The Trip in Pictures - A Canberran's Perspective

IGFA Museum and Hall of Fame, Ft Lauderdale, Florida.

Fly casting legend, Lefty Kreh conducting a
private lesson on the lawns of the IGFA centre.

Live bait vending machine, Bass Pro, Ft Lauderdale.

Up close and personal with an Everglades "Lizard".

Don't try this at home kids! He's a trained lunatic.

A friendlier Florida resident.

Sunset over Key West.

Recreational fishing platform on one of the
many bridges in the Florida Keys.

The things you see on a road trip.
(No, we didn't take the chance...)

Tampay Bay Buccaneers taking the field
against the Minnesota Vikings.

One for the Holden fans - a Pontiac GTO
(rebadged, LHD Monaro for the uninitiated).
"Supersize my ride". Everything is BIG in the USA.

Conversing with the locals. "John made me do it"...

Potomac River by night, Washington DC.

Last Day - Washington DC

The intrepid group of study tour attendees awoke to yet another thermal experience - the probabability of white flakes descending from the heavens!

We left to take taxi cab rides through the incredibly picturesque forests of Virginia to revisit the VIMS people. Along the way, we commented frequently about the possibility of encountering bambi on the road, but only saw a slightly mashed raccoon - no longer even suitable for rock lobster bait in many jurisdictions.

Today was much more about give than take.

An interesting presentation from Tracey Sutton about shark tagging lead to discussions about better engagement of recreational fishers in tagging programs. It is clear that Australia is far in advance, at least in those areas that encourage angler engagement, in the process. Timeliness and respect for responses are a key factor and it is clear that the active engagement of the recreational (and commercial sector) in this process is crucial. Interestingly, although many of the sharks are caught mainly by commercial fishers, that it is the recreational sector that provides the majority of the returns.

We learned about the daggertooth, a mid water predator with an oil filled swim bladder that attacks tuna from below.

Bill Sawynok was in high demand to demonstrate his data base. Biologists from far and wide visited to learn about data entry and control, feedback and the importance of understanding the need for long time series data and immediate feedback to anglers.

Frank Prokop met with Dr Hinton, an evolutionary morphologist who was extremely excited about the discovery of the 'whoopee cushion' pressure release valve in Samson fish and similar species. There was considerable praise for an Australian researcher being able to identify a new physical structure for a teleost fish. Dr Hinton specialises in Carangiid species (trevallies) and will explore both the physiological and evolutionary implications of this structure.

The main group met with Dr Mary Fabrizio (immediate past President of the American Fisheries Society) about recreational engagement in recruitment modelling. Again Australia seems to be looked to as a leader in this area.

After bidding a fond farewell to our main host, Dr Jon Lucy, with promises of many more interactions, we boarded the bus for the return to Washington DC. One slight rear ender on the freeway lead to about 15 miles of backup, fortunately on the other side of the road.

We managed to look at the marketing strategies of Bass Pro and Gander Mountain (huge sporting store with a little bit of fishing tackle....) and its use of the RBFF Angler Legacy program and the need to examine the impact of the global economic meltdown on retail sales of fishing tackle.

We arrived back in Washington DC to temperatures better suited to hibernation and had to once again chip our Queensland representatives out of their teeth chattering ice blocks to sign their names in the register.

Our end of tour dinner was aboard a cruise boat on the Potomac River. Luckily it was temperature controlled, but those who ventured out for scenic photos of sights such as the Watergate Hotel were able once again to astound the locals with the use of strine to describe the sub-human conditions. I am convinced that new phrases will enter the American lexicon in the near future.

Dr Jones lead discussion on the best aspects and learnings from the trip. The concensus was that the trip was very much enhanced by the study tour and the learnings that ensued. The best features ranged from the highly stratified sampling techniques to the need to think really big about national funding for projects.

After one final toast, the group poured into taxi cabs to once again struggle with the concept of tipping and the service industries before retiring to the lounge in the hotel to provide useful?? assistance to the final blog from yours truly.

Tomorrow and beyond, the group disperses to Australia, wiser and committed to make a real difference to future fisheries management. All agree that Australia should sell what it does well much better and to continually assess its performance against broader criteria than just the assessment of imported 'experts' for a single conference.

We look forward to catching up with you all and seeing loved ones again and would encourage any of you to work very hard to attend a similar conference/study tour in the future. Meanwhile all who can will save their pennies to try and make it to Germany in 2011.

See you soon
Frank

November 20

Hi

Having finally voted the Diggler off our island we were free to commit to the advancment of science unencumbered. Thursday dawned clear and warmer than the Wednesday and we tracked off to the Hampton dock to meet Cap'n Chandler Hogg and board "The Smoking Gun II".

We bored out into Chesapeake Bay under a light northerly wind. First stop was the amazing Chesapeake Bridge Tunnel system - a 19 mile bridge across the bay with 2 tunnels and a high level bridge to allow shipping passage. Remember, a fair slab of the US Navy uses the Bay as its base and the boat traffic is heavy. The bridge is actually a double concrete structure carrying vehiclular traffic and the squillion or so pylons provide probably the biggest artificial fish habitat in the world. The artificial islands at each end of the tunnels are armoured with rock and make great fish holding structures.

To test their effectiveness we conducted a series of sampling runs with bibbed minnows, and weighted soft plastics and jigs trolled on paternoster rigs in about 30 feet of water. While taking meticulous measurements of environmental factors (Frank's taste test put the salinity at around 12-15 ppt) and recording detailed observations of numerous recreational fishing craft, our diligence was rewarded with striped bass and more striped bass. The fish were mostly around the 2kg mark, with a number of multiple hookups. Frank again showed his catch and release ability by dropping most of his fish, but we each ended up with 2 or 3 fish each. Bill S. top scored with a 29 incher which exceeded the slot limit and of course went back. Despite repeated renditions of Franks funky Bluefish Boogey, the legendary giant bluefish proved elusive.

Sampling completed, we moved to inspect the artificial reefs scattered around the bay. There are a number of rubble reefs consisting of rock spoil in these relatively shallow waters.

We stopped on a Reef Ball reef about 2 km off Ocean View. The reef balls which are about 1.5 metres tall showed up clearly on the echo sounder. This reef was made of about 1,000 reef balls and fishes well for tautogs and stripers. The location was marked with bouys.

We moved further into the Bay to a reef composed of concrete piers demolished from a US navy dock. The reef was located in 24 ft of water, and like the reef above, was placed where 2 major currents converge. The fish seen on the sounder were holding very close o the stucture, probably due to the strong current. It seems that the use of "materials of opportunity" is still alive and well in the US.

All up it was a very enjoyable and informative day.

JD

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

19th November 2008

We awoke to a crisp cloudless morning in DC with a brisk -2 degrees celcius outside, heading towards a maximum of 5 degrees celcius. Bl**dy cold ! No time to waste, after breakfast at the Old Colony Inn (38 deg48.996 N, 77 deg 02.631 W for those with google earth) we didn’t even have time to raid the free snack bar before boarding the bus to take us to Williamsburg, VA, Chesapeake Bay – blue crab country- and our meeting at VIMS.

During the bus trip there was a robust and animated discussion on a variety of topics related to the direction of recreational fishing development in Australia, including political representation, licensing, young leaders and then broader issues including the state of the global economy.

After about 2 hrs 20 min we had covered the 230 km to Williamsburg and resisted the temptation to raid the Bass Pro, Orvis and Columbia outlets on the way. After checking in and icing the beers at the Best Western Fairfield (37 deg 17.193 N, 76 deg 43.294 W) we reboarded the bus for the scenic 30 km trip along the York River to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (37 deg 14.935 N, 76 deg 30.022 W).

Here we met our host Jon Lucy, and some of us caught up opportunistically with a seminar on “Challenges for sustainable fisheries in a changing world” by NOAA chief science advisor Dr Steve Murawski. Then after lunch we had productive informal talks with VIMS fisheries staff including Jon Lucy, John Olney, Mary Fabrizio (immediate past president of the American Fisheries Society), Rich Brill, John Hoenig, and Andrij Horodysky. Topics discussed included the successful recovery of striped bass by protecting a strong year class in a formerly depleted fishery, delayed post release survival in bluefish (tailor), management of Tautog, sight and sensory biology of marlins and other inshore species, the pros and cons of co-operative tagging programmes.

Following the discussion we took a tour of the fisheries genetics lab and had incredibly interesting discussions on gulpersharks with very strong international relationships being forged with Jan McDowell and Laurie Sorensen with the potential for sharing of genetic materials of not only gulper sharks, but billfishes.


Ben "Diggler" Diggles

Meeting with RBFF - Take Me Fishing (please)

18th November

After a very early start, the flight Tampa to Washington went without a hitch. The welcome in Washington was about 30 C cooler but the fantastic meeting with Frank Peterson at the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation well made up for the weather. Frank is the CEO of RBFF which is responsible for increasing boating and fishing participation and is federally funded to the tune of US$13M from the Sport Fish Restoration Fund. The funding is made available through a conservation act initiated in the 50s and comes from a series of taxes and excise on fishing gear and fuel purchased by the fishers. Frank discussed in detail the foundation’s role and some initiatives he has helped implement:

Anglers Legacy: A program of advertising and communication to increase participation by fishers signing a declaration to take at least one person fishing during the year who has not fished before. The concept is targeted at the 35 – 55 year old group.
The anglers are ‘ambassadors’ of the sport and number around 75 000.

Take me fishing: Another great program to encourage participation in rec fishing from kids to adults alike. This program is supported by an extensive and excellent media campaign.

The standard of Research and Education was excellent and provided some great ideas to bring back.

After a full day with Frank he explained his short term targets for participation and detailed his marketing approach to anglers whether they are ‘new, occasional or avid customers’. Frank was well keen with 'NEATFish' tournament accreditation so the opportunity for further two way communication looks inevitable.

All in all a brilliant opportunity to bring a lot of fresh and proven ideas back home.

http://www.rbff.org/
http://www.takemefishing.org/
http://www.anglerslegacy.org/

The Duke

Visit to Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute

Monday 17 November 2008

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute is a division of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and is responsible for the research underpinning management of fish and wildlife. Of particular interest to the study group was Project Tampa Bay involving the stocking and evaluation of Red Drum in Tampa Bay from 1988-2004. The project had a number of components which were:

* Hatchery production of fingerlings (at SERF hatchery on Tampa Bay)

* Fisheries independent monitoring to detect stocked fish

* Fisheries dependent monitoring

* Health assessment of fish to be stocked

* Genetic analysis to determine if fish sampled were stocked fish

The project involved the production and release of fingerlings in 3 size ranges at 2 locations in Tampa Bay. A total of around 3 million fish were released and stocked fish were detected in the various monitoring programs at around 6% of the fish sampled. By the way we shouted the presenters lunch at the Pier where the discussion was well lubricated and continued into the afternoon.

Bill Sawynok

Sunday 16th November

Len and Ben went on a trip with guide Jim Lemke to experience first hand the results of Florida's red drum stock enhancement project. While Len "catfish" Olyott missed out on a red, Diggler managed to inspect the health of both a red drum and a spotted sea trout at close quarters. Both fish appeared very healthy and were released to fight another day.

As an aside

Not all of what we have seen is useful or applicable to Australia but this is not because our Australian situation is so unique but rather, put plainly - we simply cannot get our !@#$% together. It was amazing to most international delegates, that even in this darkest hour, we cannot get the recreational fishing industry/community/sector/rabble to work together. It was astounding to them that industry and advocacy groups do not work together.

For me, its immensly frustrating. There is so much potential if we all give a little ground and actually start to listen to each other. As long as I am expending effort trying to get recreational fishers to work together, it leaves no time to actually focus on issues.

How do we grow our fisheries and our fishers? We need to work together, anyone who cant see that, needs to step aside and let others who can step up to the plate.

Scifly