Tagging with Bonefish-Tarpon Trust

By Gabi Goodrich, RJD Intern

While our mornings may be early to most, it’s at this time of the day that can be the most exciting for our team. This past Friday’s trip with Bonefish-Tarpon Trust was no exception. As we crossed over the bridge onto Key Biscayne, the beauty of the ocean seemed overwhelming.

This trip was going to be different for me. I had never been on a trip using the boat R/V Maven, however despite this fact the day would prove to be nothing but spectacular. We met on the dock of the Miami Seaquarium and loaded all our gear onto the boat. Today we were going to a new spot that Neil had a “great feeling about.” We greeted our guests and before I knew it we were on our way out to the site. Around an hour later, we were there. The conditions were amazing. The water was so clear you could see every detail of the reef. We promptly set the lines and took the salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen levels. We then left for Broad Key to pick up the rest of the guests. From there, the excitement started to grow. We headed back to the lines and started pulling them up one by one. On the very first line, a huge 248 cm (8.136 feet) male Nurse Shark had been hooked! I couldn’t believe it! The kids on the boat were so excited! They felt the shark and one exclaimed, “This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done!” From there, our day would get busy. On line four, a beautiful 199 cm (6.528 feet) female tiger shark! Already we were getting a wonderful variety of sharks!

Neil Hammerschlag high fives a student participant.

But it didn’t stop there. Line five of the same set of ten a gorgeous male Nurse Shark. Line eight was one of the most exciting for this set. Pulling in the line on the yoyo (a circular device used to reel in the monofilament), a fin emerged out of the water. Neil got on the highest vantage point and exclaimed with so much excitement that it was a Great Hammerhead Shark. If you know Neil, you know how excited he gets when we hook a Great Hammerhead. This beautiful male was 230 cm (7.545 feet) long and was in amazing shape. The team promptly satellite tagged him, did the work out, and before we knew it we parted ways with him. After, Neil let out a “YAY!!” in rejoice and the excitement was felt throughout the boat. You’d think this would be the most exciting part of the day, right? Well little did we know we had so much more to come. Line ten of this set had another beautiful 180 cm (5.905 feet) female Tiger Shark. I couldn’t believe the variety and diversity of species we had gotten in the first ten lines!

A great hammerhead is reeled in towards the boat.

We deployed the lines again for the next round of ten. After about an hour, we pulled up the first line to find again another Nurse was hooked! This female Nurse Shark was 222 cm (7.283 feet) and a force to be reckoned with. Most people we take on the boat don’t think Nurse Sharks are powerful but they are! We a struggle, we finally got her to the boat. Line six of this set brought us another 240 cm (7.874 feet) female Nurse Shark! I couldn’t believe it! So many sharks! The fun didn’t stop there. The next line brought in a 268 cm (8.792 feet) female Tiger Shark! We had already gotten eight sharks of three different species! On our last round, we deployed five lines. Again the first line we pulled had a shark! This would be a huge 242 cm (7.939 feet) male Bull Shark! 25 lines deployed, nine sharks caught and tagged of 4 different species! Everyone on the boat was overcome with joy and appreciation for what was caught. It was by far one of my favorite trips I had ever been on!

A tiger shark is released back into the water.