10 minute read
The Florida Keys Initiative
BTT continues to advance bonefish spawning research while launching new projects to determine possible causes of the Lower Keys’ permit decline.
BY CHRIS HUNT
The Florida Keys are the breadbasket of flats fly fishing— the island chain that drips off the southern edge of the Florida Peninsula is a shallow-water paradise that tickles the tropics and, to this day, serves as a magnet for America’s saltwater fishing community.
But, over the years, the Keys’ flats fisheries have ebbed and flowed, very likely in response to a number of environmental stressors ranging from water quality to fish harvest, both legal and illegal. For instance, the bonefish fishery in the Keys, until recently, could have been considered seriously depressed. As the bones seemed to show signs of trouble beginning in the 1990s, a remarkable permit fishery developed along Florida’s signature island chain, and the Keys soon became a permit hotspot. And, of course, the region has always been a tarpon honey hole, again with frequent population peaks and dips over the years, also assigned to the same environmental factors that impact other important game fish. But the Keys’ history is not one that longtime guides and anglers are willing to forget—it’s home to more world-record tarpon, bonefish and permit catches than anywhere else in the world…combined.
That history, coupled with some scientific and technological breakthroughs, is at the foundation of Bonefish & Tarpon Trust’s ambitious Florida Keys Initiative, which seeks to restore the Keys’ flats fishery to its world-class status through science-based approaches and close collaboration with the angling community.
This storied chain of islands continues to face a number of environmental challenges, but ongoing research by BTT scientists is proving that something else is true, too: the Florida Keys are resilient. And the more biologists learn about the islands’ fisheries and environment, the more clues they gather for the comprehensive conservation work that BTT has undertaken. As any good scientist will claim, knowledge is the foundation of effective conservation. And, thanks to BTT’s sophisticated scientific approach to fisheries conservation in the Keys, we know more today than we ever have.
Mother Nature Giveth...
In the spring of 2023, BTT reported the discovery of a bonefish pre-spawning aggregation site—a bonefish gathering area where fish from all over the region mingle together before heading offshore for a massive, deep-water spawning run—in the Upper Florida Keys. The organization had discovered similar aggregations in other countries but determining where the Keys’ bones came together during the fall and spring spawning season was a tough nut to crack.
But, thanks to a host of spatial conservation data collected by Florida Keys Initiative Director Dr. Ross Boucek and his team, BTT was able to home in on an area that totals only about two square miles—the equivalent of a needle in a haystack. The discovery was eye-opening—the bonefish population in the Keys had been in decline for decades, and, at certain times, officially on the brink of collapse. Finding this bonefish pre-spawn aggregation changed the outlook for the Keys’ bonefish fishery. The discovery gave BTT researchers the roadmap to not only protect what now appears to be a robustly recovering stock of bones, but also to potentially find additional aggregations and learn more about the fish that, at one time, were the most sought-after fly-rod quarry in Keys.
“Nobody is fishing (the pre-spawning area) now, so we’re able to learn a lot about our bonefish,” Boucek says. “This is giving us the chance to continue gathering data and to make some important management recommendations so we can maximize this recovery.”
In recent months, piggybacking on its cumulative spatial research data that helped find that first aggregation in the Upper Keys, Boucek thinks BTT is on the brink of finding another aggregation around Key West in the southernmost reaches of the Keys. And, he says, a bonefish rebound is officially happening in Florida. In fact, he claims, the Keys are fast becoming a bonefish hotspot again.
“Our bonefish are now rivaling the bonefish of The Bahamas,” he says. “We’re seeing 4- to 6-pound bonefish, and (on a recent research outing) we spotted a fish that was approaching 10 pounds. It was very cool—the fish was in super clear water and swimming over perfectly white sand. It was just one of those moments, you know?”
So what’s spurring this bonefish resurrection?
“Honestly,” Boucek says, “we’re not quite sure.” But he has some ideas.
The beginning of the recovery—and the groundbreaking discovery of the aggregation site in the Upper Keys—coincided with some Caribbean-wide crackdowns on bonefish netting. Using the data collected over years, BTT science teams have learned that Florida’s bonefish are really “international” fish whose populations are likely supported by a combination of larvae that are spawned in distant locations and drift hundreds of miles, and locally spawned larvae. For example, BTT data indicates that some bones in the Florida Keys were spawned in the waters of Mexico, Belize, and Cuba. As the international community continues to rally around this economically vital fish—from a recreational perspective, at least—anti-netting enforcement and the regulation of fisheries as catch-and-release in countries throughout the region has blossomed. This might be some of the impetus behind Florida’s bonefish bonanza.
Interestingly, Boucek says, the Key West population boom is something that’s been completely unexpected.
“Key West has never really had a huge bonefish fishery,” he says. “Now we’re seeing lots of bonefish. More than ever before. It’s incredible how many bonefish there are, and not just little bonefish, either. In four or five years, we think parts of the Keys might be a world-class bonefish destination again.”
According to Capt. Rich Hastings, who guides anglers in the Keys, mostly for tarpon, now might be a good time to make those flight reservations.
“We’re really seeing bonefishing bouncing back,” says Hastings, who has guided in the Lower Keys for nine years. “We’re seeing more and more bonefish, progressively, every year.”
And he’s not the only guide seeing and catching more bones. Capt. John O’Hearn, who has guided in the Lower Keys since 2000, notes that the bonefish populations are providing an excellent angling opportunity that’s really been missing in the region for the better part of two decades.
“I think it’s all about recruitment,” O’Hearn says. “You get some good recruitment, and you’ll get fish. That’s definitely the case with bonefish. The bonefish fishing in the Keys is probably better than it’s been in anyone’s memory.”
Mother Nature Taketh Away...
Sadly, the outlook for the Keys’ prized population of permit doesn’t look quite as rosy as it does for bones that suddenly appear to be flooding the flats.
As for why, Boucek and his team have some ideas, but, as is commonly the case with developing fisheries science, there’s no one sure-fire answer.
“Working with a team of guides and anglers, we’ve come up with two theories to pursue over the next couple years,” Boucek explains. “Either the overall population size is down, potentially due to lack of recruitment similar to bonefish declines of the past, or permit don’t like the Lower Keys flats anymore and are choosing to be somewhere else.”
Regarding the second theory that could explain the permit decline, Boucek says the fish might have relocated because something is going on with their prey, which attracts them to the flats. In other words, as he rather bluntly describes the challenge for permit, “there might be a food-web short circuit.”
That could be due to the decline in productivity on the seagrass flats that permit prefer, and that’s causing one of the Keys’ preeminent gamefish to change its behavior and its location. That could be indicative of a water-quality challenge that continues to pester the Keys. And that’s due to everything from a lack of desperately needed natural freshwater flows into Florida Bay from the Everglades to wastewater effluent that is percolating up from wastewater injection wells.
More evidence backs this up. Using non-invasive methods— basically swabbing a fish’s vent with a Q-tip—biologists have learned that many of the permit captured on the flats of the Lower Keys are swimming around on empty stomachs, or they’re dining on more pelagic prey that’s found in deeper water.
“Whatever prey the permit are after,” Boucek says, “it may not be on the flats right now or they think it’s not worth trying to hunt it.” And the missing permit are just as alarming to the Keys’ guiding community as the rebound of bonefish is heartening. Captain Chris Wilson, who guides out of Key West, is hopeful that Boucek’s research eventually bears fruit.
“This is a permit destination,” Wilson says. “The older guides who have been chasing permit around here for years are just up in arms about the numbers of permit they’re seeing. We have no idea where they’ve gone, but we sure hope they come back.”
O’Hearn agrees, but, again, he falls back on recruitment, related to Boucek’s first theory. He noticed a precipitous decline in permit directly after the 2022 spawn.
“We had a really good spawn that year,” he said, “but, for whatever reason, the numbers just kind of dropped after that.” The biggest factor, he believes, is the lack of little fish in the Keys system. “We’re just not seeing the little 1- and 2-pound permit that we use to see, and that’s concerning.”
Boucek adds that this next phase of permit work builds on BTT’s permit spawning research at Western Dry Rocks (WDR), where BTT found that the majority of flats permit in the Lower Keys spawn. Based on this data—as well as the high level of shark depredation occuring there—BTT, guides, and numerous partners successfully advocated in 2021 for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to enact a seasonal no-fishing closure during permit spawning season. While BTT remains focused on spawning permit research at WDR and other sites, Boucek explains that BTT wants to help make the flats and nearshore habitats as hospitable to permit as possible through habitat and water quality improvements.
More Science And More Research
It’s an odd dichotomy, Boucek admits. On one hand, he’s thrilled with a bonefish recovery that’s starting to get the attention of the international angling community. On the other, the diminishing permit fishery is a cause for alarm, and a clear indicator that the Florida Keys Initiative is critically important and has more to accomplish.
“As biologists, we always look at several important factors when it comes to fisheries challenges and any potential recovery,” Boucek says. “We look at fishing mortality and recruitment, habitat and water quality, and how those generate food. This approach informs our work with bonefish and permit in the Keys. If even one of those factors is problematic, then we know we still have work to do.”
Regardless, the general mood the initiative’s director emotes is celebratory. “We’re glad the bones have decided to come back,” he says. As for the Keys’ permit?
“We’ll figure it out,” he says. “And we’ll do the best we can to fix it.”
Chris Hunt is an award-winning journalist and an enthusiastic fly fisher who splits his time between the mountains of eastern Idaho and the blackwater rivers of North Florida. He writes about conservation, travel and the fly fishing culture all over the world.
