Anglers fish with hooks, lines, and sinkers to get their catch of the day.
Biologists on the other hand use electrofishing to stun and collect their wild specimens, and state scientists needed the shocking upper hand to catch and release their latest fish of study – the prized snook. Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) researchers on Monday, Dec. 13, launched a multi-year endeavor to learn more about how and when common snook swim during the winter into King’s Bay, Crystal River, for warmth within its springs.
“You can’t really manage a population of fish unless you understand their biology,” said Kym Rouse Holzwart, manager of the King’s Bay, Crystal River System Snook Tagging Project. “Results will also contribute to the overall understanding of the King’s Bay ecosystem.” SWFWMD partnered with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) Nature Coast Biological Station to tag and monitor snook through to the end of 2023.
“I’m really excited about this collaborative team,” said Holzwart, a senior environmental scientist with SWFWMD. “We have the snook experts of Florida so I feel very fortunate we have the ‘A-team’ for this project.”
This study started after years of SWFWMD and FWC fishery data confirmed observations in recent years of snook expanding farther north during the winter along Florida’s coasts to seek thermal refuge inshore.