But a healthy tarpon fishery requires effective
management, which in turn requires information
about the tarpon that is currently unavailable.
“You can’t manage a fishery if you don’t know
how the fish are behaving,” he said.
To that end, Mote has implemented a tracking
program using sonic implants and a network of
receivers throughout the Charlotte Harbor area.
These will inform effective management by giving
information about the tarpons’ movement from
inland bays, estuaries and mangrove tunnels to
offshore spawning areas and back, as well as how
they move within Boca Grande Pass and Charlotte
Harbor.
The research will also help Mote Marine
understand how factors in the tarpons’
environment affect behavior.
The development that’s going on in Southwest
Florida changes the natural pattern of freshwater
flow into the estuaries. Their importance to tarpon
stems from its mix of fresh and saltwater, so those
changes can be crucial. Drastic changes in salinity in
a short period of time, caused by land use and how
those changes affect watersheds, causes death or
displacement of numerous organisms.
“The effects of freshwater flow are well known
and well documented,” Adams said. “It’s just a
matter of finding the political will to get people to
pay attention to that.”
Adams said the Caloosahatchee River is a readily
available cautionary tale that illustrates the
importance of healthy estuaries.
Other factors that may have a crucial effect on
tarpon behavior include both sharks and fishing
pressure. The two may have a synergistic effect,
Adams noted. When conducting research on
bonefish in the Bahamas he noticed that the arrival
of sharks often coincided with the presence of
fishing vessels.
Even though it's been swimming around
our waters since prehistoric times, the
Atlantic tarpon remains a bit of a
mystery. It’s not surprising then that a fish with
such a substantial impact on the local economy,
ever since the first one was landed by hook
and line almost 150 years ago, has inspired a
spate of research initiatives. Large projects like
those at Mote Marine Laboratories and FWC
spread out over many states and smaller scale
research like the Wildflower Park project focus
on ecosystems within Charlotte Harbor, but
the goal is the same: understand more about
the tarpon that has become an icon in Boca
Grande.
Most research focuses on the biology and
habits of tarpon and identifying which habitats
are crucial to its success as a species.
Dr. Aaron Adams, adjunct scientist at Mote,
research associate faculty member at the
Florida Institute of Technology and Director of
Operations for the nonprofit Bonefish and
Tarpon Trust, said that the game fishery in the
area goes back to 1885, when the first tarpon
caught by hook and line in Pine Island Sound
was photographed.
“The story of that catch actually made it into
the London Times and other papers around
the world and is credited with beginning what
we now know as the big game fishery,” he said,
referencing research in Randy Wayne Wright’s
“Ultimate Tarpon Book: the Birth of Big Game
Fishing.”
According to Adams, even though efforts to
encourage catch-and-release fishing also began
early, the effects of pre-catch-and-release fishing
culture are still being felt. Tarpon don’t
become sexually mature until the age of 10 and
can live to be 80. As a result, what was going
on in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, before catchand
release became required, is still affecting
the fisheries today.
Despite those changes, the annual economic
impact of tarpon fishing in the Charlotte
Harbor area from resident anglers alone is
$110 million. Alongside the impact of guides,
related industries and tourism generated by
tarpon fishing, local economies have a vested
interest in a healthy tarpon fishery.