COURTESY MAUI OCEAN CENTER
About 60 specially raised and tagged papio, the juvenile stage of ulua, also known as giant trevally, were released last week at Maalaea Harbor.
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A second batch of tagged papio have been released
by University of Hawaii researchers into the waters around the islands, this time off Maui, and people who find the fish and report them are eligible for a prize raffle.
About 60 specially raised and tagged papio, the juvenile stage of ulua, also known as giant trevally, were released last week at Maalaea Harbor.
The tags are yellow, about 3 inches long, and located under each fish’s dorsal fin. Each tag is printed with a unique identification number, and a note instructing the fisher to call the researchers. They want to know the date, length and weight of the fish, and the capture location —“general area, no need to give away your secret spots,” a UH news release said.
Researchers hope to show how raising and releasing papio could offset fishing pressure and help rebalance the composition of the local reef fish populations, the news release said. Researchers also hope to learn about movement of the fish.
Nanko’s Fishing Supply is supporting the project with a raffle and prizes for participating fishermen at the end of the recapture period, which will be about one year after the release date, officials said. Prizes will include fishing tackle, lures, stickers and apparel, said Spencer Davis, a doctoral student at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology who is leading the project.
The Maui release follows an October release of about 150 tagged papio at four different locations around Oahu. About 14 percent of them have been captured and reported so far. The researchers grew both batches of papio from eggs from the Maui Ocean Center.