Sunday, March 25, 2007

TAG team finds bluefin!

Bluefin have been found along the frontal regions of the northern portion of the Carolina Coast. With the help of Captain Rom Whittaker of Hatteras, the rapid deployment across the country of a small TAG research team to Hatteras has paid off as the Tag team has been able to quickly place 22 archival tags in bluefin tuna. Led by Dr. Andre Boustany of Duke University and Andreas Walli & Jake Noguiera of Stanford University the team is now fishing aboard the Boss Lady with Captain Eric Holm. Fish in the area have ranged from large fish- over 300 lbs to smaller fish in the 60-80 lb year class. A strong cold front is expected to affect the region tonight and tomorrow- hopefully we can stay with the tunas- for another few days. This spring bluefin fishing historically lasts only a few weeks and if the weather and water warm up- the bluefins continue to move north. For now- the team is in striking distance of the overall TAG objective of 1000 Atlantic tags. It would be super if that goal could be reached at the place where the winter bluefin tuna fishery all started:
Hatteras, NC. Go team.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Carolina on My Mind

Sometimes you cannot break old habits.
Charles Perry and Rom Whittaker called me to tell me how
the Hatteras vessels were releasing tunas off the point- on a break as many as 25 a day. Its March- and
well..in the old days thats exactly where we were- when we tagged
204 tunas, in 1997. So having more than a few electronic tags leftover from our
last efforts, and wanting to move forward on our quest for 1000, with less than 10 days
t o go on our 2007 Carolina permit- we've activated the Go Mode. Like flipping a switch
in our Stanford lab- a frenetic pace of sending out pads, getting electronic tags programmed,
moving the team in place- getting the boats all the permits, and finding out
exactly where the fish are and when exactly we can go again- weather permitting.
The team, led by Dr. Andre Boustany from Duke, and Andreas Walli
and Jake Nogueira along with CP Perry are on their way and getting in place
in what are moderate Carolina Seas. I hope that they can
at least move TAG forward in our tagging- Go Hatteras- I hope
we can finish the year on 1000 where we started it all in 1996! Go TAG Team 2007.
And welcome back to Hatteras, NC.