Port Aransas South Jetty

Researchers study tourneys to learn how fisheries change

History STAFF PHOTO BY PHIL REYNOLDS Megan Reese, Ginger Henley and Courtney Lee, from left, look over Deep Sea Roundup tournament records from the Port Aransas Boatmen Inc.-sponsored tournament. Reese and Lee, both from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, are researching changes in the types and sizes of fish caught over the tourney's life. Henley is keeper of the Port Aransas Boatmen Inc. records from years past. Researchers hope to learn more about changes in fish populations from the project, which should be finished late this year. Dr. Greg Stunz is looking for anglers. Anglers with photos. Anglers with data.

Stunz, a marine biologist at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Harte Research Institute, is doing a study of sport fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, along with researchers in Mississippi and Alabama.

"The idea is to find out what the changes have been in catches over the years," Stunz said. "We're looking at tournaments like the Deep Sea Roundup (in Port Aransas) and other old tournaments that go back 75 years or so. Back then, there were no regulations or any data on what people were catching. We think the tournaments are our best chance to learn how catches have changed."

Stunz also has a team of undergraduate students working with him to collect and collate the data from the tourneys. Among the things they're looking for are photos of Deep Sea Roundups of the past, showing the fish that have been caught.

"We're mostly interested in sharks right now - pelagic (oceangoing) sharks," he said.

Stunz said the tournament photos will be valuable because they show the actual fish caught during the competition, letting researchers identify the fish.

The study has been going on for about three weeks, and Stunz isn't certain yet exactly what it will show.

"A lot of this will depend on how much data we can find," he said.

Researchers were in Port Aransas last week thumbing through archive copies of the South Jetty and looking at memorabilia collected by Port Aransas Boatmen Inc., sponsors of the Deep Sea Roundup.

"We'll be back plenty of times," Stunz said. "We're hoping for a lot of information on the Deep Sea Roundup."

Once the data is collected, Stunz said researchers will sit down and try to draw conclusions from it.

He said the study should be finished before the end of this year.

Anyone with information about past Deep Sea Roundup catches or photos of past tournaments should call him at Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi, (361) 825-3254, Stunz said.