YETI, a leading manufacturer of premium outdoor gear, based in Austin, Texas, has renewed its support of Bonefish & Tarpon Trust’s conservation efforts as a Gold Corporate Sponsor.
“At YETI, we firmly believe in protecting wild places and our access to them,” said Jake Drees, YETI Fly Fishing Marketing Manager. “We are excited to continue our partnership with the folks at Bonefish & Tarpon Trust who are committed to conserving the wild places that so many of our favorite saltwater species call home.”
YETI was founded by Roy and Ryan Seiders, sportsmen who used their experience in the field and on the water to create a line of quality outdoor products designed with simplicity and durability in mind. Constructed with the same materials used to make whitewater kayaks, YETI coolers are rotational-molded and keep ice longer, with over twice the insulation compared to most ordinary coolers.
A long-time supporter of BTT, YETI was the title sponsor of BTT’s Bonefish and Tarpon Genetics Program. The program, which concluded in 2018, mapped the population structure of bonefish and tarpon in Florida and throughout the Caribbean to determine the extent to which bonefish and tarpon populations in these different locations are related. Analysis of thousands of genetic samples collected by anglers and guides—a single scale from a tarpon and a single fin clip from a bonefish—showed a high level of connectivity among both tarpon and bonefish populations in Florida and the Caribbean, underscoring the need for conservation at local and regional scales.
“We greatly appreciate YETI’s continued support of our conservation mission,” said Jim McDuffie, BTT’s President and CEO. “With YETI as a Gold Sponsor, we completed groundbreaking studies in tarpon and bonefish genetics, and we look forward to what we will accomplish together next to benefit the flats fishery.”
