FEMAR

Bonefish: www.bonefishresearch.com

Anchor Tag Study to Develop a
Sustainable Bonefish Fishery

Bonefish support a large recreational fishery in south Florida that is a significant component of south Florida's economy. Despite the relevance of south Florida's bonefish fishery, the stock has never been adequately assessed, and bonefish have received little attention from the scientific community. A bonefish conventional anchor tag project was developed to address the status and sustainability of the fishery. The project was conducted in south Florida from 1998 to 2004 to evaluate growth, determine movements, characterize the stock structure, and estimate fishing mortality. A total of 2,725 bonefish were tagged by eighty-five volunteers consisting of professional bonefish guides and avid bonefish anglers. The majority of the tagging effort has taken place in Biscayne Bay and the upper Florida Keys with additional effort north of Miami and in the middle and lower Florida Keys. Recapture results reveal that the majority of the recaptured bonefish have taken place less than 10 miles from the recapture location, however, several bonefish revealed long distance movements of greater than 50 miles. Long distance movements have only occurred with sexually mature fish (>22.5 inches total length) and the timing of the movements overlaps with the spawning season suggesting that the long distance movements may reflect spawning migrations. The length frequency analysis of the bonefish tagged in different areas suggests that the shoreline north of Miami may be the primary recruitment location of bonefish. The results of the tagging project show that the information gained can contribute to the development of a sustainable bonefish fishery. -Michael Larkin

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