Colombia and Panama Updates – June 2022

Sportfishing Banned in Colombia – Beginning in 2023 The Supreme Court of Colombia recently ruled that sportfishing, even catch and release, amounts to torture, thus prohibiting the sport in marine and fresh waters. The court decision proclaimed the practice “violates the principles of environmental protection and animal welfare” and “demonstrates the risk of damage to the environment.” The prohibition is to be phased in over the next year. We at TBF are extremely disappointed the issue did not meet a formidable challenge before reaching the highest court in the nation. Their burgeoning sportfishing industry will surely suffer. To prevent

2020 Billfish Recaptures Update

The most important data received through TBF’s Tag & Release Program is recapture data. A recapture occurs when a tagged billfish is caught by a second angler subsequent to the tagging and release of a fish. Recapture data contributes toward gaining a better understanding of the species age and growth rates by comparing the reported estimated weight at the time of tagging with the estimated weight upon recapture with consideration given to the amount of time between the two events.  Recapture data also contributes to understanding a species possible site or area fidelity, if tagged and recaptured in the

Panama on the Chinese Maritime Silk Road?

Could China’s heavy financial investments in and aid to Panama along with the 47 recent trade agreements between the two nations possibly lead to a diminishment of Pacific fish stock abundance and sportfishing experiences in Panama?  Possibly. That was the fear among sportfishing and eco-tourism interests in Panama when recently learning that 13 large purse seine fishing vessels currently in Peru may soon be catching cobia and black skipjack tuna (bonito) off Panama, as part of an agreement with China. The purse seine caught fish are to be transshipped to a large Chinese processing vessel offshore in international