TONY REYES TO CAPTURE LIVE TOTOABA FOR ENSENADA LAB

Oct. 15, 2005, Tony Reyes, Tony Reyes Fishing Tours, Totoaba Capture Trip Announcement, San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico:

JOSE ANDRES TO CAPTURE LIVE TOTOABA FOR ENSENADA LAB

Tony Reyes of Tony Reyes Fishing Tours said his San Felipe panga mothership Jose Andres will provide logistical support for a totoaba broodstock capturing expedition scheduled Nov. 4-10, 2005, by the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California (UABC) research lab in Ensenada, Baja California.

Reyes said the Jose Andres will travel to the Enchanted Islands and other locations in the northern Sea of Cortez under a special totoaba capture permit issued by Semarnat, the Mexican federal government's secretariat of natural resource protection, to UABC totoaba program director Conal David True.

Under the authority of the Semarnat permit, about 25 totoaba will be kept alive in special tanks to be installed on the Jose Andres. The fish will be returned alive to San Felipe and then transported by truck to the lab in Ensenada where they will be studied and bred.

Because the endangered fish are to be captured alive, Reyes said the Jose Andres will fish for them in shallow water so they may be hooked and brought to the surface without experiencing decompression shock. The boat will return to San Felipe repeatedly during the expedition, bringing about five or six fish at a time for transport to Ensenada, Reyes said.

The Jose Andres, captained by Capt. Cruz Borrego of Tony Reyes Fishing Tours, will carry a staff of UABC biologists who will supervise the captures. No paying passengers will be aboard the Jose Andres and no sportfishing will take place during the trip, Reyes said, as the boat will be operating exclusively under the Semarnat resarch permit issued to UABC.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from San Felipe and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for San Felipe may be found at Mexfish.com's main San Felipe page.