This past month, the Dolphinfish Research Program returned to the Tropic Star Lodge (TSL) with the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation to outfit TSL's fleet with more conventional tags and tagging tools as well as to deploy pop-up satellite archival transmitters (PSATs) on large dolphinfish. After 7.5 days of non-stop fishing, including a couple days participating in TSL's 2021 Billfish Tournament, the fleet, as well as our tagging team, were able to tag and release
| |
|  |
Dr. Wessley Merten releases a 41" bull fitted with a satellite tag 35 miles off Pinas Bay, Panama, on November 19th, 2021 Photo: Jessica Harvey
| |
| | |
more than 60 dolphinfish that ranged in size from 14" to 58" fork-length. A total of 12 of those dolphinfish were tagged and released with PSATs that were programmed to remain with the fish for 20, 30, 90, and 180-day deployments. Our tagging effort at TSL began in
| |
 |
TSL Vessels, Captains, and Mates that tagged and released dolphin this past month.
| |
| | |
2018 and, since then, 560 dolphinfish have been tagged and released by over 175 anglers. The primary objective of this work is to quantify the movements of dolphinfish within the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean. A special thanks goes out to the entire TSL staff as well as the captains and mates for their help in making this effort possible! Click here to learn more.
| |
More Recaptures in the Dominican Republic
| |
|  | Two new recoveries occurred in DR this past month. The average movement rate for these fish was 10.06 miles per day toward the Old Bahama Channel. | |
| | |
In our October newsletter, we featured some new recoveries that occurred off the Dominican Republic courtesy of the Sandman fishing team and their tagging effort based out of Punta Cana, DR. Earlier this past month, we received two new recoveries off Puerto Plata, DR. One of those fish, tagged by Sandman, was recovered by the same angler that reported a recovery in early October (crazy!) and the other by an angler fishing out of Gaspar Hernandez, DR. The latter was tagged and released by Captain Robi Birriel aboard his vessel Nuri off Arecibo, PR. This is Captain Birriel's first recovery after tagging 42 fish since he began participating in the program in 2017. Captain Birriel received a Guy Harvey mini-print for generating this recovery and the reporter received a cash award. Congratulations, anglers!
| |
Help Support Our Tagging Program
Shop or Donate Below
| |
With 30,861 dolphinfish tagged since 2002 and our new wahoo tagging campaign to gather data on an iconic yet poorly understood pelagic fish and fishery, our research program has a proven track record in public engagement in compiling scientific data and producing results. A great way to support the work we do is to purchase items in our online store including our new DRP AFTCO fishing face masks or Bahama Heather performance fishing shirts. Get yours today! Click here to support our work.
| |
Giving Tuesday 2021! Click Banner Below
| |
|
We would like to thank the 186 individuals and fishing industry entities and partners for their support of our work in 2021. With one month remaining in 2021, our 501(c)(3), the Beyond Our Shores Foundation (BOSF), created to support and expand the DRP, is beginning our work to raise funds for our 2022 effort. Below are ways you can help support our work in 2022:
| |
|
|
