Thanks to the support of numerous collaborators in Belize, including Yellowdog Fly Fishing, El Pescador Lodge, Belcampo Lodge, Garbutt’s Fishing Lodge, Belize River Lodge, and many independent fishing guides, we are making progress in our efforts to provide the scientific information needed for effective conservation of the Belize flats fishery.
On a recent trip to Belize, we brought the Belize fishery into the new Bonefish Population Genetics Program and the Tarpon Population Genetics Program. After a brief introduction to the programs and some basic instruction, sampling kits were distributed. Fin clips from bonefish and scales from tarpon are already coming in! Given the new energy toward flats fishing conservation in Belize, everyone sees the need for the information from these genetic studies – hopefully the study results will give us a better idea of how the fishery of Belize is linked to fisheries elsewhere, and the extent that fishing locations within Belize are related as well.
The fishing success was due to great guides and very generous weather, with many bonefish, tarpon, and even some permit caught. It was also nice that the El Pescador portion of the visit coincided with the lodge’s 40th anniversary – Congratulations! and Thanks to El Pescador for hosting a great visit.
Time was also spent in the far south of Belize – Punta Gorda – with the fine folks at Belcampo Lodge and Garbutt’s Fishing Lodge. Not only did we chase permit on the flats, we also had a meeting with the flats fishing guides about ongoing and new conservation efforts. It’s refreshing to see the enthusiasm these guides have for the science that they see as essential for creating conservation strategies to conserve their fishery. These guys are quickly increasing the number of tagged permit, which will provide information essential to flats conservation.
The trip ended with a gift from Belize River Lodge – an envelope full of bonefish and tarpon genetic samples and many completed bonefish tagging sheets. Although they would never say so, I am sure that Belize River Lodge is proud of their fantastic bonefish tagging efforts to date.
