Fishing News
Fishing for data
By Willie Howard
PALM BEACH SHORES -- State biologists are going where recreational anglers go to find snook as part of a two-year study designed to improve their understanding of Florida's snook populations.
In the study that began this month, biologists are spending two hours at a time catching snook in inlets, on beaches, near bridges and in rivers in much the same way recreational anglers catch them.
The snook are being harvested for laboratory analysis, regardless of season or size. These study fish will help biologists with the Florida Marine Research Institute fill voids in data created in 1999, when the prohibition on snook larger than 34 inches took effect. Meat from the study fish is donated to wildlife hospitals and soup kitchens.
"We're not taking a whole bunch of fish," said Jim Whittington, a fisheries biologist with the FMRI's Tequesta laboratory. "We have to sacrifice fish to age the fish."
During a trip last week at Lake Worth Inlet, Whittington and other biologists harvested five snook in two hours of fishing using live threadfin herring, sardines and pinfish for bait. The largest was a 36-inch male caught by biologist Mark Holland.
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