'Fishmas' in July

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Posted on July 23, 2024

Michelle Matthews

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Beneath the white tent next to the weigh station at the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo on Dauphin Island, it was organized chaos as students wearing pale blue 鈥�91短视频 Fisheries鈥� T-shirts waited to see what fish would come to them next. 

On the first morning of the 91st annual event, billed as the world鈥檚 largest fishing tournament, a steady drizzle kept the heat away. By midday, as anglers arrived at an increasingly steadily pace to unload their catch, the dark clouds had parted and a blue sky took their place. For the students working in six different stations, each boat held possibility.

鈥淭his is one of our busiest times of the year,鈥� said Manuel Coffill-Rivera, a Ph.D. student in the Stokes School of Marine and Environmental Sciences at the University of South Alabama. 鈥淚t seems chaotic, but there鈥檚 a method to our madness.鈥�

Coffill-Rivera was working in the tent as part of a team led by Dr. Sean Powers, Angelia and Steven Stokes endowed professor in environmental resiliency and director of the marine sciences school. The lab was taking samples from specific fish to study reproductive dynamics and basic life history. From muscle and eye samples, the students can determine a lot of information about the fish, from what they鈥檙e eating to their movement dynamics.

Suddenly, a student rushed a large cobia into the tent.

鈥淒ibs!鈥� yelled Coffill-Rivera. After situating the fish on the table in front of him, he expertly plunged a knife into its belly. 鈥淭hese are the gonads,鈥� he said seconds later, holding them in his bloody hand. 鈥淪o this is a female fish. We鈥檒l use this to do histology on the reproductive phase of fish.鈥�

Next, he removed the fish鈥檚 eyeballs to remove and study the lenses. As other students cleaned and bagged the samples he鈥檇 retrieved, he sawed into the fish鈥檚 neck to find the otoliths, or ear stones, which are present from birth and grow out as the fish grows. 鈥淭his is the primary method of aging fish,鈥� Coffill-Rivera said. 鈥淲e take a cross-section and count the growth rings. We also look at what elements have accreted into the otolith. That helps us with understanding their ecology.鈥�

Most of the fish being caught and sampled at the rodeo on the first morning were from anglers fishing inshore. The students were looking forward to larger fish coming in late in the afternoon from offshore boats, and even more on Saturday and Sunday from more tournament participants.

鈥楢n amazing opportunity to collect data鈥�

The University of South Alabama has been involved in the fishing rodeo since 1989, when two competing fishermen argued about what type of fish they had caught. 

鈥淭hey were about to come to blows,鈥� said Powers, who has served as a judge at the annual event for the past 10 years. His predecessor, Dr. Bob Shipp, who was at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab at the time, was lured in to identify the species: a white marlin.

The fishing rodeo started with a cannon blast at 5 a.m. on Friday, July 19, and ended at 5 p.m. on Sunday, July 21, with 4,000 anglers competing for 33 species of fish 鈥� some of which, like the juvenile blue marlin and the white marlin, look very similar. That鈥檚 when scientists come into play to give an objective determination of the species and its weight.

鈥淭hirty-three species represent an amazing opportunity to collect data,鈥� said Powers. 鈥淗ere, I have the best fishermen in the region collecting fish for free for me.鈥�

At this year鈥檚 fishing rodeo, graduate students sampled a variety of fish from the Gulf of Mexico, with a focus on red snapper, grouper, flounder and speckled trout. 鈥淭he fish aren鈥檛 being wasted,鈥� Powers said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e used to advance science.鈥�

Marine science students refer to the rodeo as 鈥淔ishmas,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like Christmas for us geek fishery students.鈥�

About 20 graduate students, along with some 50 undergraduate volunteers and faculty members from South as well as eight other universities, participated in the event. 鈥淎ll our colleagues are always jealous,鈥� Powers said. 鈥淲e coordinate all the science that goes on.鈥�

Students holding clipboards conducted social science surveys with some 300 anglers under the leadership of Dr. Steven Scyphers, an associate professor who studies the social component of fisheries with several Ph.D. students in his lab. 鈥淲e do the survey every year,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 always some issue we want to know about.鈥�

One of Powers鈥檚 favorite categories in the tournament is 鈥淢ost Unusual Fish.鈥� 鈥淒r. Shipp started it years ago,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e get incredibly cool fish 鈥� frog fish, snake mackerels, scorpion fish, things students would never get to see.鈥�

This year, the most unusual fish was a blunt head puffer. 鈥淒r. Shipp described that as a new species in 1969,鈥� Powers said. 鈥淏ob always lamented that he never saw that species turned in. Now we have it. Kind of poetic given the passing of Dr. Shipp this past year.鈥�

Powers estimated that 3,000 to 4,000 fish are weighed in each year, with almost 1,000 fish sampled. The tournament is sponsored by the Mobile Jaycees, who have donated more than $500,000 to South鈥檚 marine science program, Powers said. 

There were hands-on opportunities for spectators at the rodeo, too. Between the weigh-in station and the labs was the 鈥渋ce box,鈥� filled with bags of ice and recently caught, labeled fish 鈥� bonito, gafftopsail catfish, red drum, white trout, sheepshead and a large stingray, among others. 

鈥淭his is a sampling of different fish for the public to see and touch and ask questions about,鈥� said Dr. Amy Sprinkle, an assistant professor who serves as the undergraduate program coordinator at the Stokes School. 鈥淭his is always a fun weekend.鈥�

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