The Belize River LodgeBonefish and Tarpon Trust (BTT) Tagging Challenge is an annual event in Belize, where anglers, guides, and scientists fish for bonefish, permit, and Atlantic tarpon for research purposes. Combining fishing and conservation, participants collect genetic samples from the fish they catch, as well as tag the fish with small identification tags, commonly termed ‘dart’ or ‘spaghetti’ tags. Collectively, these two methods provide essential information on fish movement, site fidelity, population connectivity, and population sizes of these iconic sport fish to help guide their management and conservation. This year the 4th Annual Tagging Challenge took place from March 26th to April 1st, and Ph.D. Candidate Jake Brownscombe from Dr. Steven Cooke’s Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Lab participated in the event as a scie
ntist-angler.
The fisheries of coastal Belize are diverse and productive. Interfacing with lush tropical rainforest and towering mangroves, the coastal lagoons and tidal rivers hold Atlantic tarpon, common snook, goliath grouper, and many other species that are targeted by anglers with fly or spinning gear. Further from shore, on the Belize Barrier Reef (the second largest in the world) and mangrove cays, schools of bonefish, permit, and tarpon can be seen moving in an out with the tides.
During the 2015 Tagging Challenge, anglers endured inclement weather conditions, with frequent rainsqualls and high winds, and managed to capture, tag, and sample dozens of tarpon and bonefish, but had no success with the elusive permit. Jake captured and sampled the largest fish of the Challenge, a 44 kg Atlantic tarpon on a 12-weight fly rod. It will be interesting to see how closely related this big tarpon to others in Belize, as well as those in other regions of The Caribbean and Florida.
