925 miles of fishing

We have completed three successful tagging trips in the past four months on the Makara. The boat logged over 925 miles of fishing and tagged over 169 dolphin and one wahoo, and caught blue marlin, white marlin, wahoo and bonefish as part of our expanding conservation effort. The data above represents our fishing effort on these trips and tells us not only where we caught fish, but where we did not. With our expanding data collection and access to SST, current, tide and weather conditions, we can know look back and analyze where the fish were present and where they were absent. Our next step is to update the Makara electronics software to automatically record much of our research effort and be able to analyze it in near-real time.

The Google image above details when and where we fished, what we caught and what we saw at sea. We track sightings of frigate and tuna birds, bait balls and marine mammals. Our goal is to understand the complete ecosystem in order to add knowledge and understanding. Conservation works best when based on solid science. With expeditions planned for the Yucatan Straits in June and the Southern Caribbean this Fall, we should add valuable data to help manage these fisheries.

Email us if you want to know more or get involved. We can be reached at tag@mvftag.com. We also have a new tag reporting website at www.mvftag.com. It will be updated soon to allow interactive analysis of where the fish are and are not, based on fishing effort and environmental conditions. It's exciting work. Get involved.