Beyond the Gulf: HRI Researchers Launch New Research Efforts in Panama

This summer, researchers from the Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation at the Harte Research Institute traveled to Tropic Star Lodge in Panama to work with Jessica Harvey from the Guy Harvey Foundation, laying the groundwork for an exciting new research initiative in the Eastern Tropical Pacific.

Harte Research Institute, Guy Harvey Foundation, and collaborators across the United States and Panama are expanding research beyond the Gulf to better understand some of the Pacific's most iconic gamefish. Working from the revered Tropic Star Lodge in Piñas Bay, the partnership focuses on deploying satellite, acoustic, and conventional tags on blue marlin and sailfish to study their movements, habitat use, and connectivity throughout the Eastern Tropical Pacific and beyond.

Getting the project underway required months of preparation. The first major challenge was packing and shipping specialized research equipment to Panama, a process that took nearly two months. But once the gear arrived and the team landed in Panama, work began as soon as they reached the Lodge.

Over a 10-day expedition, researchers worked long days that often started at 5 a.m. and ended after sunset. The team deployed acoustic receivers, attached satellite tags to billfish, and worked with Lodge staff and guests to discuss and strengthen a new citizen-science tagging program focused on billfish, roosterfish, and cubera snapper. Their efforts paid off, with researchers successfully electronically tagging 20 sailfish in less than a week on the water and lodge guests tagged over 40 additional fish with conventional tags. Excitingly, some recaptures as far away as Costa Rica have already been reported!

Billfish are highly migratory apex predators, and understanding where they go, when they move, and how they use offshore and coastal habitats provides critical insight for fisheries management and conservation. By combining the Sportfish Center's tagging and fisheries science expertise with the Guy Harvey Foundation's long-standing commitment to billfish conservation, the partnership is generating valuable data that will help support science-based management and international conservation efforts.

Stay Tuned to watch the expedition unfold! Follow us on social media over the coming weeks for behind-the-scenes photos, field highlights, and updates from the team. We'll also be releasing a video deep dive of the summer Panama expedition in November, offering an inside look at the people, research, partnerships, and adventures that made this groundbreaking effort possible.