This whole undertaking got started with one simple question “Where do the fish go when they are not here?” To answer that question the team sourced PSAT tags. At that point we had a lot of ideas as to what was going on but no one really had tested any hypothesis. So we received our tags and developed protocols on the fly for deploying the tags. Our aim was to determine, if we indeed could, where the sailfish went on their seasonal migration. Some of our thoughts were:
a) that they migrated offshore towards Cocos Island.
b) perhaps they migrate north to Mexico or south towards the equator
c) or do they migrate just randomly?
As a result of deploying 23 PSATs over the course of several years we have been able to say with some level of confidence that generally in the short run they move up and down the coast with no apparent end point. But when they decide it’s time to migrate they head way offshore, but not to Cocos Island. Instead they head away from the coast at about a 45 degree angle towards Ecuador or simply just offshore. See the chart below.
The BillfishResearch.Org team believes that another round of 25 PSATs would really define a migration pattern if one exists, or rather confirm the randomness of their movements. The complete data set is available to researchers. If you have any questions about this data please contact our Chief Science Advisor, Dr. John Mark Dean via e-mail.
Here is a collection of photos from our first few deployments.
