ONGOING RESEARCH

Fall 2010 - We recently returned from tagging a sunfish off San Diego on August 28th, 2010 with a new fastloc tag from Wildlife Computers. We had the good fortune of working again with Thomas Behrend and Christina Karliczek of Blue Planet Film from Hamburg, Germany. We worked with this group seven years ago on a different film. It was a joy to reconnect with these old friends who are now creating a one-hour high-def documentary on the giant ocean sunfish that will take the viewer around the world. It promises to be an excellent film, so stay tuned for airdate details in spring 2011.

With the superb skills of our spotter pilot, Darin Maurer; mola wranglers Brett Hobson with Thomas; captain Mike Johnson and the Rosenthal family with Bessie Barnes as our second boat crew, we found a 2 meter mola and placed a tag on its left side. Upon our return to shore, the fish was quickly christened Guacamola by Danielle Thys due to the fact that it beelined south of the border right after tagging.

We are happy to report that the tag is working well. We have gotten reports from Guacamola nearly every other day. The tag is due to release on Dec 18th.

Additional thanks to James Wraith for the use of his net. Phil Zerofski and his staff at SeaCamp for use of their facilities and Victoria Barnes for babysitting.