BTT Starts Permit Tagging Program

One of the biggest challenges in conservation is determining which habitats are most important and should receive the most conservation attention. Habitat use and movements by permit in northern Belize are knowledge gaps that BTT is working with guides and anglers to fill by starting a tagging program in the region.

Leading the program is BTT’s Belize and Mexico program manager, Dr. Addiel Perez, who recently worked with fishing guides to tag 64 permit in mid-April. Already four tagged permit have been caught from the same site. The multi-year tagging project will be done in collaboration with guides, fishing lodges, and the co-managers of protected areas in the region.

If you fish for permit, or are a fishing guide who targets permit, you can help this project be successful. If you catch a tagged permit:

• Record the tag number, date, and location. If possible, also measure the fish from the tip of the nose to the fork in the tail.
• Go to BTT’s web site (BTT.org), click on the tab Report Tagging Data, and enter the information

We will soon launch a tagging app for smartphones so that you can report the data as you collect it.

The more we learn about permit and their movements, the better we will be able to ensure a healthy fishery through habitat protections. Please do you part and report tagged permit that you catch.