Tarpon to bring tourism dollars to TT

Dan Jacobs, of Sport Fishing Magazine, projects that a few million dollars in annual revenue will be made as a result of sport fishing for the tarpon which he said is the second most sought after sport fish in the US.

Jacobs was speaking on Wednesday at the first ever “tag-and-release” session at Point Gourde, Chaguaramas which was the precursor to the Trinidad Tarpon Bash (TTB). Sunday Newsday was invited for a short fishing cruise to witness the Tarpon tagging. Chinese Scientist Jiangang Luo, who is the head of the University of Miami’s Bonefish-Tarpon Conservation Research Unit, was at the session.

Jacobs, who is also the tournament director of the TTB, said that the Government through the Tourism Development Company (TDC) was contributing, “large amounts of money to the sponsor-driven event.”

Jacobs added that, “The good thing is that tarpon is a sustainable resource, and it is here every year. This is the furthest south that tarpon have ever been tagged. The off season over there (Florida) is on here so it will be year round.” The TDC hopes that the information gathered from the exercise would help protect Trinidad’s tarpon fishery as well as build a sustainable market from the perceived annual migration of the species to Trinidad.

Luo, who was accompanied by a team of University of Miami PhD students, explained that a set of US $3,500 transmitters inserted into several tarpons would facilitate the identification of their migration patterns and growth rates. The Florida-based team is expecting to have Trinidad become one of the premier sport fishing destinations as a result of these pioneering efforts.

The Trinidad Tarpon Bash will be aired on a 30-minute programme on the international satellite channel, the Outdoor Life Network, which has an estimated 65 million viewers.