Saving Seafood

What’s Killing Endangered Sawfish in Florida?

April 15, 2024 — Fishing guides in the Florida Keys began reporting unusual sightings to Ross Boucek last fall. Small bait fish, especially at night, would start spinning in tight circles in the water, seemingly in distress.

As the months went by, more reports trickled in to Dr. Boucek, a biologist with the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, a nonprofit conservation group. Bigger fish — jacks, snook — were swimming in spirals or upside down in the shallow waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. So were stingrays and the occasional shark.

Dr. Boucek called scientists at state agencies and universities. They held meetings, took samples of the water and fish and tried to figure out what might be causing the fish to behave so strangely. A parasite? A sewage spill? Some other contaminant?

Read the full article at the The New York Times

Florida Man Sentenced for Killing Endangered Sawfish

January 24, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Chad Ponce, a 38-year old commercial fishermen, is facing 2 years probation, 80 hours of community service and a $2,000 fine for killing an endangered smalltooth sawfish. A judge determined this sentence on December 19, 2019, after a joint investigation by NOAA Fisheries and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) confirmed Ponce used a power saw to cut the rostrum (saw or bill) off of the live fish before discarding its body back into the ocean.

The St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office and FWC received a tip reporting the capture and gross mishandling of a large (12-14 foot) smalltooth sawfish off the coast of Ponte Vedra, Florida, on July 18, 2018. The sawfish was incidentally caught in one of Ponce’s commercial shrimp trawl nets earlier that day.

Upon retrieval of the net Ponce, captain of the Triton II, first attempted to use a hacksaw on the rostrum, but witnesses report he tossed that saw into the ocean when it didn’t work. Ponce then used a power saw to cut the rostrum off the live animal. Another fisherman in a vessel adjacent to the trawler witnessed the incident and reported it to FWC’s Report Sawfish for Science Hotline.  

This hotline is typically used to document sightings and incidental captures by recreational anglers of sawfish for the purpose of monitoring the population. The report was passed on to NOAA, which oversees the conservation of species listed under the Endangered Species Act.

NOAA and FWC opened an investigation into the alleged violation. FWC sent an officer offshore to the location of the Triton II on the day of the report. DNA evidence connecting Ponce to the crime was gathered in the course of the investigation.

Read the full release here

Searching for the world’s last remaining sawfish

April 19, 2019 — Mario Espinoza has dedicated years of his life to saving a fish he has yet to see for himself in Costa Rica’s waters. It’s not for lack of trying. Every single month, the University of Costa Rica marine scientist and his team drive to the edges of one of the largest mangroves in the world, where they load onto a former fisherman’s boat and work tirelessly over three days casting nets and longlines into the murky waters of the estuary. Under the shadow of 80-foot tall mangrove trees, with crocodiles and howler monkeys for company, they seek evidence of a ghost: the largetooth sawfish.

“You retrieve the longline hook by hook, and with every hook you’re retrieving, you’re crossing your fingers thinking, ‘Oh this could be it!’” Espinoza says. From his research collecting data on sawfish captures and sightings, he knows that the Térraba-Sierpe National Wetland is one of two remaining hotspots for sawfish in Costa Rica, where they were once abundant. “We know we’re not completely on the wrong track. It’s just that they’re an endangered species. They’re very rare.”

Last year, Espinoza received word of a total of 10 confirmed sawfish sightings across the entire country.

Read the full story at National Geographic