Trip Report: Feb 18 - 25, 2012

First you have to catch the sailfish!

The Billfish Research Project spent the week of Feb 18 - 25, 2012 in Quepos, Costa Rica working on several things. We brought down 2 pop ups satellite tags (PSATs) to be deployed. Unlike the first deployment, these two PSATs are programmed to remain in the fish until they pop up in early December. This will give our science team a lot of data to analyze and will provide very valuable information on the migration of sailfish caught off Quepos.

Marco adds a small piece of dorsal fin to a vial containing alcohol held by Jenny. This fin sample will be used by the science team to map the DNA of the sailfish caught off Quepos, Costa Rica.

Darren from Guy Harvey Magazine

 Another exciting aspect to this expedition was the collection of small pieces of fin, either the dorsal or the pectoral. These pieces of fin will provide the genetic information necessary for our science team to map the DNA of these fish. Assisting us this week was Darren Sheppard from Guy Harvey Magazine. Darren provided some good suggestions for our project and lent a hand with the tagging and fin sample collecting. Having done some research in his past, Darren's presence gave me the opportunity to bounce some ideas back and forth.

Marco carefully places a PSAT into the muscle mass just above the sailfish's lateral line. Billfish generate incredible forces as they swim, particularly when they are feeding, so it is of utmost importance that the PSAT is placed in an area where it should hold through the programmed deployment period.

Not to be out done, this 300 lb blue marlin caught by my friend Clay swam away with a PSAT! Although primarily geared towards analyzing sailfish migration off Costa Rica, we tagged the marlin to see if his migration pattern in May resembles that of the sailfish that we are tagging.

A 300 lb Blue Marlin swims away wearing a solar powered PSAT.

In about two weeks we begin filming a documentary about The Billfish Research Project. This will give us an opportunity to tell the story to a broader audience.

Stay with us as The Billfish Research Project adventure continues...

Jamie Walker
www.billfishresearch.com