Whenever we get a report of the recapture of a tagged fish, the BTT team tends to get a bit giddy. It’s kind of like when your friend returns from a blind date. Who? Where? When? Give us the dirt! In our case, the answers to these questions not only fulfill our thirst for the fishy details, but they provide important scientific data that will help us better understand what makes our beloved species tick.
Recently, we received notification from angler Nick Way about his recapture of a tagged permit in the Atlantic near Lake Worth, FL. Nick reported that his fish, caught on April 30th, 2014, measured 28.25 inches to the fork and weighed in at 17.5 lbs. As always, everyone’s ears perked right up. Ok, so where was it originally tagged? Who tagged it? How much has it grown?
We immediately checked the tag number in our database. As it turns out, this particular permit was originally caught, tagged, and released in Biscayne Bay by Captain Carl Ball on March 26th, 2012. At the time, the fish measured 26 inches to the fork and weighed 15 lbs. For everyone keeping score, the fish grew 2.25 inches and gained 2.5 lbs in 2 years, 1 month, and 4 days, and traveled roughly 65 miles north of where it was originally captured. Truly exciting stuff!
To date, Carl has tagged well over 100 permit for BTT—one of our most prolific permit taggers— and that day he was about to add another to the list. He recalled the day having low humidity, crystal clear blue skies, and seemingly endless visibility on the flats. One of those days that we dream about. Carl and his angler John, who fish together about 6 times per year, were fishing with a live crab on a spinning rod when they caught and tagged this permit. When asked about his participation in Project Permit, Capt. Carl replied, “Hopefully we will all have a much better understanding of these species and be able to protect them for the future. I am glad I am in a position to be able to make a contribution by tagging so many fish. It’s great to be a part of this program.”
Angler John with the tagged permit
Every bit of data from this tag-recapture, and all others, is vital to the future of the permit fishery. Although we have made much progress in the past five years, we still lack information on fishing effort, harvest, habitat use, migration patterns, age structure, and growth rates. We need these data to help inform regulations to ensure that the fishery stays healthy for future generations.Every tag and recapture counts.
Costa’s Project Permit is a cooperative effort between Costa Sunglasses and BTT, and is also generously support by the March Merkin. Its mission is very simple: gather much needed data to help guide management decisions and protect permit fisheries for the future. It sounds easy, but we need your help. Project Permit relies heavily on angler participation, both in tagging fish, and reporting information from recaptured permit sporting tags.
We hope you will consider supporting Costa’s Project Permit in one of the following ways:
Request a permit tagging kit, email bob@bonefishtarpontrust.org
Learn more and donate to Project Permit.
BTT thanks Costa Sunglasses, The March Merkin: Key West Permit Fishing Tournament, numerous other donors, Capt. Carl Ball of AWOL Fishing Charters, Captain Joe Gonzalez of Funny Bone Charters, along with all the other participating anglers and guides for their generous support of this work.
