"filet guys"

last year, i got most of my adult cabrilla otolith samples from here on the beach in front of the hotel la pinta. These are some pictures of last year




This particular company has around 10 pangas of different sizes that take people out. The hotel la pinta has packages with arturo’s sportfishing so a lot of the people stay here and get picked up and dropped off at the beach right in front of their hotel. The fish get fileted under this little palapa and then either deep frozen for transport to the US (or wherever) or to take with the customer to a restaurant that will cook it for them or a bit of both.

Obviously getting fish like this makes the sampling a bit biased, but on one hand I know myself well enough to know I can’t kill as many fish as I need for my work. On the other hand, why not take advantage of the fact that people are fishing and much of their catch becomes trash after it is filleted? Plus being the fish geek I am, I learn a lot from the locals as well as get other species that I may not get otherwise.



and whenever i get other fish i take all their measurements and fin counts and just keep it as part of my database.

i also think of it as an opportunity to educate people, mostly the gringos that come here. I try to stay out of the way, and I mostly speak Spanish when i’m with the “filet guys”* but i’ll answer questions when asked. I usually don’t identify myself to the Americans as a biologist because when i do i tend to get yelled at about how i’m responsible for how people aren’t allowed to fish in the U.S. These are usually the guys who have had about 12 beers before noon on the boat in the sun so i try to blow them off, because 1) they’re drunk; 2) i’m not PERSONALLY responsible for any of the regulations on fisheries in the US and how if they want their children to be able to fish, enjoy fish, or eat fish we may need more regulations to protect what stocks we do have (*ahem* sorry was about to go off there….); 3) i recognize that Arturo has a business to run and he has thus far allowed me to freely sample the catches from his customers and even if he is not there everyday, i know i am only there because he allows it. but for the most part, people are actually curious. And don’t even get me started on how i feel about how people come down and exploit the resources here but i’ll stop here because this is a happy, informative blog! Hee.

But really for the most part a lot of them ask good questions. It feels like a mini-ichthyology class with all the different fish and explaining how different fish populations behave and that the 1 meter long jurel (yellowtail; Seriola lalandai) is only 3-4 years old compared to the 1 meter long cabrilla sardinera (leopard grouper; Mycteroperca rosacea) that is 26-30 years old. Or explaining the information that the otolith contains and why I’m taking them. Maybe they think I’m the stinky (ethanol and fish) crazy lady with the Tupperware container, hacksaw, and little vials and they are entertained while they are waiting for their filets, but maybe somebody is paying attention and investigates things on their own and starts to think about the impacts that are made on our natural systems.

Sometimes it makes me sad to know what people are taking from the ocean. For example, I found out that this shark was dropping pups when she was pulled out of the water.


[meh]Considering the size and development of the two remaining pups that were in her when she was filleted i doubt if the other pups survived. The kid that caught her didn’t seem to care, in fact, he was a bit excited he saw that (in an exhilirated scary movie kind of way, not a biological kind of way, if that makes sense). but his grandfather was asking me a bunch of questions about what i was doing and about the shark and he seemed a bit upset to know the condition of the female and her babies (he was on a different boat than the boy) and that the boy didn’t let her go. So who knows, maybe the grandfather will talk to the kid [/MEH]

*i use quotes around “filet guys” because that is what they used when i was close to leaving last year and they said “Michele, don’t forget to say ‘thank you filet guys’ when you are famous!”