Celebrating a Banner Year For Conservation!
2025 has been a remarkable year for Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, from the completion of the spinning fish research project to the protection of the Biscayne Bay bonefish pre-spawning aggregation site. We’ve also made significant gains in our efforts to restore mangroves in The Bahamas and juvenile tarpon habitats in Florida, all while advancing important research projects and conducting the best International Science Symposium in the event’s history. Thank you to our many supporters for helping us achieve these accomplishments, which we share in this year’s Top 10 (plus one)!
1. Protecting Florida’s Spawning Bonefish
BTT successfully advocated this year to protect a bonefish pre-spawning aggregation (PSA) site discovered by BTT scientists in 2023 in Florida’s Biscayne National Park. Guided by BTT’s science, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) voted at its August 2025 meeting to enact a three-month spawning season closure of the site. This action effectively closes a sensitive 1.74-square-mile area to all fishing from March through May over the next five years, after which the closure will be reviewed. Protecting the site during peak spawning season is critical for the continued recovery of Florida’s bonefish population. BTT has also expanded its research to the Lower Keys, where we are investigating a potential bonefish PSA site west of Key West. Thus far, our scientists have sharpened our search in a five-mile area near the Western Dry Rocks Wildlife Management Area.
2. Restoring the Everglades and Improving Florida’s Water Quality
Everglades restoration gained momentum in 2025. Among the milestone championed by BTT and partners were the completion of the Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands project—a significant step forward for Biscayne Bay’s health, wetland rehydration, coastal resiliency, and water quality in Miami-Dade County—and the launch of the Blue Shanty Flow-way, a key component of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), which works to restore the quality, quantity, timing, and distribution of water across the Greater Everglades Ecosystem.
Additional advances include groundbreaking for the C-43 Reservoir and Lake Hicpochee projects to improve water quality flowing into the Caloosahatchee River, as well as for Palm Beach County’s EAA Reservoir Inflow Pump Station, one of the largest and most crucial pump stations in Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis also recently announced $112 million in statewide water quality grants as well as nearly $30 million in new investments to further improve Biscayne Bay water quality and support Florida’s Coral Reef.
3. Investigating the “Spinning Fish” Phenomenon
With support from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), BTT completed a comprehensive research study into the causes of the “spinning fish” phenomenon in the Florida Keys. The report of the findings and recommendations has been provided to FWC. This phenomenon, which first emerged in fall 2023, impacting more than 80 species, including the critically endangered smalltooth sawfish. While reports of spinning fish declined during the spring and summer of 2024, researchers observed abnormal behavior and sawfish mortalities re-emerging in smaller numbers starting in late 2024 and early 2025.
The research from BTT and our partners shed new light on the potential cause and its effects. The main suspect is a microscopic algae named Gambierdiscus that is found on the seafloor. Elevated levels of Gambierdiscus were detected in water and bottom samples from affected areas, and we know these algae produce potent neurotoxins. Researchers confirmed the presence of these very toxins in affected fish tissues and water samples—a major breakthrough. A report of BTT’s findings and recommendations was provided to FWC, which assumed the lead role as of July 1 for future monitoring and mitigation.
4. Reviving Juvenile Tarpon Habitat in Southwest Florida
Through its Juvenile Tarpon Habitat Initiative, BTT is identifying and restoring essential nursery habitat in Florida to ensure healthy tarpon populations for the future. Earlier this year, BTT completed the assessment of six sites along the Gulf Coast, selecting four for restoration planning, all of which support Boca Grande’s world-renowned tarpon fishery. These new projects build on BTT’s earlier work at Coral Creek and on the organization’s ongoing efforts at Rookery Bay in Collier County, where BTT is leading the restoration of two large-scale projects to conserve important habitat for fish and wildlife, restore natural flows and mangroves, and strengthen coastal resilience in the region. Similarly, in Mexico, BTT is partnering with Ducks Unlimited and Ducks Unlimited Mexico to restore coastal habitat along the northwest Yucatán that supports both tarpon and waterfowl.
5. Addressing Shark Depredation
To address the dramatic increase in shark-angler interactions, BTT launched the Florida Keys Shark Depredation Project, which is studying the interactions by location, season, and fishing method. The results will inform future management decisions to limit harmful impacts to our valuable flats fishery. BTT began the project in 2024 by surveying anglers and guides who fish inshore, from Biscayne Bay south to Key West, and west to Florida Bay and the Everglades, to collect information about their experiences with sharks. This was followed by a workshop with Keys fishing guides, who shared their valuable feedback and helped to map the areas with the most shark-angler interactions. To better understand shark depredation, diet, and movement, BTT has tagged 50 lemon sharks to date in areas that Keys guides identified as hotspots. At the same time, BTT is advocating for passage of the SHARKED Act in the US Senate.
6. Empowering the Next Generation
A new generation of flats stewards benefited from BTT’s education and outreach programs in 2025. In Belize, BTT expanded its nationwide education and outreach project. More than 150 teachers attended a free workshop and training course, “Empowering Educators: The Conservation of Flats Fishes, Habitats & Livelihoods in Belize.” They represented 82 primary schools across five districts of Belize, collectively serving nearly 3,000 students. More than 12,000 student activity and teacher information booklets were also distributed to 209 primary schools, representing every primary school within the five participating districts.
BTT Bahamas’ Education & Outreach Program also ramped up efforts this year, reaching more than 1,000 students across six islands. The majority of students who attended BTT Flats Days were between the ages 8 and 15. These programs included in-classroom presentations and field activities such as wading, snorkeling, fly and spin fishing, bird watching, and guided national park tours. During the 2025 summer camp season alone, approximately 200 students at ten partner camps and one law enforcement workshop were engaged in BTT programs where they learned about the flats industry in The Bahamas, the importance of mangrove ecosystems, and the conservation, protection, and restoration of these ecosystems.
7. Restoring Creek Systems in The Bahamas
Healthy creek systems are essential for the health of The Bahamas’ flats fishery as a whole. BTT completed the planning and permitting of two creek restoration projects in The Bahamas under a special Memorandum of Understanding with the Bahamas Ministry of Works and Family Island Affairs. Groundbreaking is set to begin in January 2026 for the restoration of West Gap Creek and August Creek. Additionally, BTT has identified four other creeks in The Bahamas that will be assessed later this year for future restoration. In all of these projects, our aim is to reconnect habitats for bonefish and other species in areas previously disconnected by decades-old logging activity. Restoring blocked tidal creeks will also help to facilitate mangrove growth and recovery, as mangrove seeds, known as propagules, are transported via creeks to surrounding flats habitats where they take root.
8. Conserving the Florida Keys’ Permit Fishery
BTT’s ongoing work to conserve the permit fishery in Florida includes innovative research to understand changes in permit movements, habitat uses, and diet. The latter includes a new study to determine if permit food webs are changing and, if so, what are the drivers and impacts. BTT’s research also considers the effects of water quality, loss of habitat, fishing pressure, and loss of permit to shark depredation. BTT continues to monitor the effectiveness of the no-fishing, spawning season closure enacted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at Western Dry Rocks—the most important permit spawning grounds in the Lower Keys.
9. Restoring Mangroves in The Bahamas
BTT made great strides this year in the Bahamas Mangrove Restoration project, increasing seedlings in the ground by 20% and supporting the work of Bahamas Mangrove Alliance (BMA) partners in our shared goal to plant 1 million mangroves by the end of 2026. With the help of fishing guides, students, community volunteers, industry leaders and others, a total of 576,000 mangroves have been planted!
BTT has also established a nursery on Crooked Island with a grant from Yellow Dog Fly Fishing Community Foundation this year, capable of supporting 10,000 red mangrove seedlings annually. Managed by local fishing guide, Elton “Shakey” McKinney, the nursery will supply BTT and partner restoration projects on both Crooked and Acklins—two islands in the Southern Bahamas with extensive bonefish habitat and equally pressing environmental challenges as a result of Hurricane Joaquin in 2025. Until now, there has been no nursery infrastructure to support these islands, no consistent supply of native seedlings available for restoration, and natural recovery from hurricane damage–further exacerbated by sea level rise–is not occurring.
10. Partnering to Strengthen Conservation in Belize
Collaboration is the key to effective conservation. BTT signed two separate Memoranda of Understanding in Belize in 2025—one with the Belize Flats Fishery Association (BFFA) and another with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Belize—formalizing partnerships built over years of shared work. Through its MOU with BFFA, BTT will continue to support Belizean fishing guides as leaders in conservation and advocacy grounded in local knowledge and experience. Through the MOU with WCS Belize, BTT is strengthening coordination on research, outreach, and conservation capacity building across critical coastal habitats.
11. Engaging Stakeholders to Bring Science to the Fight
BTT held the 8th international Science Symposium in November 2025, with the triennial event attracting more than 400 participants from nine countries and twelve states. Over the two-day event, leading scientists, resource managers, industry leaders, policymakers, legendary anglers, and top fishing guides from Florida and across the Caribbean region. This year’s Science Symposium theme focused on critical fishery issues from the perspective of “landscape conservation.” This holistic approach tackles water quality issues and habitat loss at the largest and most meaningful scales possible.
Support Fisheries Conservation!
With your support, BTT has achieved so much this year—but there’s still more work left for us to do! During this season of giving, we hope you will consider making a special year-end donation to help BTT conserve vital habitat, improve water quality, and ensure effective fisheries management in 2026.