Bringing back Bonefish from a future of extinction

Aitutaki’s self-proclaimed “Bonefish Ambassador”, fly fisherman Jon Hall, has an enthusiasm for the Bonefish of Araura Enua that is infectious.
Hall has been visiting Aitutaki every year since 2009. His passion is fishing for ocean species with a fly. He says the move of fly fishing from freshwater to saltwater has only happened within the last 10 to 15 years, so it is a relatively new sport. However it is Hall’s admiration and respect for the Bonefish that is most captivating. “The Bonefish happens to be one of the premier sport fish that lives in the ocean. If a Tuna had the strength and the integrity of a bonefish, you’d never land one. Pound for pound, the Bonefish is one of the most powerful fish in the ocean. He ranks right up with the Wahoo for speed and agility and he’s very difficult to capture on a fly. If you look at the Bonefish’s eye – his eye is incredible. He’ll see that hook inside the fly.”
It was during Hall’s first visit that he first encountered Richard Story. “I was fishing along the shore and Richard Story walked up to me and said, ‘I noticed you’re fly fishing for Bonefish.’ He said, ‘we have a problem here... will you help us train Itu [Davey] and his brothers? Because they are great Bonefish spotters and great boatmen. They know the lagoon.’ But they do not know the concept of fly fishing... of catch and release, of ‘magic fly’ – a whole bunch of things.”
What is special about this story is taking local people and knowledge and using that knowledge to change attitudes towards unsustainable fishing practices. Hall’s high regard for the Davey Brothers – Itu Davey and his brothers, twins Tia and Rua Davey – is obvious. It was their knowledge that would eventually turn the Aitutaki Bonefishing industry into a success. “Itu and his family were netters. They were very efficient, their father taught them well – Richard Davey created a virtual monster... The last time they netted over 1000 Bonefish in a day! [But] that’s a huge number and it’s unsustainable harvest. You will drive the species into extinction. They were netting the Bonefish on the way out, when the pregnant females were full of eggs. The females lay their eggs on the outside in the deep ocean, then they come back in and the males go out and fertilise [the eggs] – but when they do that they are vulnerable because they go through passages. That’s how they can net 1000 of these things in a day. [But if] you kill all the females – no more pregnant ladies, no more babies!”
Hall says it is the work of Ian Bertram and Richard Story that has been the driving force behind the initiative to revive the population of Bonefish in Aitutaki and introduce sustainable fishing practices that also bring money into the local economy. “I can’t say enough about their foresight – seeing this problem and seeing the future. The future was extinction of the Bonefish.” He added that in the management programme of the Bonefish of Aitutaki it is no longer legal to sell the fish commercially. “You’re allowed to harvest it, eat it for yourself or share it with your family, share it with your friends. But you cannot sell the fish.” Also netting of Bonefish is prohibited three days before and three days after the new moon, as this is the time when the pregnant females go out through the passages. Hall remarked, “Salute to the Ministry of Marine Resources, the people that pushed that law through, the research that was done and the research behind it.”
Hall says the Davey brothers have “God-given talent” for Bonefishing. “They are so bright and so quick. Those guys – I’d be proud to have them as sons. They work hard... It’s a natural talent – they can look out there [over] 100 or 200 metres and say, ‘There’s a bonefish – two metres under the ocean’. Wow! This family – I think they are the centre of the whole thing. And they need to be! People come away from that island [and] are happy – they will tell their friends and they will return.” Hall added that on one of the first days out fly fishing with twins Tia and Rua Davey, Tia caught a 12-pound Bonefish and Rua caught a 13-pound Bonefish. “Those were both within three pounds of the world record! [The Davey brothers] will be three of the best guides in the South Pacific and perhaps the world.”
According to Hall, it is the size of the Aitutaki Bonefish that make them so attractive to fly fishermen the world over. Speaking about the prolific Bonefishing industry around the state of Florida, USA, Hall commented, “[The] average Bonefish is one to two pounds. You catch a five pounder, you’ve got bragging rights. You catch a 10 pounder – you’re on the front page of the newspaper! Itu... picks up a 10 pounder and says, ‘yeah, this is a little one.’” He describes the opportunity to be able to travel to Aitutaki and catch a “double-figure” Bonefish as “wonderful”. Hall added, “They’re actually testing [the Aitutaki Bonefish] to see if it’s a separate species because they are so large.”
Hall says the effort has been made possible “with the help of a whole lot of good people”. He says the Mayor and Island Council of Aitutaki were a big part of that in taking the message of conservation to the residents of Aitutaki. “In 2009, we had to convince people that there is benefit and that the future is not in catching 1000 Bonefish a day, we need to bring this population back. And it’s working! Because in the first year I caught one small one and all the rest were adults. That means there is a problem there – if you don’t catch small ones that means there’s no generation coming up behind. This year, I caught 20 [small Bonefish]. We had to move away from the one area because there were so many small ones.”
For now Hall departs our shores to return to his home in the USA and further promote the Bonefishing experience in Aitutaki to “whoever will listen”. He hopes to fly Story to the States around June or July to assist with this and following that he will return to Aitutaki in November. “There’s hope. The opportunity to make a change is an incredible thing.”

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