Wish we could be sufficiently concerned about the importance in
preserving our Flora & Fauna in general, especially when looking at this
“diminutive” baby sailfish of barely 2 cm in length, which undersigned
photographed in multiple occasions after the capture of Wahoo’s, Bonito’s, Mahi
Mahi, and Barracuda’s, after opening their stomach. We as the crew were amazed with
this fragile little “sample” of a sailfish being eaten by other predators. Lucky
enough, some of these “baby’ sailfish had been just swallowed by the bigger fish
and were removed from the stomach of it’s predator with the utmost care, washed clean
and laid-down on a piece of crystal clear ice, while “combing” the
“baby” sailfish fin with the tip of a small hook, to make it standout as best as
possible so to have it photographed. It was beautiful with its blue/aqua marine color and
truly showed to be still alive.
The most important question now is: Where has the different type of bait we know in Aruba
as, maulo, reyronda, balau, gepi, pisketchi, bunitchi and several others disappeared to?
Could this be an indication that we of the Central Caribbean Islands and Venezuela are
bringing these baits to the point of total extinction through the means of uncontrolled
carnage fishing around our coasts and just off the beach? We are not to forget that all
bait always attract the pelagic and also the bottom fish, but above all those pelagic fish
desired by the tourist when involved into Sport fishing, and their wish to hook and fight
a nice sample of Wahoo and/or Billfish.!
From experience, since having located these “baby” sailfish, there is ample
indication now that the Billfish also reproduces in certain areas of the Caribbean
,especially the Sailfish, which sometimes during their season can be seen plentiful,
jumping all around and many times not even hungry enough to take the bait, on the
contrary, just observing and playing with the bait and not getting hooked. The spawning
ground for the Sailfish and Blue Marlin, as the White Marlin does not seem to be around
anymore, is believed to be particularly the area of the Peninsula of Paraguaná, starting
at Cabo San Roman all the way to Punta Cardón into the Lake of Maracaibo, Venezuela, in
other words, South of Aruba.
We should all sit down and reconsider our acts of killing and destroying Mother Nature and
all it’s living creatures on land as well as at sea, including our corals. Many
don’t even believe in Mother Nature, but let it be known that by killing or
destroying Her, we are killing and destroying ourselves. We have to STOP
now so that together with Mother Nature we may all perjure for Centuries to come….