New Dolphinfish Recoveries
Washington to Veatch Canyon
Captain Gary Gambarani and angler Bill Harrington aboard Easton Pool tagged and released a 20″ dolphin in Washington Canyon off Maryland on July 25th, 2020. On September 10th, after weeks of consistent winds held boats back from venturing to the canyons off Rhode Island and Massachusetts, Captain Stephen Viglas recaptured Easton Pool’s fish in Veatch Canyon. This is the 11th within-region Mid-Atlantic Bight recovery for the Dolphinfish Research Program (DRP) but the first canyon-to-canyon northeasterly movement spanning nearly the entire region. When compared with other recoveries reported within Poor Man’s and Wilmington Canyon, mostly from tagging efforts lead by Captains Chris and David Jobes and angler Will Jobes aboard Pair of Docs, the average movement rate of this new recovery is twice as fast as the previous 10 recaptures (6.65 mpd versus 3.36 mpd). This new recovery is a stark contrast to the lingering movements observed within Poor Man’s and Wilmington Canyon and merits the need to tag and release more fish within this region to showcase connectivity between canyons and the movement of dolphin biomass within the region. For this particular recovery, the recapture length is unknown but given the time at large and the average growth rate observed for the program it is likely the fish grew 4” and put on nearly 1 ¾ pounds while at liberty. In the image to the left the numbers represent days at liberty for 7 of the 11 recoveries.
Straight-line distance between tag and recapture sites = 312.59 miles; Straight-line movement rate = 6.65 miles per day; Days at liberty = 47.
St. Croix to the Dominican Republic
Captain Colt Cook and angler Duncan Wright aboard Hook n Cook tagged and released a 20″ dolphin north of St. Croix in the southwestern portion of the Anegada Passage on August 3rd, 2020. On September 23rd, 2020, artisanal fishermen Alido Baez of Bayahibe, Dominican Republic, recaptured Hook n Cook’s fish aboard La Fiera, which had grown 5″. This is the 11th within-region Caribbean Sea conventional recovery and first from north of St. Croix to south of Saona Island, DR, spanning the entire USVI/PR continental shelf corridor to the southwestern edge of the Mona Passage. When combined with the other recoveries reported south of PR and DR since 2011, the average movement rate is 8.93 miles per day. In the image to the left the numbers represent days at liberty for 7 of the 11 recoveries. The only other recovery generated from the Anegada Passage was tagged and released aboard World Class Anglers by Captain Josh Slayton and was recaptured in the northwestern portion of the Mona Passage by Captain Matthew Bierley, showing that fish can move through the Mona Passage from the Caribbean Sea toward the Tropical Atlantic.
Straight-line distance between tag and recapture sites = 257.58 miles; Straight-line movement rate = 5.05 miles per day; Days at liberty = 51; Growth rate = .098″/day or .68″/week.
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