To the Editor:

From its inception, the Professional Tarpon Tournament Series (PTTS) has been conducted in a sporting manner with an emphasis on promoting conservation and the sport of tarpon fishing in Boca Grande. I would like to tell you about our history of conservation efforts and share some facts about ongoing and future efforts to protect the fishery that we all respect and depend upon.

Firstly, the PTTS has worked closely with biologists from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commissions, Fish & Wildlife Research Institute to make sure we all benefit from the best science available and help to manage the fishery. In 2005, the PTTS served as the pilot study for the FWC’s current tarpon DNA tagging program. Since then, our organization and our anglers have provided nearly 1,000 tarpon DNA samples to the FWC to further their research.

More recently, at the request of FWC biologists, we allowed FWC tarpon researchers to take possession of tarpon that had been weighed during our 2010 PTTS & WPTTS events, so they could take blood samples and perform other tests that they were not normally able to perform as easily, and cost effectively, as they could at our events. The purpose of the tarpon physiology study was to evaluate the effects of fight time, handling and the environment on the stress responses of tarpon measured using changes in blood chemistry. This study is ongoing.

BY MARCY SHORTUSE AND LIZA STROUT - When the Boca Beacon and representatives from the Sun-Herald got together last week, it was to discuss a delicate issue: Tarpon fishing in Boca Grande Pass, and if there is a way to come to a compromise.

This year has been a more controversial year than most. It has stirred up a 20-plus-year argument between catch-and-release, live-bait anglers who use traditional fishing methods, and those who believe that aggressive tournament fishing tactics are not altering the number and behavior of tarpon in the Pass.

BY LIZA STROUT - It was a bittersweet moment for Effie Joiner when the 2012 BoMo Tournament came to a close at noon on Sunday, July 8. She’d been fishing the tournament for many years, and because she is 15 this year would be her last.

Still, a first-place win made the moment a bit sweeter.

BY LIZA STROUT - Rainy season is here, and along with it are mosquitoes ... and the way this year looks, we’re on track to experience one of the worst years for mosquitos in recent memory.

The Lee County Mosquito Control District is hard at work, doing multiple flights each day and night to reduce the numbers of adult mosquitos and to prevent larvae from developing into the adults that can spread disease.