Made possible by a grant from the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation
Click here for webpage version and click here to download a PDF

New Recoveries off the Dominican Republic

Figure - Conventional dolphinfish recaptures generated by the Sandman Fishing Team. DAL= Days at Liberty

Data collection on highly migratory fish stocks (HMS) is difficult. For dolphinfish, while not officially recognized by regional fishery management bodies as an HMS species, it is no different. To collect data on dolphinfish, for the past two decades, the Dolphinfish Research Program (DRP) has distributed more than 60,000 tags to thousands of anglers throughout the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans to compile basic statistics on distribution, occurrence, movements, and growth. In August 2021, the Sandman Fishing Team reached out to us to get involved. While their fishing team was one of 366 vessels to receive tags from the DRP in 2021, it was the only new tagging vessel to generate eight recoveries through their dedication to tagging over the

Figure: The Sandman Fishing Team has generated 8 new dolphin recaptures over the past two years of participation. Sandman has tagged 122 fish.

past year. Last October, we showcased their efforts in our monthly newsletter (click here for that story), and over the last month, four additional Sandman tagged fish have been recovered. The following summarizes all recoveries:

All occurred within Dominican Republic (DR) waters in the fall
All were reported by DR commercial anglers
7 of 8 recaptures occurred at fish aggregating devices (FADs)
All recovered fish were originally tagged at FADs
Tagged fish in DR waters, on average, grew 2" while at liberty
One tagged off Florida grew 10" in 200 days and moved to DR
Movements were to the northwest, averaging 13.52 miles/day
Sandman's recapture rate is 6.5% (8 of 122 tagged)

Sandman's high recapture rate rivals our top tagging teams (Killin Time II and WamJam) in the Florida Keys, and like in the Keys, is indicative of high fishing pressure but off the north coast of DR. Another factor that could be contributing to the high recapture rate may be due to horizontal compression of the species due to the high number of FADs distributed around DR. Wilson et al. (2020), estimated that 2,500 FADs were active off DR, which is the highest number of FADs present in any Caribbean island nation by fourfold. Is it then coincidental that commercial dolphinfish landings in DR have increased 70% since 2014 during the time period in which FAD use has proliferated? Click here to learn more.

Figure: Annual dolphinfish commercial landings in the Western Central Atlantic Ocean acquired from the FAO for the top three (FR = France; VZ = Venezuela; DR = Dominican Republic) and the 9th (US = United States) commercial harvester.

NY and RI Dolphin Workshop

New Guy Harvey DRP Performance Tee!

The Dolphinfish Research Program (DRP) is thrilled to offer our participants and supporters a performance fishing shirt that highlights an incredible life history attribute of mahi: its growth rate in the wild from juvenile to adult phase. This performance shirt features the DRP logo on the front left chest and a custom back graphic designed by Dr. Guy Harvey for our program. The graphic features a morphologically accurate size progression of a bull dolphinfish from juvenile phase to adult phase. With the participation of thousands of anglers and hundreds of recapture reporters, our tagging program has documented that dolphinfish in the wild can grow up to an 1″ per week and supports our adage, Let ‘Em Go Watch ‘Em Grow. Proceeds from your purchase of this performance fishing shirt go directly to help support and advance research and conservation associated with dolphinfish. To learn more about the amazing growth rate of dolphinfish documented by our tagging program click here.

Support Our 2023 Effort!

If you fish offshore, you likely catch dolphin. You can help support your offshore fishing passion and the conservation and research of one of the top blue water troll

Photo: Dr. Wess Merten releases a 47" bull dolphin equipped with a PSAT. The fish was recaptured at a FAD off DR 56 days later. Pic: Tony Dooley

species in the world by supporting our tagging
program. This year, we distributed a record amount of kits (476) and tags (5,973) and had among the highest amount of vessel participation (132) in our 21-year history. We also deployed 7 satellite tags (9 pending), 12 acoustic tags (3 pending), collected 300+ catch per unit effort trips, and 70 seafood reports. Our work is consistently published in scientific manuscripts and referenced in domestic and international fishery management fora, and we need your support to continue. We also need financial support to meet the rising cost of operations including postage, basic tagging kit supplies and equipment, and staff support to help manage our growing international tagging program. Help us continue and expand in 2023. The ways to financially support our work are provided below. All donations to the Beyond Our Shores Foundation are tax-deductible.

Shop or Donate to Support our

2023 Effort!

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

Year-End Award Sponsors

DRP 2022 Data Metrics

Past Newsletters

Click here for a complete list of 2022 Donors

Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove™
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.

Dolphinfish Research Program, Beyond Our Shores Foundation PO BOX 3506
Newport, RI | 02840 United States

This email was sent to .
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.

Made possible by a grant from the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation

Click here for webpage version and click here to download a PDF

about us | Get Involved | Donate