Los Roques (www.frontierstravel.com)
March 2009
Trip Report from a Traveling Research Angler:
Date: March 12, 2009
From: Bill Legg
To: Aaron Adams
Aaron,
Our group of BTT members just got back from Los Roques, Venezuela, where we spent five days bonefishing. We were able to bring along Dr. Juan Posada, from Simon Bolivar University, as the BTT-supported scientist on this trip. Thanks to the generosity of the Paz Rotan Lodge and the Traveling Angler Program for funding Juan’s research on this trip. Juan has been working with the guides of Los Roques to establish a tagging program that would eventually lead to a stock assessment as well as other insights into the movements of the bonefish. This trip was to kick off this program and the nine of us were able to help by catching bonefish for the guides to tag, as well as learning how to tag the fish ourselves. Juan also held two town center meetings with the residents of Low Roques to explain what we were doing and also to educate the locals as to just how valuable their fishery was. I was amazed at the turnout for his meeting. Given that there are only 1,500 inhabitants, a significant percentage of the town attended one of the meetings. Given his great start, the key for Juan will be to keep the guides engaged and enthusiastic until they start catching some of the tagged fish. We should continue to help him where possible. Attached are some photos from the trip.
