CONSERVATION EFFORTS
Conservation at Tropic Star Lodge
Tropic Star Lodge has long been a leader in Conservation, focused on protecting our oceans, our jungle surroundings and their inhabitants.
We universally adopted the use of circle hooks in the early nineties to improve the survival rates of released fish. Tropic Star, along with various leaders of Panama have been responsible for establishing a 20-mile non-commercial fishing zone around the plentiful waters off Piñas Bay along with a billfish decree that protects all billfish from being killed commercially. Our ongoing conservation efforts, resulted in the Panamanian Government recognizing and declaring that Roosterfish are all catch and release in Panama.
There is growing pressure on the world’s oceans and the poor management of fisheries is getting worse in some areas. We are obligated to make a difference wherever we can in ocean conservation and stewardship. Tropic Star Lodge is fortunate to be working with some of the best, brightest and most passionate conservationists from around the world. All of us striving for the same goal– to protect this incredible resource for generations to come and to be examples to future generations and how we can make a change.
Eastern Tropical Seascape Research Project
Saving the Ocean from threats like overfishing, illegal fishing and pollution is beyond the scope of any single conservation group. Offering scientific evidence is critical to scientific understanding leading to credible resource management. That is why Nova Southeastern University (NSU) and it’s Guy Harvey Research Institute (GHRI) have joined the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation (GHOF) and Tropic Star Lodge in a special environmentally important research project: The Eastern Tropical Seascape Project.
Dolphinfish Research Program
In November, 2018, the Beyond Our Shores Foundation began work to expand the Dolphinfish Research Program to the Tropic Star Lodge in southwestern Panama. This work continues today and is funded in part by the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation (GHOF). This research is one component of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape (ETPS) project which is a partnership between GHOF, the Guy Harvey Research Institute, Nova Southeastern University and TSL. The objective of the ETPS project is to tag and collect migratory data from 3 species of billfish (sailfish, blue and black marlin) in the Pacific Ocean in order to shed light on the differences between the habitat use of the 3 species. In addition, the project aims to collect migratory data on sharks, rooster fish, and dolphinfish.
In terms of dolphinfish and our involvement in the ETPS project, through the end of August 2019, a total of 381 dolphin have been tagged and released by 15 vessels and approximately 137 anglers. This effort has led to the recovery of 9 dolphin in the EPO.
Interestingly, the most recent recovery represents the furthest movement recorded to date and reveals a major discovery regarding the movement dynamics of this species in the EPO. Click here to read about this amazing recovery.
