Outdoors

Tarpon tourney abandons release plan

Tarpon roundup organizers say releasing the game fish, rather than killing them, is too expensive.

By TERRY TOMALIN
Published May 3, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - The Suncoast Tarpon Roundup, which last year accounted for 94 percent of the tarpon reported killed in Florida, has abandoned plans to move to an all-release format and will continue to kill tarpon when it starts May21.

"The members and board overwhelming opposed any change," said Clark Nash, one of the tournament's directors. "This is the way things have been done for 71 years and that is the way they want it to be."

Last year, Nash announced that by 2006, tarpon would no longer be killed and weighed for prizes and trophies.

Tarpon are not valued as table fare in the United States, and as a result most anglers, even those fishing in tournaments, release the fish after being caught.

But the St. Petersburg-based tarpon roundup is unique in several ways: It is the last major kill tournament of its kind in Florida, and the tournament takes place over a 10-week period with prizes awarded every week.

In Boca Grande, often referred to as the "Tarpon Fishing Capital of Florida," anglers participating in one-day events bring their catch to a centrally located floating barge where they are weighed and released.

But for the roundup, with its large geographic boundaries, floating weigh stations would be impractical and cost prohibitive.

"We took several trips to Boca Grande to see if a similar system was feasible here," Nash said. "But the more we looked into it, the more we realized that it would be expensive."

During last year's roundup, anglers caught about 2,000 fish, 46 of which were killed. According to state officials, who track tarpon deaths by tag returns, 49 fish were killed during the entire year.

"That is wrong and that is all there is to it," said Doug Kelly, executive director of Bonefish & Tarpon Unlimited, an anglers advocacy group. "It has been shown in both Boca Grande and the Florida Keys that you don't have to kill tarpon to have a successful tournament. There must be a lot of money running on it."

Nash and his wife, Karen, the tournament's president, said the event loses money.

"We bring in about $35,000 (in entry fees) and we spend about that much," Clark Nash said. "In 2003, the first year we ran it, I spent $20,000 of my own money. Last year I spent $11,000."

This year's tarpon roundup entry form advertises $100,000 in cash and prizes and a final day grand prize, all contingent on the number of entries.

The tournament's Web site also states that the 2004 roundup benefited Tampa Bay Watch Inc., a local nonprofit environmental group dedicated to habitat preservation and restoration.

"We got $1,500 from them the first year," said Peter Clark, executive director for Tampa Bay Watch. "But we didn't receive anything last year."

Karen Nash said Bay Watch was not supposed to be a beneficiary in 2004 and its listing on the tournament Web site was a mistake. "I don't know how that happened," she said. "I'll have to talk to my Web people about that."

When told that the tournament had abandoned its plans to become a catch and release event, Clark said, "one of the reasons we joined in as a beneficiary is because they expressed a desire to move to a catch and release format."

The roundup also has developed a relationship with the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, the state agency charged with managing tarpon and other fish stocks.

"We started that relationship hoping we would get some information regarding catch and release," said Luiz Barbieri, program administrator for the institute. "We have told them that a dead fish is not as valuable to us as information from one that has been released."

The institute's logo is displayed on the tournament's Web site, but Barbieri said the state does not "endorse or sponsor the tournament in any way."

Nash and his wife said they thought since they provided the state with data from more than 750 tarpon that were caught and released in 2003, it was fair to mention the program in tournament brochures and on the Web site. In 2004, state biologists received 14 dead tarpon for study but no information on fish that were caught and released, Barbieri said.

"As far as we are concerned, we would rather see a dead tarpon put to at least some good use (for study) instead of just being thrown in a Dumpster," Barbieri added.

Meanwhile, Kelly said he will send a letter to his organization's membership, which include sportfishing legends such as Stu Apte, Billy Pate and Lefty Kreh, detailing the tournament board's decision and calling for a plan of action.

"If we have to, we'll contact the tournament's sponsors," he said. "We are not going to sit back and do nothing."

Adding to the tournament's problems is the recent arrest of Karen Nash on a charge of grand theft. According to court documents, she is accused of embezzling $31,000 from former employer Don Ferrell.

Nash said she is innocent and will fight the charges in court.

Karen Nash also worked as a bookkeeper for Tampa Bay Newspapers Inc., an affiliate of the Times, for about six months, according to Andrew Corty, vice president of Times Publishing Co.

"The company placed her on paid leave last week after allegations of fraud surfaced," Corty said.

Ferrell also furnished the Times with what he said was evidence of financial irregularities within the roundup. When asked about Ferrell's allegations, the Nashes said the tournament's books are open and that they would welcome an independent audit.

The nonprofit Suncoast Tarpon Roundup Inc., has approximately 250 members and is governed by a seven-member board including Jay Mastry, who writes a fishing column for the Times.

[Last modified May 3, 2005, 01:18:22]