“I love to fish. I’ve always been interested in science and wanted to understand why fish do what they do,” Cantrell said. “I was dismayed to realize as a teenager that the odds of making a living out of catching fish were extremely low. Yet, here I am two decades later, doing just that in ways I never imagined.”

Cantrell is the founder of Galveston Sea Ventures, an offshore charter company based out of Galveston, Texas, specializing in deep-sea fishing for recreational anglers. His search for a degree program connected to his passion for fish landed him at Texas A&M University’s Galveston Campus to pursue marine science, focusing on fisheries. His career spans projects in commercial fishing for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shoreline assessments following the BP Deep Water Horizon oil spill and fisheries management policy in Washington, D.C.

Now, he’s helping researchers at Texas A&M’s Gulf Research Institute for Highly Migratory Species (GRIHMS) preserve his livelihood and the nation’s seafood supply.

“We know very little about the long-range fish that GRIHMS studies. They live in the open ocean and travel vast distances,” Cantrell said. “What they are doing could be truly groundbreaking and provide information we never knew before.”

GRIHMS’s research on coastal and offshore fish helps U.S. fisheries create sustainable management plans. This work focuses on billfishes, sharks, tarpons, tunas and wahoos that can swim thousands of miles in one trip. Their populations are threatened by habitat loss and different conservation rules across state and international borders.

“These species are what we call the ‘blue travelers’ of the Gulf,’ and our research is filling data gaps about habitat requirements and movement pathways to help NOAA and other agencies refine operating models for the sustainable management of these species,” said Dr. Jay Rooker, director of GRIHMS.

Rooker, an international expert in marine ecology, developed the Institute in partnership with fellow Texas A&M marine scientists and has established a Gulf-wide network of researchers of marine scientists, resources managers and recreational angers to support the work.

The Gulf generates $20 billion in commercial and recreational fishing revenue for the U.S. Recreational fishing alone accounts for more than half of that total. Last year, anglers took over 550,000 gulf fishing trips and caught over 25 million pounds of tuna, marlin, sailfish, swordfish and sharks.

“The ecosystems that produce our nation’s seafood rely on the species GRIHMS studies to remain productive and healthy,” said Cantrell. “The data provided to regulatory agencies like NOAA directly impact my livelihood and the livelihoods of commercial fisheries now and in the future. We rely on those regulations for business stability and to ensure we have enough fish in the future. That’s the most critical aspect of running a business that involves natural resources.”

Working In North America’s Most Productive Marine Ecosystem

The institute uses various tools, including electronic tags and natural chemical tracers, to find geographical and environmental factors that affect fish lifespans. Researchers track patterns using acoustic tags placed on fish by scientists and recreational anglers. The data collected from the tags and data from chemical markers in a fish’s hard parts, such as otoliths or ear bones, contain a record of a fish’s life history and help researchers fully understand habitat requirements, migratory patterns and life histories of highly migratory fish.

“Our research represents a significant advancement in population assessments for highly migratory species by NOAA Fisheries and international fisheries management organizations such as the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas,” Rooker explained.

Fisheries are bodies of water where fish are caught for profit or recreation. NOAA Fisheries oversees their management in the U.S. NOAA works with state and international councils to manage the world’s largest fishery. It covers eight regions and 4.4 million square miles of ocean. These areas make up the U.S. exclusive economic zone that extends 200 miles into the oceans around the U.S.

GRIHMS uses the unique habitat of the Gulf for the bulk of its efforts. It is home to the largest fish biomass in the U.S. It also borders five states and the countries of Mexico and Cuba. These two factors create an ideal setting for research investigating population risks of fish that regularly traverse state and international borders.

“The Gulf serves as a critical spawning, nursery and foraging habitat for various migratory species under federal management by NOAA Fisheries,” explained Rooker. “Many of these species move freely between the Gulf and Atlantic waters, leading to situations where protective measures established by state and federal resource managers are of limited value once they move outside of U.S. waters. We need to better understand the impact of their movements to adjust our management practices inside the United States and support other organizations doing the same.”

Blue Travelers Of The Gulf

Highly migratory species can travel far beyond NOAA’s protections. They often go thousands of miles during their lifetime. This may put them in waters with high fishing pressure, threatening their populations. Tarpon, bigeye and bluefin tuna, blue and white marlin, scalloped hammerhead sharks and shortfin mako sharks are among the species GRIHMS investigates. They are all listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as endangered, threatened or vulnerable species.

Highly migratory fish support a global chain of marine communities that produce the world’s seafood. As predators, they are essential for the health, productivity and stability of coastal and open ocean ecosystems. Knowing their habitat needs and movement patterns helps fisheries protect their populations. It also aids in safeguarding the marine communities that rely on them.

Connecting To Conserve

Researchers often join recreational anglers on offshore trips to tag released fish. Those experiences are helping the institute develop a new program that teaches anglers to mount acoustic tags on adult tarpon before releasing them back into the wild.

Anglers prize tarpon because they are difficult to catch. They are also under strict fishing population regulations. Some Gulf states require anglers to release any caught, while others limit catches to one fish per year.

“Reeling in a tarpon is physically and mentally demanding. They have no commercial or harvest value, but the memory of catching and releasing one lasts a lifetime. It’s a story you pass down to your grandchildren,” Cantrell said with a laugh. “That level of emotional investment is priceless. GRIHMS’s tarpon program taps into that passion. They become vested in protecting the fisheries so their children and grandchildren can have the same experience.”

The institute also works with Hilton’s Marine, which provides satellite data, to install underwater time-lapse cameras and acoustic transponders on fish aggregating devices (FAD). FADs look like buoys on the surface but have built-in places for small fish to hide and gather below the surface. FADs benefit scientists and recreational anglers by:

• Attracting the food sources of predatory fish by providing shelter in open water,
• Creating higher, concentrated populations of predatory fish,
• Providing a stable, long-term home for scientific research and
• Indirectly supporting surrounding regions with increased economic activity related to recreational fishing.

GRIHMS researchers also perform fieldwork through the Galveston Campus’s marina that supports research, training and teaching activities.

Amplified Impacts

GRIHMS work advances Texas A&M’s sea-grant mission to help create sustainable economies, protect healthy coastal ecosystems and marine life and improve the use of ocean resources in Texas and beyond.

Last year, GRIHMS joined Texas A&M’s new College of Marine Sciences and Maritime Studies, which has the widest range of marine, coastal and maritime degrees, research and services in the country and is home to 16 research centers and institutes dedicated to advancing the blue economy.

The College of Marine Sciences and Maritime Studies is in North America’s most productive marine ecosystem, with the nation’s top marine scientists in offices next door. You can’t beat it.

“Everyone in the lab has their own reasons for loving this research. Some grew up fishing, others enjoy diving and some just love the ocean,” explained GRIHMS program coordinator Landes Randall. “But the reason we’re doing that work at the College of Marine Sciences and Maritime Studies is the same. We’re in North America’s most productive marine ecosystem, with the nation’s top marine scientists in offices next door. You can’t beat it.”

Learn more about GRIHMS by following them on social media and signing up for their newsletter.

Follow Galveston Sea Ventures on social media for an up-close view of deep-sea fishing and discover more about their conservation activities.