Bonefish & Tarpon Trust

Bonefish & Tarpon Trust BTT is a science-based organization dedicated to conserving flats fisheries and habitats.

Bonefish & Tarpon Trust is a science-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to conserve bonefish, tarpon and permit—the species, their habitats and the larger fisheries they comprise. BTT pursues this mission across the southeastern US, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean through science-based conservation, education and advocacy. Visit www.BTT.org to learn more and become a member of Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.

Thank you to our 15th Annual NYC Dinner & Awards Ceremony Sponsors!This Wednesday’s event will be a special celebration ...
10/06/2026

Thank you to our 15th Annual NYC Dinner & Awards Ceremony Sponsors!

This Wednesday’s event will be a special celebration of conservation and community in The Bahamas! BTT will honor Steve and Gretchen Burke for their support of conservation, commitment to rebuilding Grand Bahama's East End following Hurricane Dorian, and shared angling passions. The spotlight will also shine brightly on eight Bahamian fishing guides, Charles Albury, JR Albury, Leroy Glinton, Robert Meadows, Justin Sands, Danny Sawyer, Livingston Tate, and Shervin Tate, each receiving BTT's Flats Stewardship Award.

We look forward to this inspiring evening of flats fishery conservation!

The online auction will close on Thursday, October 8 at 6 pm. Be sure to check out the Live Auction Preview as well! https://onecau.se/_mvfuh1

More exciting items to bid on in BTT’s Annual NYC Dinner Auction! Your participation supports conservation efforts for c...
10/05/2026

More exciting items to bid on in BTT’s Annual NYC Dinner Auction! Your participation supports conservation efforts for clean water, healthy habitats, and thriving coastal fisheries. Find guided fishing trips, original works of art, travel and experiences, on-the-water tools, apparel, and more!

The auction doesn’t end until 6 pm on Thursday, October 8! 🔗https://onecau.se/_mvfuh1

Pat Ford
Fishpond
Skwala Fishing
Ashley Weber Art
YETI
Marsh Wear Clothing
Milkweed
El Pescador Lodge and Villas
Isla Bella Beach Resort
Swains Cay Resort
TURTLEBOX
Orlando Outfitters

The Online Auction for BTT’s Annual NYC Dinner supports conservation efforts for clean water, healthy habitats, and thri...
10/03/2026

The Online Auction for BTT’s Annual NYC Dinner supports conservation efforts for clean water, healthy habitats, and thriving coastal fisheries. Bid high and often on amazing travel opportunities, tools and supplies for days on the water and in the outdoors, fantastic gifts, one-of-a-kind works of art, and so much more!

Visit the auction here: https://onecau.se/_mvfuh1

BTT’s Annual NYC Dinner Online Auction is going on now through Thursday, October 8! Visit the link in our bio and storie...
10/02/2026

BTT’s Annual NYC Dinner Online Auction is going on now through Thursday, October 8! Visit the link in our bio and stories. 

Artwork Spotlight: “Seven Thousand Seventeen” by Sudal
This framed ink and watercolor painting by award-winning artist and illustrator Mike Sudal celebrates the connectivity of bonefish across the Bahamian ecosystem by featuring the 7,017 fish at the heart of one of BTT’s landmark research efforts. As a cornerstone of BTT’s Bahamas Initiative, a multi-island study deployed thousands of tags to map bonefish movements across the flats. Sudal’s hand-drawn tribute features the exact number of fish tagged for the study, honoring the science that proved all of the islands are connected and contributed to the creation of five new National Parks to forever protect their migratory paths.

East End Lodge

Bentleys Art
Costa Sunglasses
Tim O'Brien
GW DePauw III
Capt. Tommy Locke
Blue Bonefish Lodge
R.L. Winston Rod Company
Goodnews River Lodge
Montana Rodmakers Guild
PONCHO

10/02/2026

BTT’s Annual NYC Dinner Online Auction is NOW OPEN!

🎣 Bid high and bid often on unforgettable fishing experiences generously donated by some of the best guides on the water. Place your bids here: https://onecau.se/_mvfuh1

What else will you find in the Online Auction? Amazing travel opportunities, tools and supplies for days on the water and in the outdoors, fantastic gifts, one-of-a-kind works of art, and so much more!

Fishing guides are at the heart of BTT’s collaborative approach, working alongside scientists to shape and conduct research that drives conservation forward. A huge thank-you to these guides and captains who donated days on the water to support BTT’s mission:

Capt. Ryan Booth, Capt. GW DePauw III, Capt. Paul Dixon, Capt. Grif Helwig, Capt. Blake Kalk, Capt. Ethan Kiburz, Capt. Tommy Locke, Capt. Peter Lopez, Capt. Bryan McCravy, Capt. Rick Mungeam, Capt. Justin Nguyen, Capt. Gabe Nybald, Capt. Tim O’Rourke, Walker Parrott, Capt. Jason Press, Capt. Justin Sands, Capt. Danny Sawyer, Capt. Bo Sellers, Capt. Bryson Shaaber, Capt. Dexter Simmons, Capt. Jason Sullivan, Capt. Kai Survance, James Garretson, Capt. Scott Taylor, Capt. Al White, Capt. Chandler Williams, Capt. Chris Wilson, and Luca Castellani.

10/01/2026

Could relocating sharks that keep to a depredation hotspot be a good mitigation strategy? The cold spell that hit South Florida in January 2026 incidentally provided BTT researchers with a natural experiment, revealing the sharks’ ability to find their way home.

The researchers saw when the lemon sharks that they had previously tagged with acoustic transmitters left and returned to the Flamingo area of Everglades National Park during the cold spell. Satellite-tagged sharks revealed exactly where they went.

The most fascinating finding was that the sharks, despite traveling hundreds of miles, returned to the exact (or nearly the exact) location they had left weeks earlier. What this means for BTT’s efforts to determine science-based mitigation strategies is that the potential challenges of translocating conflict animals could be considerable.

BTT’s Florida Keys Shark Depredation Project is a multi-year research effort triggered by increasing shark-angler interactions and their potential impact on the flats fishery. The focus of this research is on shark depredation hotspots in the Keys, including Flamingo, and finding effective, science-backed mitigation strategies.

Read more: https://www.bonefishtarpontrust.org/blog/2026-09-30-tagging-data-from-floridas-2026-cold-spell-reveal-sharks-round-trip-journeys/

Thanks to Capt. Rob Fordyce for satellite tagging four lemon sharks for BTT, which you will see in the upcoming season of The SeaHunter Unleashed!

And the winner is… Capt. Dave Rimmer of Newbury, Massachusetts! Congratulations on winning the Ultimate Flats Boat Sweep...
09/28/2026

And the winner is… Capt. Dave Rimmer of Newbury, Massachusetts! Congratulations on winning the Ultimate Flats Boat Sweepstakes Grand Prize Floyd Skiff and prize package!

Capt. Rimmer is a longtime member of BTT whose career has been in conservation, including a program he started to boost local osprey populations. These days, he runs his guiding service, Joppa Charters, and fishes as much as he can.

Thank you to all of our sweepstakes participants for taking part in this fun chance to win while supporting BTT’s conservation efforts for clean water, healthy habitats, and thriving coastal fisheries.

We are especially grateful to Brian and Heidi Floyd of Floyd Skiff Co. for their remarkable generosity and commitment to conservation to benefit future generations, as this prize is the third skiff in as many years that they have donated to BTT.

And thank you to our sweepstakes sponsors Yamaha Rightwaters, Magic Tilt Trailers, Marquesa Marine, Simms, Fishpond, Costa, Turtlebox, Bajio, YETI, Danco, Sage, Rio Products, World Angling, and Shimano for making all four Sweepstakes prize packages spectacular!

BTT thanks the Trippe Tarpon Tournament’s anglers, guides, and organizers who raised $7,500 for BTT’s Florida Keys conse...
09/25/2026

BTT thanks the Trippe Tarpon Tournament’s anglers, guides, and organizers who raised $7,500 for BTT’s Florida Keys conservation efforts!

Now in its 23rd year, the Key West tournament made several notable format changes with the health of the fishery in mind: First, the 2026 event was moved from the traditional spring tarpon season, when fishing pressure in the Lower Keys is highest, to September. As founder Steve Trippe explained, “We have always been focused on conservation first, so it really did not make sense for us to be holding a singular focused (tarpon) tournament during a time when the resource as well as the fish are already under a tremendous amount of pressure.”

Other changes included opening up the tournament to include bonefish, permit, and mutton snapper, and dividing keys into zones and species limits to incentivize anglers and guides to catch one or two fish and then move on.

The winning teams revealed the age diversity among participants: first place went to Frank Smith and Alice Benson (assisted by Jeff Harkavy due to Alice’s school schedule), guided by Capt. Will Benson. Second place, including a Grand Slam, went to Steve Trippe and Luke Benson (assisted by Andrew O’Connor due to Luke’s school schedule), guided by Capt. Bill Houze.

“Having the young kids involved was great,” said Trippe. “Both Alice and Luke caught multiple fish and made great contributions to their teams. If these two youngsters represent the future of our sport, we are in very good hands.”

BTT appreciates the support of the tournament’s sponsors, YETI, Bajio Sunglasses, Derek DeYoung, and the Saltwater Angler. We also thank its organizers/advisors, Gannon Dudlar, Tim Smith, and Capt. Will Benson, who informed us that the plan for next year is to continue with the new, conservation-friendly format, come up with a new name (now that tarpon is not the only target), and continue donating to support BTT!

For their commitment to mangrove restoration and natural resource conservation in The Bahamas, BTT will honor eight Baha...
09/24/2026

For their commitment to mangrove restoration and natural resource conservation in The Bahamas, BTT will honor eight Bahamian fishing guides with the Flats Stewardship Award: Charles Albury, JR Albury, Leroy Glinton, Robert Meadows, Justin Sands, Danny Sawyer, Livingston Tate, and Shervin Tate. The award recognizes their support of BTT’s Bahamas Mangrove Restoration Project since it began in 2021, and their continued leadership in coastal conservation efforts that will benefit future generations.

Restoration and Recovery is the theme of the 15th Annual NYC Dinner & Awards Ceremony, coming up on October 7. The program will highlight the extraordinary progress being made to restore critical habitats and strengthen the communities that depend on them in The Bahamas.

The NYC Dinner is now sold out! Stay tuned for the online auction, with opportunities to support BTT’s conservation mission by bidding on trips, fishing gear, works of art, and so much more.

09/23/2026

Tarpon spawn far offshore in deep water, and then the tiny, transparent larvae—called leptocephali—begin a month-long journey from the open ocean into coastal estuaries.

Once inside the estuary, the journey is far from over: The leptocephali must traverse varying habitats, including seagrass beds, oyster reefs, and shoals full of predators, until they reach their final destination, where they can safely continue their transformation into juvenile tarpon.

During the juvenile stage, a tarpon looks like a miniature version of the adults. Juvenile tarpon tend to thrive in backbay creeks and protected estuarine environments. While predators can’t breathe in these low-oxygen waters, the juvenile tarpon can with the help of their swim bladder.

In order to ensure future generations of tarpon continue their epic migrations along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, BTT has made protecting and restoring these juvenile tarpon habitats a major priority. Learn more about the Southwest Florida restoration projects BTT has in the works at BTT.org/juvenile-tarpon-habitat-initiative.

Thanks to BTT’s research collaborators:

Lucas Griffin
University of South Florida
USF College of Arts & Sciences
UMass Amherst
UMass College of Natural Sciences
ECO @ UMass
Andy Danylchuk
Carleton University
Steven Cooke

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2937 SW 27th Avenue Suite 203
Miami, FL
33133

Telephone

+17866189479

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