Research Finds More than 50 Fish Species in Gulf Rely on Decommissioned Rigs
Species include fish that are key to fisheries economy
from The Fishing Wire

Divers capture a school of amberjack and red snapper above MI-A-7, a cut-off oil and gas platform located approximately 50 miles east of Port Aransas, Texas.(Credit: Dr. Matt Ajemian)

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Early research from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi’s artificial reefs monitoring program shows that decommissioned oil and gas structures converted to artificial reefs are supporting a high abundance and diverse fish assemblages within the Gulf of Mexico.

The new data from the western Gulf shows a high abundance of red snapper living around these structures for years at a time. Researchers in the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi say 52 fish species from 18 families have been identified at 13 surveyed sites near Port O’Connor, Port Aransas, and Port Mansfield, Texas (http://tamucc.edu/news/2013/10/images/artreef_allsitemap.jpg).

“There’s a lot of evidence that the red snapper populations we see today wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have all of these converted oil and gas platforms,” said Dr. Greg Stunz, Director of the Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation. “Red snapper is the most economically important fish in the Gulf of Mexico.”

Stunz, who is the Principal Investigator for a recently awarded grant, says that in addition to supporting a variety of fish populations, artificial reefs lure commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, and divers; benefiting many Gulf Coast economies.

Schools of gray and red snapper congregate around the deck of a toppled oil and gas platform. This is a structure located 70 miles southeast of Port Aransas. (Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute).

This new evidence is the reason the HRI’s newly-formed Center for Sportish Science and Conservation was recently awarded $600,000 by Texas Parks and Wildlife and $50,000 from the Fondren Foundation to expand their studies on artificial reefs. Researchers will monitor sites around the western Gulf and log the amount and types of marine life that create homes around the reefs. They will use these data to determine how to sustain these new “fish homes” including finding what characteristics are best suited to become habitats for each type of fish and to find the long-term effects of keeping rigs in the Gulf after they stop functioning.

“There are about 4,000 of these rigs in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Stunz. “About 75 percent of those will be gone in the next 20 years, so we are very concerned that we get these rigs into reef programs so that they continue producing fish.”

Data collected as part of the HRI’s “South Texas Artificial Reef Monitoring – Fish Community Assessment along the Coastal Bend” grant over the next four years will help maximize the benefits from artificial reef structures and assist scientists in better understanding how to continue sustaining fisheries for generations to come.

A scientist removes large red snapper captured from vertical longline gear set on an artificial reef, and collects tissue samples from the red snapper.

“Up until now, there has been very little evidence for what’s happening on artificial reefs on this side of the Gulf,” said Dr. Matt Ajemian, Assistant Research Scientist and Co-Principal Investigator. “One of our major upcoming projects will be to set up an array of acoustic receivers at different artificial reefs and track fish movements among them to determine the types of reefs these animals prefer to live on.”

The “South Texas Artificial Reef Monitoring” program works to enhance the effectiveness of current conservation and management initiatives in Texas, which has one of the largest rigs-to-reef programs, and throughout the Gulf of Mexico. The project is also set to serve as an educational tool, providing research experience for students at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

About the HRI: The Harte Research Institute, an endowed research component of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, is dedicated to advancing the long-term sustainable use and conservation of the Gulf of Mexico. Expertise at the Harte Research Institute (HRI) includes the consequences and long-term effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Harte Research Institute is made possible by an endowment from the Ed Harte family. For more information, go to http://www.harteresearchinstitute.org/.

About Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi: Offering more than 60 of the most popular degree programs in the state, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi has proudly provided a solid academic reputation, renowned faculty, and highly-rated degree programs since 1947. The Island University has earned its spot as a premier doctoral-granting institution, supporting two research institutes and 10 research centers and labs. Discover your island at www.tamucc.edu.

Suspected Rockfish Poachers Indicted After Two-Year Investigation

by kking
Maryland Natural Resources Department
from The Fishing Wire

AV Sandusky pulls up a massive, old gill net found at Bloody Point from the poaching operation.

Conservationists, watermen and anglers are applauding efforts by the Maryland Natural Resources Police and its federal law enforcement partners in obtaining indictments of four Talbot County watermen accused of running a striped bass poaching ring that spanned four years and was worth nearly a half million dollars on the wholesale market.

The 26-count indictment handed down Thursday provides the link between the actions of the four men and the discovery of illegal gill nets filled with fish found off Kent Island in February 2011. The incident triggered a massive police enforcement effort, generated a series of tough laws from the General Assembly and closed the commercial striped bass season three weeks early to prevent overfishing.

“Marylanders can be proud of these officers, whose hard work, long nights and nonstop investigative efforts have paid off,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “Poachers steal from honest anglers, watermen, and all of us who responsibly enjoy our State’s natural riches and respect the livelihoods of the hardworking men and women who rely on this fishery.”

The indictments by a federal grand jury in Baltimore came after a more than two-year joint investigation by NRP officers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Justice Department, who painstakingly shifted through thousands of documents and reports to construct a paper trail of the crimes.

“We hope that Maryland citizens are beginning to realize that these are crimes against the State,” said Tony Friedrich, executive director of Coastal Conservation Association Maryland. “All of our best science is based on reliable catch reports. By falsifying data and poaching Maryland’s State fish, they are not only putting the entire stock at risk but making a mockery of our combined efforts to conserve the striped bass population.”

Beginning in January 2007, Michael D. Hayden, Jr. and William J. Lednum, both of Tilghman Island, and unnamed others conspired to overharvest striped bass and falsify records submitted to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Their illegal catch was sold to wholesalers in Maryland, New York, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

In addition, the grand jury found that in 2011, Hayden, Lednum and two other watermen – Kent Sadler, of Tilghman Island, and Lawrence “Daniel” Murphy, of St. Michaels – attempted to catch about 20,000 pounds of striped bass before the start of the 2011 commercial season using gill nets illegally set and left unattended in the Chesapeake Bay.

Hayden also was indicted on one count of witness retaliation and two counts of witness tampering in connection with the grand jury probe.

Billy Rice, chairman of the Tidal Fisheries Advisory Commission, expressed his gratitude on behalf of the commercial fishing industry for law enforcement efforts.

Officers discover illegal attempts to harvest fish using a gill net as part of this poaching ring.

“Poaching does not reflect a majority of our industry,” Rice said. “It hurts our livelihood and our image. We hope these indictments send a strong message.”

Bill Goldsborough, chairman of the Sport Fisheries Advisory Commission, praised the State and federal partnership that led to the indictments.

“Egregious fishing violations are major challenges for fisheries management,” said Goldsborough, also a senior scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. “Effective enforcement like this is essential to healthy fisheries.”

As part of any sentence should the watermen be convicted, the federal government will seek to seize Hayden’s 38-foot work boat, his 2009 pick-up truck and all his fishing gear and Lednum’s 46-foot work boat and his fishing gear.

If these watermen are found guilty they could permanently lose their Maryland commercial fishing privileges.

As part of its continued effort to better protect Maryland’s public fishery, DNR most recently introduced the Maritime Law Enforcement Information Network – MLEIN, a network of radar units and cameras that scans the Chesapeake Bay for law breakers.

BTT Bonefish Tagging Efforts Expand to South Andros

by Zack Jud
Bonefish & Tarpon Trust
from The Fishing Wire

Last month, Bonefish and Tarpon Trust’s Bahamas Initiative waded into the fabled waters of South Andros. While a handful of bonefish had previously been tagged by guides in South Andros, this was the first large-scale tagging effort on the island. As most anglers probably know, catching a tagged bonefish (or any tagged fish for that matter!) is a once in a lifetime experience. From a research perspective, the more fish we have tagged in a given locale, the more likely we are to get valuable data from recaptures – data that we will use to identify growth rates, movement patterns, habitat use, and overall health of the area’s bonefish population.

Despite a lingering cold front and 25 knot winds, the BTT-led research team managed to tag more than 650 bonefish in four long days on the water. To even their odds in the face of ugly weather, the team reluctantly set down their fly rods (well, for the most part), and instead relied on a 250′ long soft mesh seine net to capture bonefish for tagging. Working closely with guides from Deneki’s Andros South Lodge, the researchers used the net to quietly encircle large, and oftentimes fast-moving, schools of bonefish. Unfortunately, herding bonefish into a net is a bit like herding cats…they rarely go where you want them to. All too often, a school will make a last-minute U-turn, slipping right back out of the closing net. To put the odds in their favor, the BTT team asked the guides to try to find the largest schools of bonefish possible, figuring that with enough fish in the water, they’d be bound to get a few to swim into the net. Well, the guides clearly know their fishery intimately, putting the researchers onto many huge schools of bonefish, some containing more than 1,000 fish. Worries about catching enough fish during the trip were quickly replaced by worries about running out of tags!

In the first day of tagging, a single net haul resulted in the capture of more than 400 fish (not counting several hundred more fish that managed to stay out of the net as the big school split in half). On day two, in the midst of a raging lightning storm, the team again managed to capture a huge school of bonefish, probably numbering close to 500 fish. Facing fading light and a long, rainy run back to the dock, the crew made the tough decision to call it a day before they had tagged the entire school. They ended up releasing several hundred untagged fish so they could make it home before dark. There’s just that many bonefish in South Andros! Rapidly deteriorating weather reduced the number of fish caught on the last two days of the trip, but the crew still managed to tag fish in all of the popular South Andros fishing spots – Grassy and Little Creeks, the west side, and the southern cays. We don’t want to tell a fish story, but there are some awfully big fish swimming around South Andros wearing a new piece of numbered jewelry, courtesy of BTT.

On BTT research trips, the work doesn’t stop when the boats are parked and the nets are out of the water. An important part of these trips is explaining BTT’s conservation efforts to local guides and lodge owners. Without the continued support of these folks, our work wouldn’t be possible. I am happy to report that our efforts to protect Andros’ bonefish into the future were very well received, and all of the guides and lodges in South Andros seem eager to report recaptures back to BTT. With the busy season cranking up, it’s only a matter of time before clients begin catching our tagged fish. Despite the economic value of the bonefish fishery on Andros, we still have many unanswered questions about the fish that call the island home. How big of an area do these fish use during their life? How quickly do they grow? Where do they spawn? What habitats are most important for the conservation of the species? What do we need to do to assure that the incredible South Andros fishery is protected for years to come? Although it will still be some time before significant numbers of recaptures start rolling in, the work we began last month is the first step in coming up with answers to these important conservation questions. To become a member or support our efforts in the Bahamas or support any of our other great projects, visit: www.bonefishtarpontrust.org