Aaron Adams of Mote Marine Laboratory will reveal historic juvenile tarpon tagging research at 3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17, in the Boca Grande Community Center Auditorium.
A lot is riding on this project. Adams pegged the annual value of the recreational tarpon fishery surrounding Gasparilla Island at $110 million annually.
The free presentation will update research done since the Lemon Bay Conservancy and Mote announced their collaborative Juvenile Tarpon Tagging Research Project.
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The first sampling of juvenile tarpon at Wildflower Preserve/Lemon Creek tidal ponds took place Saturday, Sept 22. The project is expected to take two years.
The first sampling of juvenile tarpon at Wildflower Preserve/Lemon Creek tidal ponds took place Saturday, Sept 22. The project is expected to take two years.
"This is the first research program of its kind in the United States documenting, tagging and getting DNA samples for the number of juvenile tarpon that require the tidal ponds as nursery areas in the early formative years," said Jim Cooper, president of the Lemon Bay Conservancy.
JoEllen King, membership administrator at Bonefish & Tarpon Trust and graduate student at the University of Florida, will oversee the tarpon tagging research as part of her pursuit of a master's degree.
Fact Box
To Go
Who: Aaron Adams of Mote Marine Laboratory
What: historic juvenile tarpon tagging research presentation
When: 3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17
Where: Boca Grande Community Center Auditorium
Why: The annual value of the recreational tarpon fishery surrounding Gasparilla Island is estimated at $110 million annually
Costs: free and open to the public
"She helped, along with many other volunteers, to ensure the entire process worked well from spreading the net and bringing it in to trapping the tarpon and safely getting them from the net and into the cooler (with a few frisky ones jumping out) and to document each one," Cooper said.
Adams took fin DNA samples and inserted tracking tags for those large enough to tag, and then released them back into the Wildflower Preserve tidal pond nursery. An antenna ping tagged juvenile tarpon to help establish numbers and movements.
"We will provide the first data on the effects of juvenile tarpon habitat restoration on juvenile tarpon," Adams said. ??
Of the $120,000 needed to support the monitoring and tagging program, $64,000 has already been committed, said Cooper.
"The goal is gradually improving the tarpon habitat in the three Lemon Creek saltwater ponds," Cooper said.
The tag antenna was placed at the Lemon Bay Golf Club, which was chosen by Adams, senior scientist at Mote Marine Laboratory and director of operations for Bonefish & Tarpon Trust; King; Bill Dahms, LBGC board member; and LBGC General Manager Chip Copeman. ??
The Charlotte Harbor estuary has been the envy of the world in terms of silver king fisheries ever since Ding Darling landed the first tarpon in 1885, Adams said. But boat traffic and habitat encroachment continues to pressure the game fish.
