Outdoor Gulf Coast of Northwest Florida » Mississippi http://www.outdoorgulfcoast.com Go Explore Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:12:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Gulf Coast Oil Spill http://www.outdoorgulfcoast.com/gulf-coast-oil-spillnational-day-of-prayer/ http://www.outdoorgulfcoast.com/gulf-coast-oil-spillnational-day-of-prayer/#comments Thu, 06 May 2010 15:03:16 +0000 Lindy http://www.outdoorgulfcoast.com/?p=2386 On April 20, 2010, a BP (British Petroleum) oil rig exploded very near us in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil may be on our beaches sometime soon.
We are all devastated by this recent oil spill that will be affecting all of us in some way. Offshore drilling may never end, but lessons will be learned and changes will be made. Please take some time today and pray.

Also, here is a list posted by the Pensacola News Journal of ways to volunteer:

BP issued phone numbers for the following inquiries:

• To report oiled wildlife: Call (866) 557-1401 and leave a message. Messages will be checked hourly.

Volunteer opportunities

• BRACE, United Way and First Call for Help are organizing volunteers for cleanup after the oil reaches the shores.

To register to volunteer, call 595-5905 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Registration is required for a four-hour health and safety training classes for handling petroleum-contaminated materials.

Escambia County has online self-registration at www.BeReadyEscambia.com/training. Choose from one of four classes. The Citizen Information Line at (850) 471-6600 will be able to register people who do not have computer access between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day.

Escambia County will add additional classes as these fill up.

• To become a part of the Santa Rosa County volunteer data base for volunteer opportunities that may arise, contact the Volunteer Reception Center operated through Help Thy Neighbors in coordination with emergency management at 983-5223.


]]> http://www.outdoorgulfcoast.com/gulf-coast-oil-spillnational-day-of-prayer/feed/ 2 Fish Tagging – Conservation At Its Core http://www.outdoorgulfcoast.com/fish-tagging-conservation/ http://www.outdoorgulfcoast.com/fish-tagging-conservation/#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:07:09 +0000 Chris Williams http://www.outdoorgulfcoast.com/?p=651 Cooperative Marine Sport Fish Tagging ProgramDo you ever wonder where all the scientists and organizations such as the The Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) get their statistics on fish populations? Well, they use a variety of methods, one of which is through a tagging program such as the one that the State of Louisiana’s Cooperative Marine Sport Fish Tagging Program has started. This program is funded by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries through a Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration grant from the US Fish & Wildlife Service. The importance of tagging studies has been well established and began with studies conducted as early as the 17th century.

The CCA of Louisiana gave anglers the opportunity to participate in this process by starting a volunteer tagging program. Since 1987 the program has used more than 1,400 volunteer taggers, tagging over 105,000 fish. The main focus of this tagging program is to introduce volunteer anglers to more qualitative or “scientific” methods for reporting their tag and recapture information. The more precise the data will yield to more specific information that can be used in measuring the populations of the fish.

The best part of this program is you do not have to tag fish strictly in Louisiana. You can catch them right here on the Gulf Coast and tag any sized Speckled trout or redfish you release alive.

Here are some of the basics of the program for you:

* Tag Spotted Sea trout “Speckled trout” and Red drum “redfish” of any size in any  water body in any state

* All that they ask is that volunteers complete the data cards with the required fields   and return them in to us for data tracking purposes

* They also ask that GPS coordinates be included on the data card for data analysis and tracking. Volunteers are reminded that this data is for biologist’s use only and will not be shared with the public. So NO private fishing spots will be reveled.

* Whenever someone recaptures a fish that you tagged a recapture report will be sent to the tagging and the recapture angler letting them know where the fish was tagged and recaptured (brief location information/no GPS coordinates), how long the fish was at large and the measurements at the time of tagging and recapturing.

* All supplies are provided to volunteers free of charge and tagging kit includes instructions on how to fill out the data card as well as how to tag the fish.

If you would like to volunteer for this program (as I did), please send the following information in an email to fishtags@wlf.louisiana.gov. It will surely be one of the most rewarding things you will ever do.

  • Name
  • Address
  • Phone number
  • Email address
  • Do you own a GPS unit? Yes or no
  • Area Generally fished:
  • Have you ever participated in a tagging program before? Yes or no
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