contraste during La Parguera's coveted seasonal dolphinfish tournament. The tag was reported to us by Anibal Mercado, an employee of the University of Puerto Rico's Department of Marine Science, and the angler, Joaquin Oliver, kept the tag safe after he discovered it on his fish. Joaquin caught the fish in a school with a bull and two other females. We originally tagged the female, which measured 39" when released, on February 6th with captain Jesus Duran and mate Emmanuel Markham in a location that was only 18 miles away from where it was recovered. We caught and released the female with another 41" female that was also fit with a satellite tag. Both fish were caught in the same school. The tag associated with the 41" female surfaced 40 miles to the east-southeast after remaining with the fish for 17.88 days. This recaptured

fish, along with a third that we tagged and released on February 5th, all remained in the area post-release, a result that we have not previously observed from our tagging work off La Parguera. The 40" bull we tagged on February 5th was released with a Wildlife Computers miniPAT tag which produced an estimated geolocation track. This track (see animation below) showed the bull headed ~42 miles to the east-southeast and returned back to the area after nine days. While our previous geolocation tracks acquired off of southern Puerto Rico showed dolphinfish can linger for a few days, this was our program's first track that showed a fish remained in the area

for more than a week with the recaptured fish revisiting the area after a month. In fact, all previous satellite tag movement records acquired from tagging work off La Parguera (n = 11) provided westward movements with popup locations ranging from 100 to 900 miles to the west, with two fish recaptured at fish aggregating devices (FAD) south of the Dominican Republic. Since 2019, when our program resumed

satellite tracking work south of Puerto Rico, 27% of tags have been recaptured (3 of 11), a recapture rate higher than off Panama in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (11%; 6 of 54). The high recovery rate of large dolphinfish tagged south of Puerto Rico shows that the species is under intense fishing pressure in the northeastern Caribbean Sea. To learn more about our recent satellite tag recovery off Puerto Rico as well as other satellite tag recaptures click here.

Outreach and Education at the New England Saltwater Fishing Show

The New England Saltwater Fishing Show is a prime event to run a table effort about offshore pelagic fisheries for the following reasons: (1) Southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic Bight has a large and seasonally substantial offshore pelagic fishery and mahi is a major component of the catch; (2) wind farms and leases, and the potential move to ropeless trap fishing, inject additional issues that are poised to alter fishing success for pelagics; and (3) environmental effects on pelagic fisheries such as climate change are likely to lead to range expansion for species such as mahi. In early March, we worked tirelessly over two and half days to inform anglers about the importance of collecting data on mahi off southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic Bight. Through a successful raffle effort, we were able to raise funds to help support the deployment of a satellite tag on a qualifying mahi in the region. Congratulations goes out to Ed of Massachusetts for winning the signed Guy Harvey print. A huge thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth to learn more about our research, to participate in our raffle to support our work, and to our sponsors for providing the raffle items.

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Support Our Research in 2025

A special thanks to everyone who has contributed to our tagging program since the beginning of our 2024/2025 fundraising campaign. With your support, we were able to start 2025 strong. Our goal is to distribute 400 kits and 5,000 tags in 2025. While we have an operational budget to begin the year, we were just notified that the price of tags has increased dramatically. Please help us meet the increase in the price of conventional tags, fund our online tagging maps (click here), acquire additional satellite tags to deploy on adult dolphinfish and wahoo in 2025, as well as increase our

tagging kit and education supplies to meet the growing demand for tagging kits. Our tagging program is at the forefront of educating anglers, advancing discussions and actions surrounding conservation of the species, and gathering additional data to help inform data-driven decision making at the state, federal, and international levels. Help the DRP expand in 2025. Click the icons below to shop or donate to support our program.

The Beyond Our Shores Foundation is a federal and Puerto Rico registered 501(c)(3). Examine our federal tax-exempt status and examine our Puerto Rico registration.

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Dolphinfish Research Program, Beyond Our Shores Foundation PO BOX 3506
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Made possible by a grant from the Guy Harvey Foundation

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