La Estrella - And there they go, straight to the restaurants, homes, and plates of thousands of citizens. Small boats fish in the Bay of Panama and their catch is off loaded in a rudimentary way at the city pier. Later, these fish will be offered for sale to consumers and restaurant owners. And what about health and food safety measures? (Photo Credit: Guillermo Yángüez)

Practical Fishkeeping - The Convict has been split into four and placed in a new genus. New cichlid genera have been erected for both the Convict cichlid and the Jack Dempsey. This was done as part of a recent revision of the central American cichlid genus Archocentrus, with two new, closely-related genera (Amatitlania and Rocio) and six new species (three of Amatitlania, two of Rocio and one of Cryptoheros) described as a result. The study by Juan Schmitter-Soto is published in a recent issue of the journal Zootaxa, and examines all the nominal species ever assigned to Archocentrus, and species considered closely related to the type species, Archocentrus centrarchus, in phylogenetic analyses. (more)

(PRWEB) July 5, 2007 -- The inaugural Abernathy Pedasi, Panama fishing competition is to take place over three days, on the 27th, 28th and 29th of July, 2007. The aim is to attract the cream of light tackle fishermen from all over the country of Panama to compete for record breaking catches in Pedasi, Panama. The prized species will be Wahoo, Dorado, Amberjack, Red Snapper, Roosterfish, Yellowfin Tuna, and Spanish Mackerel. Pedasi is synonymously called the “Tuna coast” for the infamous schools of Yellowfin Tuna that are swept inshore by the Humboldt Current. Pedasi is small fishing village is a small coastal fishing village nestled on green rolling hills that resemble the Tuscan region of Italy. Pedasi is famed for its virgin fishing grounds that have now brought a select crowd of investors to this small fishing village, among them an extensive Hollywood crowd that have purchased land and houses in Pedasi. The fishing competition in Pedasi allows foreigners an opportunity to interact with the local Pedasi fishermen and experience the true essence of Pedasi folklore. (more) (Photo Credit)

Question: I am interested in Peacock Bass (Sargento) fishing in Lake Gatun. I have a few questions: Can you successfully fish from shore without being eaten by cocodrilos or caimanes? How much can you expect to pay for a half-day trip with a local in a panga? I gather anything works as they are voracious feeders. Should I bring plugs etc., or simply use minnows? How about lodging? Is there anything available that doesn't call for a bank loan?

Answer: You can fish from shore but if you do you're only going to see the smaller fish, like up to 1.5 pounds. The bigger fish are nesting and territorial so you have to go to them. The cost for a boat and guide is about $50 from dawn to about noon which includes gas. You supply all your tackle, bait, food and drinks. You can mess around with plugs if you want but most of the time people switch back to minnows when everyone else is catching fish and they are not. As for lodging, best bet is to stay in Panama City and rent a car. You can stay at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort but that's expensive. Most people get a boat and guide at either Arenosa or Gamboa.

By José Somarriba Hernández for La Prensa - Police arrested 77 year-old Pablo González and his 68 year-old nephew Pablo Tapia yesterday in David, Chiriquí, for possession of explosives and materials used for the manufacture of homemade bombs. Both men were aprehended in their homes in La Loma after residents in the area complained there were people using explosives to fish and causing damage to the ecosystem. Employees of Panama's National Environmental Authority (ANAM) participated in the searches, where they found nine packages of dynamite (Lodex), four homemade bombs with detonators, sulfur, detonators to attach to bombs, fuses, and to make detonators. According to a police spokesmen both suspects were placed under the orders of the public prosecutor in the Chiriqui province.

By Dustin Guerra for La Prensa - In a measure to support tuna fishing in Panama, the government is considering a modification to the law which protects the Coiba National Park that prevents tuna fishing near the island. The modified law would allow tuna boats to fish within the exclusion zone but with limits and quotas. "The boats will not be allowed to have freezers and they will be assigned fishing quotas to aviod overfishing," said George Novey, subadministrator of the new Aquatic Resources Authority of Panama (Arap). Environmentalists such as Marcos Ostrander fear that the move will endanger marine species sich as fish, dophins, shellfish, and turtles. "Before talking about a modification to the law it is necessary to regulate the activity of the tuna boats," he said.

Hello Folks, December 06 was our busiest December since we have been in operation. We had a last minute no show that unfortunately shut out the last week in December for two other interested parties. We all took advantage of the break before things pick up this month. We have not fished much in December in the past so the month was full of surprises. The water was very clear and blue close to shore and the seas were calm. We had an occasional rain shower, usually in the afternoon on our way back home. Our traditional live baits were plentiful but almost impossible to catch in the clear water. We caught hundreds of pan size snappers in the 1/2 to 5 pound range on sibiki rigs while fishing for baits. The waters were teaming with lots of Wahoo, Cubera Snappers, Colorado Snappers, big Dorado's and Trevally but we caught surprisingly few Tuna. Also surprisingly absent were the Roosterfish and Amberjack. By accident, we caught two Black Marlin in the 300-400 lb range. The first Marlin was caught in the second week by Steve Lachenauer, Dan Terry and his son Dan and the second, a week later by Jim Tryon. I hope everyone has a great new year................Tom www.panamasportsman.com/December2006.htm Tommy Giles Rio Negro Sport Fishing Club www.panamasportsman.com 011-507-6-646-0529

JUPITER, Fla. -- A Jupiter man has received instant name recognition in the spearfishing world thanks to a 480-pound catch. Robert Arrington now holds the world record for the largest marlin ever caught with a spear gun. Arrington's underwater adventure 25 miles of the coast of Panama was captured on videotape. The 30-year-old is an avid free diver and spear fisherman. He said he jumped in the water to film and what came next left him and the spearfishing world in awe. "All of a sudden I hear the rush of all the bait coming up," Arrington said. "I tucked my feet and the video down, so I'm looking. The first thing I see is the marlin's tail." Arrington shared his video with the media and described the events. "After the fifth pass, here he comes. You can see I push my gun forward just like I would spear anything else," he said. "I'm looking at this fish going, 'Wow.'" It took four people to hoist in the monster catch. "This is a very special fish," Arrington said. "I'll remember this the rest of my life. I probably won't spear another one but always remember this one." The marlin was 11 feet long and weighed 480 pounds. It doubled the old blue marlin spearfishing record, which weighed in only at 278 pounds. Editor's Comment: I've been notified that spearfishing for billfish in Panama is illegal. Since there is videotape evidence of this crime Mr. Arrington should be arrested on the spot. The sport fishing industry practices "catch and release." Hopefully, his "world record" will be quashed because he broke the law to do it.

By Tom Giles - Hello Folks, We successfully completed the Magoo Overhaul Project and installed our new 4-stroke outboards with 14 days to spare before our first guests arrived on 13 November. The Magoo is performing very well but we are still needing to properly size our propellers. We fished a total of 6 days in November. Jim Clary, Mark Fleming, Jim & Tom Kelly were our first guests this season. Although we were still in rainy season, the weather held out reasonably well for us. Baits were made easy their first day but slowed down during their visit. They caught several nice amberjacks, Wahoo and lots of yellow-fin tunas. They were followed by Jaime Chen and Juan Lataste, from Panama City, who fished with us for one day. The weather was perfect and they filled their cooler with lots of tuna, Wahoo and snapper. Our final guests in November were the Kat family from the Panama Canal Area, who brought with them a great thanksgiving dinner. We fished and went sight seeing the following day. Meg and Tan Kat caught some very large Wahoo, the largest weighing about 90 pounds. We also introduced the girls to our style of popping. They caught several nice blue-fin trevally and lost some snapper and a roosterfish. (more)