FWC Fish And Wildlife Research Institute issued the following announcement on Dec. 01.
Research Publication – Permit (Trachinotus falcatus)
Studying fish movements is an essential step to establishing and evaluating fisheries management boundaries. In 2011, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) established a Special Permit Zone (SPZ) in the Florida Keys and Biscayne Bay to reduce harvest of Permit and improve the shallow water flats fishery, while maintaining regulations friendly to the fishery in the remainder of the state where anglers are more harvest oriented.
To determine the extent the SPZ is working as an effective spatial management tool to protect the South Florida sportfish fishery, FWC scientists and our partners with Bonefish & Tarpon Trust studied the movements of the species by dart tagging 1,488 fish and acoustically tagging another 17 with a telemetered tracking device. The results confirmed those of previous research on Permit movements in the SPZ and showed infrequent movement across the border, confirming that the spatial approach to Permit management is appropriate.
Thank you to our friends at the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, Costa Del Mar, and the Lower Keys Guides Association for their continued partnership and making this project possible. Additionally, we would like to thank our top tagging captains Jason Stock, Joe Gonzalez, Carl Ball, Wes Bedell, Mike Holliday, Joe Skrumbellos, and Andrew Bostick for their hard work on this project.
FWC relies on peer-reviewed science for its management; to access this full publication: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-022-01302-z
Original source can be found here.
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