Permit Head Photo Caption: A before and after of a Florida Keys permit caught and tagged in 2013 and then recaptured in April.
Recaptured Permit Head Shed Light On Movement
Tagged and recaptured permit are showing us all how much there is to learn about this fascinating species. The Bonefish & Tarpon Trust’s (BTT) permit tagging program turned up two recaptured fish in April that told two very different stories.
The hypothesis is that permit head, like bonefish, tend to stick around the same areas. They frequent the flats and migrate offshore to spawn, but return to the same places year after year. That was supported by a fish recaptured in the lower Keys in early April. Capt. Don Gable and his angler Tosh Brown caught a permit that was previously tagged with a BTT dart in Oct. 2013 by angler Joe Skrumbellos. The fish came from the exact same flat where it was tagged the first time. Although the latest anglers to catch the fish were not able to measure or weigh it, it appeared to have grown significantly over the more than two years since it was first caught.
The second tagged fish reported in April threw researchers a little bit of a curveball. Angler Jared Sholk was fishing offshore south of Key West on April 8 when he caught a tagged permit head estimated to weigh 15 pounds. This fish was originally caught and tagged in July 2015 by Capt. Carl Ball nearly 120 miles to the north in Biscayne Bay.
Previously, the record distance traveled by a BTT tagged permit was a fish that was also tagged in Biscayne Bay by Carl Ball and was recaptured roughly 65 miles north near Lake Worth, Fla.
When asked about these two very interesting, yet contrasting pieces of data, BTT’s Dr. Aaron Adams said, “This is exactly why tagging and reporting of tagged fish is so important. A main goal of Project Permit is to determine what portion of the permit population remains in small home ranges and what portion moves long distances. For example, bonefish tagging revealed that bonefish have small home ranges, but can migrate long distances to spawn. It is possible that permit follow similar movement patterns to bonefish. The information from Project Permit will let us know if the current permit regulations are appropriate or if they need revision following BTT’s science-based approach to conservation.”
For more on BTT and Project Permit, go to www.bonefishtarpontrust.org.