Tag-A-Giant Releases Foundation Results of 2011 Atlantic Bluefin Tagging Campaign

Tag-A-Giant Satellite Tagging Update

Gulf of St. Lawrence, Nova Scotia, Canada:  September 2011 – December 2011

* Funding for this research was provided in part by the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation

Atlantic and Pacific bluefin tuna are quickly disappearing due to high demand for sushi. Due to the very real possibility of Atlantic bluefin becoming commercially extinct, a dedicated group of scientists and recreational fishermen founded Tag-A-Giant (TAG) in 2006. Their mission: to support scientific research, policy and conservation initiatives that promote a sustainable future for bluefin tuna.

Since 1994, the Tag-A-Giant research program of Stanford University has been building the necessary knowledge to maintain bluefin tuna in captivity and sustain healthy populations of wild fish. The team has pioneered electronic tagging of marine fish species across the globe. TAG scientists have tagged nearly 1,800 northern bluefin tuna in both ocean basins, allowing them to follow the bluefins’ wide-ranging journeys across the oceans.

This fall marked Tag-A-Giant’s sixth tagging season in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL).  Due to the need to track fish to the Gulf of Mexico spawning ground to assess distribution and behavior in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, it was also the most important.  And with forty-three giant bluefin tuna tagged, we’re thrilled to report that the 2011 tagging campaign in Canada was also our most successful. A few of the tags have reported early, but the majority of tags are on schedule.

Deployment Summary:

• 20 Atlantic bluefin tuna were released with mini-PAT tags
• 11 Atlantic bluefin tuna were released with MK10-PAT tags
• 6 of these fish were double-tagged with MK10-PAT and mini-PAT tags
• 21 Atlantic bluefin tuna were released with Vemco V16 acoustic tags
• Tagged fish ranged in size from 175-299 cm CFL
• DNA samples were taken from all tagged fish, and DNA were taken opportunistically at the docks from fish landed by commercial fishermen.
• The tagging was conducted during 18.5 fishing days between 23 September and 2 November 2011.
• 2 to 6 vessels fished per day, with one of the vessels serving as the tagging vessel, and the others transferring fish to the tagging vessel.

Australian Big Game Fishing Magazine “Bluewater” Recounts Inside Story of Guy Harvey Book

The following article appeared in Bluewater magazine, an Australia-based publication that many regard as the best gamefishing magazine in the world. The article is written b y Julian Pepperell, a marine biologist who is a leading authority on marlin, sailfish, tuna, and sharks. Julian authored the book Fishes of the Open Ocean, which was illustrated by Guy.

Fishes of the Open Ocean: The inside story

The idea for a book on the pelagic fish of the world came about many years ago. In giving talks at numerous fishing clubs and spending countless hours on board game fishing boats around the world, it became clear to me that anglers have an unquenchable thirst for information on these fabulous fishes and the world in which they dwell. No existing book covered this topic, and having spent a fair chunk of my life studying and reading about these fish, I figured it couldn’t be that hard to produce a book that would help to satisfy at least some of this curiosity.

The early, modest plan was to write a field guide to the marine gamefish of the Pacific – a typical ‘fish book’ with a paragraph or two on each species of fish and some notes on how to identify them. Of course, these things have a way of growing, so pretty soon, the plan was to encompass all of the marine gamefish of the world, and then – heck, why not add in all those other fish species that make up the ecosystem of the surface of the open ocean? Sure, why not? And so, the working title, Fishes of the Open Ocean was born.

It is one thing to dream up an idea for a book, but entirely another to convince a publisher that this will be a viable project. That quest took two full years, but with the well respected UNSW Press deciding to go ahead with the idea, the task had finally begun. From that moment, every research cruise, every fishing trip, every visit to a fish market in an exotic location and every conference I attended added to my store of information and ideas for the book. And it wasn’t as if this obsession was over a short time period either. From go to whoa, seven years elapsed between signing the contract on the dotted line and holding the 3.3 lb. tome in my hot little hands.

Many things happened during that time that made this a very different (and I hope, better) book to what might have been written in the first few years of the project. One of these was the explosion in knowledge about many pelagic fish that has taken place since the late 1990s, thanks to the advent of data-storing and popup satellite tags. Hundreds of tuna and billfishes were being tagged all over the world with these mini computers, and the results were rapidly rewriting what we know, not only about their migrations but also about their behaviour, including their amazing abilities to dive to depths never before thought possible. Happily, much of this information is now incorporated into the book.

“Over 90,000 words packed into 266 pages, covering 170 species of fish, copiously illustrated with Guy Harvey’s masterful paintings”

The other fortuitous event that changed the way the book would appear visually was one of those rare but happy coincidences that, well, just happen. I was on a trip to the Great Barrier Reef to tag black marlin with popup satellite tags (yes, I know, it’s a hard job, but someone has to do it) and sharing the mothership was none other than Guy Harvey, filming for one of his excellent television series. Guy and I had known each other since the mid-1980s (not many know that Guy has a Ph.D in marine science), and one evening, over a few drinks, we got to talking about my book. Guy listened to my outline of the contents, looked at some material on my trusty laptop computer, thought for a while, and said “how would you like me to paint all of the fish species especially for the book?” It also happened that Guy’s good friend, diver, photographer, raconteur and now, fellow Bluewater columnist, Bill Boyce, was accompanying him on the trip. Bill’s underwater photos of billfish, tuna and sharks are legendary, so when he also offered to help with his images, I could only pour another round of drinks and raise a glass to both of them. (It would be remiss of me not to mention marine artist Craig Smith here. Craig helped enormously by providing much conceptual artwork to help  ‘sell’ the book to potential publishers, and for that, I am very grateful).

And so it happened, with Guy’s usual dedication to all projects he undertakes, that he did indeed complete this herculean task, producing 125 beautiful paintings that grace the pages of the book – classic lateral views of each species, and all done with an eye for detail of the natural colours and characteristics of each. Guy also supplied many of his beautiful panoramic action paintings of billfish which are used throughout, and Bill Boyce, true to his word, sent his best photos, one of which was chosen as the cover for the book.

The writing of a book doesn’t end with sending off the manuscript to the publisher and then sitting back and waiting for it to appear in bookshops. The work was reviewed by at least six international scientists, then edited in exquisite detail by a copy editor before heading for the design phase. This is where the ‘look of the book’ takes shape, a process in which I was able to take part, and in so doing, realised how much work is involved in that important part of production.

The end result of all those years of fun, hard work and roller coaster rides is a book of which I don’t mind saying I am very proud. Over 90,000 words packed into 266 pages, covering 170 species of fish, copiously illustrated with Guy Harvey’s masterful paintings and enhanced by hundreds of some of the best underwater photos of the fish in their environment. How could I not be pleased?

But what I am especially thrilled about is the way that the book has been embraced by the game fishing community. Because, while the book is aimed at a general audience of those who might be interested in the marine world, it was especially written for all of you anglers out there, constantly wondering about and enthralled with the reason you all go out to sea in the first place. The fabulous Fishes of the Open Ocean. Which seems a good cue to quote from the opening chapter of the book:

“The fishes of the open ocean depicted and described in these pages include the largest fishes on the planet – the whale shark, the basking shark and the manta ray. They also include the largest bony fishes in the world – the oceanic sunfish, the blue marlin, the black marlin and the Atlantic bluefin tuna. Some species, such as the streamlined wahoo and the sailfish, swim faster than any others while several of the billfishes and tunas and sharks make regular trans-oceanic, or even inter ocean journeys. Some of these fishes, such as the skipjack tuna, are among the most prolific fish species on earth, supporting huge commercial fisheries that supply millions of people with affordable protein. The fishes of the open ocean are indeed superlative in many ways. Welcome to their world.”

I’m pleased to say that the book has proven to be a success already. It won the presigious ‘Whitley Award’ for the best book on Natural History published in 2010, and was shortlisted for the Queensland Premiers’ Literary Awards in the category of ‘Science Writing’. The first edition hard cover sold out quickly (although you might be lucky and still be able to find a copy on the shelves of a bookshop here and there) and as a result, a second, slightly revised edition is now available. This has a softer cover, and is ideal as a reference on board game boats, alongside all those well-thumbed copies of Bluewater magazine.

There are also two very special Limited Editions of the book available. Both are hand-bound in 100% genuine calf leather, with special bound-in book plates numbered and personally signed by myself and Guy Harvey. The standard Limited Edition is limited to 250 copies. The Premium Limited Edition includes two hand painted tuna by Guy Harvey on the bookplate, and is limited to just 50 copies. And because Guy has varied the species depicted, and their positions on the page, each of the 50 copies of the Premium Edition is completely unique!

All editions of Fishes of the Open Ocean are available from Guy Harvey Art.

Tagged yellowfin recaptured after 11 years

From the Post & Courier (Charleston, SC) – Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012

The recent reporting of the recovery of a tagged yellowfin tuna comes as a surprise to fisheries biologists.

The tag, sent from the National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries in Shizuoka, Japan, was just received by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources‘ (DNR) Marine Resources Division.

The tagged fish measured about 68 inches, weighed approximately 189 pounds, and was captured on May 26, 2010 off the west coast of Africa off Mauritania.

The fish was initially tagged by a volunteer angler participating in the Marine Division’s game fish tagging program on April 20, 2001, just south of Cat Island in the Bahamas. At the time of tagging, the juvenile yellowfin was just shy of 15 pounds.

This is the first recapture of a yellowfin tuna in the history of the program, which began in 1974.

“What makes this recovery exciting,” said Robert Wiggers, a DNR fisheries biologist who administers the tagging program, “is that 151 yellowfin have been tagged and released by volunteers, but none have been recovered until now.

This fish was at large for nine years, packed on about 174 pounds and was recaptured close to 4,000 miles from where it was initially tagged.”

As evident from this tag recovery, Atlantic yellowfin tuna are a highly migratory species and thus are a target species for both domestic and international fisheries. This fact should be of interest to recreational anglers when considering the impacts on the overall population of such fisheries.

Guy Harvey to Appear August 23rd & 24th at Mid-Atlantic $500,000 Tourney in Cape May, NJ

It’s party time! Tournament week has arrived and we’re going to celebrate!  Back in 1992 the Mid-Atlantic $500,000 debuted and out of the gate became the world’s first million-dollar marlin tournament.  Today, as the event begins a week-long celebration of its 20^th anniversary, it continues to be, boat for boat, the richest marlin and tuna tournament in the world!  A lot of planning and preparation has taken place over the past year and numerous special events are scheduled for tournament participants this week.

Boats began arriving as early as mid-week last week at Canyon Club Resort Marina in Cape May, New Jersey and Sunset Marina in Ocean City, Maryland, the event’s host marinas.  While some crews spent the past few days readying tackle, others used the time to pre-fish the waters off the south Jersey coast and they weren’t disappointed with what they saw.  A tuna bite saw several big eyes of over 200 pounds caught and the billfish also bit in numbers as blue marlin and white marlin flags were flying daily at both marinas.  All this bodes well for tournament participants who have gathered to battle for a share of the cash purse that’s expected to top $1.5 million!

Tournament registration begins at 1 p.m. today where last minute sign-ups and calcutta entries will take place.  The captains meeting and cocktail party is set for 4:30 p.m. when rules will be explained and committee boats assigned.  Fishing begins tomorrow morning and continues through Friday.  Participants will select three of the next five days to fish the canyons offshore and although Ocean City, Maryland is the event’s official satellite port, all boats must fish within 125 miles of the Cape May Sea Buoy regardless of their sailing inlet.  Boats may not clear their respective sea buoy prior to 4:30 a.m. each day and fishing begins at 8:30 a.m.  “Lines Out” is set for 3:30 p.m.  All fish to be weighed must be at the scales of either marina by 9 p.m.

With a field of at least 125 boats tournament cash proceeds of $500,000 is assured.  The three heaviest white marlin and blue marlin are each worth $100,000, $50,000 and $25,000 respectively while the three heaviest tuna are worth $75,000, $35,000 and $20,000.  The heaviest wahoo and dolphin (mahi mahi) each win $10,000.  Optional calcutta entries, which are sanctioned by the tournament, will add considerable cash to the purse.  Minimum weight for a white marlin to qualify is 65 pounds and a blue marlin must weigh at least 400 pounds.  Any tuna, including big eye, yellowfin or longfin, must weigh at least 50 pounds.  Points are awarded for billfish releases and tournament artwork by marine artist Guy Harvey is awarded to the top three point winners.

The Guy Harvey-wrapped counter at South Jersey Marina.

Remember, August is officially “Guy Harvey Month” at South Jersey Marina and Guy’s latest artwork and merchandise will be on display and available for purchase.  Also, in addition to his exclusive, private appearances at the Mid-Atlantic $500,000, Guy will be available for a rare public northeast signing session at the South Jersey Marina Ship’s Store on August 23 and August 24 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.  The public is cordially invited to meet Guy personally and have him sign his artwork, t-shirt or other items baring his art.  The Ship’s Store at South Jersey Marina is located at 1231 Rt. 109, Cape May.

Please note aside from the Guy Harvey signing sessions at South Jersey Marina mentioned above, the Mid-Atlantic $500,000 is a private event and not open to the general public.  Tournament credentials are required for access to any tournament activities and facilities.

We will provide nightly updates shortly after the scales close at 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday via e-mail.  A complete tournament wrap-up will be sent out via e-mail by 11 a.m. Saturday.  For further information on the tournament or the Guy Harvey public appearances, please contact South Jersey Marina at 609-884-2400 or visit the tournament’s official web site at www.MA500.com where you’ll find the latest information including photos, standings and a link to purchase official tournament apparel.

Marine Conservation News: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

There has been a lot of news in the realm of marine conservation over the past couple of weeks – some good, some bad, and some downright ugly! Here are some of the more interesting:

The Good:

Longlining Outlawed in Panama – Terry Andrews of famed Tropic Star Lodge in Pinas Bay, Panama is reporting that Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli has signed Executive Decree 486, which immediately prohibits all forms of commercial and industrial longlining in all of Panama’s jurisdictional waters! Fishing boats of 6 tons are less will still be allowed to longline, but only with a strict license and only in designated areas. For more information about Tropic Star Lodge and big game fishing in Panama, read Guy’s latest book, Panama Paradise: A Tribute to Tropic Star Lodge.

PHOTO ALBUM: Click here to see Panama’s marlin in action during the 10th Annual Tropic Star Lodge Tournament

Shark Conservation Act Signed into Law – this is great news that seems to have received very little coverage. On January 4th, President Obama officially signed the SCA into law. The law closes a loophole which allowed U.S. flagged vessels to buy shark fins on the open sea for the purpose of reselling them in U.S. markets for a rich profit (the act of shark finning has been outlawed in U.S. waters since 2000). The SCA also allows for sanctions to be out on other nations whose own shark fishing regulations are not consistent with those of the U.S.

The Bad:

Tuna Fetches Record Price – A 754-pound pacific bluefin tuna caught off the northern coast of Japan sold for a record price of almost $396,000 (U.S.) in a Tokyo seafood market in early January. That works out to around $526 per pound! This is very bad news for a species whose stocks are already severely depleted by commercial fishermen who are trying to meet the overwhelming demand worldwide for sushi. With prices like this, will we see more fishing fleets going after pacific and atlantic bluefins? Let’s hope not…

The Ugly:

Gordon Ramsay Attacked by Gang? – Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay claims to have been doused in gasoline and held at gunpoint during two different incidents in Costa Rica while trying to document Taiwanese gangs that engage in the illegal shark fin trade. Ramsay said he witnessed thousands of fins drying out at gang hideouts, and later saw a bag of fins tied to the keel of one of the gang’s fishing boats.

GHOF Helps to Fund the Tag-A-Giant Foundation

One of the many worthwhile projects that the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation has supported is the Tag-A-Giant Foundation, which is an ongoing effort to tag bluefin tuna “to learn more about their migrations, behavior, and environmental preferences” in order to “promote a sustainable future” for the species. 

Bluefin stocks have been under incredible pressure from commerical fishing for some time, and now the bluefin’s breeding grounds in the Gulf of Mexico are potentially theatened by the BP oil spill. Continuing to study, track and report on this great fish is as crucial now as ever, so the funding of the TAG project is a priorty.

Dr. Barbara Block, one of the principals in the TAG Foundation, recently sent us an update from a tagging session off the coast of Nova Scotia –

“The team has tagged over 20 large giants – many in the 1,000 lb. range – off Port Hood, Nova Scotia. The fish were outfitted with the Mk 10 Pop Up Satellite Tags, carefully positioned for a journey that might take these great fish to their natal spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico. One of these giants measured over 3 meters! A tuna that big is likely 1,300 lbs or more! That’s a smart bluefin. It has survived a lot of decisions, migrations, humans, and probably a few white shark and orca encounters, I suspect.”

For more incredible photos of the giant Atlantic bluefins, visit the “Portraits of the Deep” photo album on Facebook.

Cheers!

An Abundance of Fish

“You should have been here last week – the fishing was phenomenal. We landed almost forty blacks and blues!”

By speaking those simple words, I was sure the boat captain had just cursed our fishing trip. Any angler worth their salt knows that “You should have been here last week” really means, “Sorry, nothing’s biting right now.”

This can’t be, I thought, I have guests with me – and I promised them lots of fish! Then, just as I began to contemplate the possibility that our fishing expedition might not actually involve fish, I remembered where I was – Tropic Star Lodge in Panama, a sport fisherman’s paradise and home to what is perhaps the finest – and most reliable – marlin fishing anywhere in the world.

Don’t worry, I quietly reassured myself, there will be fish, lots and lots of fish. After all, how could we miss out in a country whose name literally means “an abundance of fish”?

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Our trip to Panama began to take shape in October 2009, when friends Jim and Connie Elek won an auction at the annual Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation fundraiser. The prize – a fishing expedition to the legendary Tropic Star Lodge, home to more big game fishing records than any other place in the world. I have been to TSL over 40 times in the past twenty years, and I couldn’t wait to take Jim and Connie along with me on my next trip.

We planned our fishing expedition for early August to take advantage of the dark moon phase. Though it is usually rainy in Panama that time of year, we knew that August and September have traditionally been good months for hooking up big marlin, so we decided to hedge our bets on the hope that the consistent fishing of years past would win out over the rainy weather.

On our first day of fishing, we teamed up with Captain Alberto and mate Donald aboard the “Tropic Star”, one of TSL’s fifteen customized Bertram 31s. As expected this time of year, it rained most of the day and the marlin weren’t biting. However, we still managed to raise six beautiful sailfish, hooking four of them, but we didn’t get any to the boat. We also ran into some hefty dorados, but they eluded capture as well. By the end of the first day, it was Rain 1, Team Elek 0!

Ever the optimist, Connie was the first one to the dock on Day 2. Her indomitable spirit created a positive vibe among the rest of the group and set the tone for the day – even the rain left us as we departed the dock and headed to the deep waters of the Pacific. With the sun now shining, Captain Alberto soon found the bait schools on the drop off. We immediately set the baits in the water and had our first strike in less than two minutes.

In a blast of early morning spray, a 300-pound black marlin bit on the left rigger bonito and began to dance! Connie raced to the chair as the marlin went airborne time and time again, making at least twenty jumps before mate Donald grabbed the leader. Donald wired the marlin while I placed a PSAT tag in its right shoulder, which sent the great fish into another round of frenzied jumping.  Finally, Donald was able to cut the leader close to the hook, and the black quickly swam away with one of Dr. Michael Domeier’s expensive tracking tags firmly attached.

After releasing Connie’s first ever marlin catch, we stayed in the area a little while longer and witnessed another black feeding on bait, but Connie’s catch was to be the only one of the day. Several other boats did well, though, catching three blacks and six blue marlin.

Day 3 began with more rain. After a couple of days fishing with the Eleks, I switched boats and fished with Jay Perez, a member of the Guy Harvey Inc. team, and his wife Dana, who were fishing on the “South Africa” with Captain Gilberto and mate Vicente. We decided to head back to the drop off where Connie landed her 300-pound black the day before. Sure enough, we found bait schools in abundance, so we set our live bait out right away.

In a scene reminiscent of the morning before, we waited only a couple of minutes before the first strike on the rigger bait. The site of the big marlin closing in sent the small bonito into a panicked jump as it tried to elude the massive attacker. It was another black, though this one was in the 500-pound range, much larger than the catch from the previous day. The huge marlin turned to catch the fleeing bonito and, with its dorsal fin and tail out of the water, violently crashed into the bait fish and swallowed it whole.

Dana was hooked up to a beast! She fought the black in heavy rain, which fell from a pink and purple sky that was illuminated by occasional streaks of lightening – a very surreal setting for the coming battle! After a long fight, the fish neared the boat and made several dramatic leaps into the air right in front of us. The struggle between fish and angler raged on for some time, and I thought the great black had finally tired out. However, as we positioned ourselves to bring the catch alongside the boat for tagging, she surprised us by diving deep and fighting hard to stay down. After 240 minutes, the line parted and the fish was gone…

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The big game action continued over the next couple of days, with the crew landing several large blues and blacks as well as a couple of sailfish. Then, just as the marlin fishing slowed a bit, one of the other TSL boats radioed that the tuna bite was happening a few miles west of our position. Captain Gilberto pointed the bow of the “South Africa” due west and had us on site in minutes.

We arrived to see the tuna and a pod of spotted dolphins working a large school of green jacks and rainbow chubs. I quickly threw out a 5-pound bonito, and just as I was placing the line in the clip a giant tuna attacked the baitfish and ripped the line out of my fingers. My daughter Jessica grabbed the rod and jumped into the chair. The fight was on!

Jessica worked hard on the fish, but the meager 50# line did not allow her to put much heat on the reel, making the battle last longer than it should have. However, after a ninety-minute fight, she got the tuna to the boat and Vicente grabbed the leader. The giant fish thrashed in the water, scattering the school of rainbow chubs that had been seeking shelter under the boat. Captain Gilberto and I both gaffed the fish, and it took four of us to lift it into the boat! We knew then that we had a keeper, so we decided to call it a day and make the 30-mile trek back to the lodge. At the dock, the yellowfin weighed in at 230-pounds, making it the heaviest of its kind to be landed at TSL so far this year.

(NOTE: On the previous day, junior angler Kyle Vincent landed a potential boy’s Junior IGFA yellowfin record with a 198-pound catch. Jessica still has the girl’s Junior IGFA yellowfin tuna record – also 198-pounds – caught on February 28, 2001 at Hannibal Bank near Coiba Island, Panama).

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The trip concluded with another strong day of fishing, which saw our boat land several more marlin, including a large blue that attacked an unused bonito that was tied off to an outrigger leg right next to the boat, and a 600-pound black that managed to wrap the leader around its bill as it went for a bonito, leaving the bait fish flying behind the marlin’s head! Just another routine day at TSL!

As it turned out, our trip wasn’t cursed. In fact, our week of fishing was every bit as good as the week before, and very likely as good as the week before that and the week before that. After all, we were in Panama, where there is always an abundance of fish.

Until next time – tight lines, good luck and, above all, fish and dive responsibly!

“GHOF Expedition: Panama 2010” Photo Album

* For more great fishing stories from Tropic Star Lodge, order a copy of my new book, “Panama Paradise: A Tribute to Tropic Star Lodge“.

Acknowledgements: Special thanks to Tropic Star Lodge for donating this trip as an auction item for last year’s 2^nd Annual Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation Fundraiser. TSL is kindly donating another trip for auction at this year’s fundraiser, which will be held on October 27, 2010. Many thanks as well to Connie and Jim Elek for their support of the GHOF. The Eleks will be on hand at the fundraiser to tell about their TSL experience.

Cheers!