LONG-RANGE ANGLERS FISH CLOSED WATERS

LONG-RANGE ANGLERS FISH CLOSED WATERS
Participants in a unique long-range trip in February had a chance to fish a closed marine reserve while contributing significantly to scientists’ understanding of Pacific yellowfin tuna and wahoo and the species’ movements. For 10 days, 14 anglers fished the Revillagigedos Islands off southern Baja aboard the Royal Star out of San Diego, tagging and releasing 339 yellowfin to 260 pounds and 309 wahoo. “The wahoo fishing was phenomenal at Clarion Island and Roca Partida,” says Kurt Schaefer, a fisheries biologist with the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, “better than anyone could have imagined.” He describes the yellowfin fishing as spectacular, as was the whale-watching, with great numbers of humpbacks (which calve there in the spring), often breaching dramatically. The Mexican government, which closed the Revillagigedos in 2002, provided a permit for tag-and-release trips this year and in 2007. Scientists surgically implanted geolocating archival tags in the abdomens of 38 tuna, tagging the rest with “spaghetti tags.” Once recovered, the archival tags allow scientists to recreate specific movements of individual fish during their time at liberty. Two tagging trips are planned for January and February 2007. Though anglers fish 10 days, the total trip lasts 14 days for those flying back from Cabo San Lucas or 17 for those remaining on the Royal Star for the trip back to San Diego. Cost per angler in 2006 was $5,500, including a tax-deductible $1,500 contribution for the purchase of an archival tag. For more information or to reserve a spot.