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Fishing for tarpon is always exciting, but on June 16, 2003, researchers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI)* witnessed a particularly amazing, and most likely , once-in-a-lifetime event.

For roughly eight weeks, FMRI biologists had been riding with charter boat captains in Boca Grande Pass. As part of a Catch-and-Release Mortality Study, the captains and their clients allowed the FMRI scientists to place a sonic tag on the first tarpon landed on their boats. Anglers from around the world know that Boca Grande Pass is a great place to land tarpon. During the peak of the tarpon season, as many as 100 boats at a time can crowd the pass. Sharks, major predators on tarpon, also know that Boca Grande Pass is a good place to hunt the fish.

The morning of June 16 was chaotic. Tarpon were biting everywhere. Anglers all over the pass were yelling, “Fish on,” as tarpon hit their lines. FMRI researchers were watching a 20 ft flats boat. At the center console, the captain expertly maneuvered the boat in the pass to allow his client in the fighting chair to land a tarpon. The angler hooked a tarpon, and the biologists watched as the silver king burst from the water into midair, clearing the water and the bow of the boat by as much as three feet! The angler, reeling furiously to land his prize, barely noticed that a 9 ft bull shark had followed the massive tarpon out of the water. The shark also flew through the air, clearing the boat by at least two feet.

In the ensuing seconds, the tarpon plunged into the water on the other side of the boat, but the shark came up short, landing on the boat instead of in the water! For one breathless moment, the shark lay curled in a half circle, its head resting on the platform near the angler’s chair and its tail against the captain’s console. Onlookers gasped as the shark flashed a toothy grin and bounced itself over the side of the boat and back into the water. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and nothing was broken. Everyone aboard the flats boat was understandably shaken, and all of the stunned onlookers took home an amazing fish tale. Read more

Rainbow trout, chinook salmon, steelhead and seven other species and one hybrid were among the 21,116,476 fish – weighing a combined 333 tons – stocked in Michigan’s public waters so far this year.

DNR staff made 381 trips to nearly 800 stocking sites including Great Lakes, inland lakes and rivers. Eighteen specialized trucks traveled 103,618 miles and 2,619 hours to deliver the valuable cargo.

The number and type of fish stocked varies depending on stocking requests, hatchery rearing assignments, and the source and temperature of each facility’s rearing water. Michigan has six state hatcheries and two cooperative hatcheries that together produce the species, strain and size of fish requested by fisheries managers. These fish are delivered at a specific time and location to ensure their survival and success. Read more

It has been nearly a year since the trade war commenced, with the landscape changing almost daily. NMMA is encouraged by some developments, but tariffs on the recreational boating industry continue to take their toll.

In late September, with a deadline only minutes away, the U.S., Canada, and Mexico reached a deal to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The new agreement – officially referred to as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) – was heralded by NMMA President, Thom Dammrich and NMMA Canada President, Sara Anghel as, “excellent news for the recreational boating industry and countless others that rely on the free flow of goods in North America.” Dammrich and Anghel also applauded President Nieto, President Trump, and Prime Minster Trudeau for striking the deal and called on all three countries to immediately review and approve the agreement. Read more

This spring and summer, the DNR and several partners released more than 12,000 juvenile lake sturgeon in public waters, part of an effort to rehabilitate this culturally significant fish species. This year’s total is twice the number stocked in 2017. Read more

After a 15-year hiatus, largemouth bass virus has re-emerged in a new northern Lower Peninsula water. This virus has been confirmed as a factor in a fish kill in Cedar Lake in Alcona and Iosco counties, Michigan, with additional lakes in the area being examined. This virus previously affected adult largemouth bass in the early 2000s in southern Michigan lakes.

Largemouth bass virus is one of more than 100 naturally occurring viruses that affect fish and is closely related to viruses found in frogs and other amphibians. Its origin and how it is spread are unknown, but anglers are considered a likely path for transmitting the virus through the movement of live, infected fish from one water to another, or by using contaminated and uncleaned gear or boats in uninfected waters. LMBV is not known to infect humans, and infected fish are safe to eat – as long as the fish is thoroughly cooked.

LMBV usually causes fish kills during periods when fish are most stressed. Potential stressors include very hot weather, intensive recreational fishing, and possibly aquatic weed or other treatments made during hot weather. Anything that can be done to minimize stress on fish will reduce the effects of this virus and subsequent fish deaths. Read more

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a lower-court’s decision that struck down a mandatory phaseout of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) – including HFC 143a, which is commonly used by marine manufacturers. NMMA and their members worked to oppose and overturn the HFC rule and applauded the Court for deciding against rehearing the case.

The phasing out of HFCs was enacted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2015 as part of the Obama administration’s regulatory agenda. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled last year that EPA overstepped its authority under the Clean Air Act’s Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program. The Supreme Court’s decision effectively affirms the District Court’s ruling that SNAP cannot regulate HFCs because the program was designed to address ozone-depleting substances, which HFCs are not. Read more

A legal settlement saves the AuSable river from thousands of pounds of fish waste, and subsequent algae blooms and less dissolved oxygen. It reduces the risk of disease, escapement and invasive species.  Read more about the changing of the guard here…

The Department of Natural Resources will conduct its annual walleye assessment in the west basin of Lake Erie near Monroe, Michigan, beginning Oct. 8 and continuing through Oct. 12.

“This year marks the 40th anniversary of a survey that is the cornerstone of the DNR’s annual efforts to assess the walleye fishery in Lake Erie,” said Todd Wills, DNR Fisheries’ Lake Huron-Lake Erie area research manager. “The data from this survey are essential for the DNR and its partner agencies to estimate walleye abundance throughout the west and central basins of Lake Erie. These estimates help determine the daily possession limits for anglers who fish for walleye in Michigan waters.”

The fall walleye assessment will be completed by DNR fisheries staff aboard the research vessel Channel Cat, which is celebrating its 50th year in service and has a home port at the Lake St. Clair Fisheries Research Station in Harrison Township. Gill nets are fished near Stoney Point and Luna Pier and are marked with a large, orange staff buoy on each end with a number of small, round floats in between. The 1,300-foot-long nets are suspended in the water column, fished overnight, and hauled aboard the R/V Channel Cat where the catch is sorted, identified and measured. A sample of the dorsal fin spine is taken from captured walleye to determine their age.

The DNR reminds anglers and boaters to avoid navigating in between the staff buoys to prevent entanglement in the nets and to give the R/V Channel Cat room to maneuver while it is actively lifting and setting the gear, which is indicated by displaying a double-cone day shape from a mast on its roof. Read more

Contact: Phil Schneeberger, 906-249-1611, ext. 311

Natural Resources Commission to consider higher brook trout possession limits on some U.P. streams

At next month’s meeting of the Natural Resources Commission in Lansing, Department of Natural Resources fish managers will recommend a small number of Upper Peninsula stream segments for inclusion under a 10-brook trout possession limit. The regulation was put in place earlier this year for 33 U.P. streams, while the current brook trout possession limit for all other inland streams in Michigan is five or fewer. Read more