Biologists with Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute and Mote Marine Laboratory are looking for help from Florida’s tarpon fishermen. The Institute is collecting genetic information from tarpon to determine survival, health, migration and movement of tarpon in state waters in an effort to protect the species from overfishing.
The state has been working with recreational fishermen since 2005 to collect genetic information from tarpon caught and released in the Gulf of Mexico. In that time biologists have documented 37 recaptured tarpon which has provided valuable insight on tarpon movement.
If you would like to help, the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute provides everything you need to remove a few skin cells from the outside of a tarpon’s jaw. The sampling kits are supposed to be easy to use, especially because the fish can remain in the water while the fisherman collects the sample.
Anglers who would like to participate in this study can obtain a free, tarpon DNA sampling kit by e-mailing TarponGenetics@MyFWC.com or by calling 800-367-4461.
So far, anglers have provided more than 5200 DNA samples from tarpon ranging in length from 5 to 96 inches.
For more information on the Tarpon Genetic Recapture Study, visit http://research.MyFWC.com/tarpon.
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