DOLPHINFISH RESEARCH PROGRAM ADDS GUATEMALA

Casa Vieja Lodge accelerates data collection in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

- WESSLEY MERTEN, PH.D.

For most anglers who venture to Guatemala's Casa Vieja Lodge, dorado is not likely the target species. The superior power and size of blue and black marlin, striped marlin, and sailfish combined with high encounter rates-make those species the goal. For me, however, dorado is the research subject-not because I don't enjoy catching marlin and sails, but because dorado is one of the most poorly understood and documented fish species in our oceans, especially off the coast of Guatemala.

In a recent search of dorado landings associated with the Food and Agricultural Organization's global landings database, which is the global source for quantifying annual landings of virtually any finfish or shellfish species, the government of Guatemala recorded only 1 metric ton of dorado landings in 2019. In fact, of all the nations with commercially harvested dorado in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean, Guatemala ranks last. Yet, artisanal pelagic longline activity is high and might rival adjacent efforts off El Salvador or Nicaragua.

ACCURACY IS KEY

Surely one would imagine that this fishery would amount to orders of magnitude greater than 1 metric ton of annual commercial landings. Why does this matter? If you like to eat dorado when you travel to the eastern Pacific, or if you live anywhere throughout the region and want to continue to rely on dorado as a food source, it is important to make strides toward improving our ability to document and understand this iconic gamefish. Without accurate landings, movement, and growth data, enabling a sustainable dorado fishery in the region will be impossible.