Fishing Trip...Dominica Style!!

This morning I had the privilege of going out on charter fishing trip with a visiting research scholar from the island country of Dominica. Riviere Delanco Sebastien works for his country's Ministry of Fisheries where he does fisheries outreach and education. For the past several days Riviere, accompanied by his daughter and Florida Sea Grant's Research Coordinator Charles Sidman, have been visiting Southwest Florida to meet with me and other Sea Grant agents to see how our programs operate at the local level. Riviere is interested in applying what he learns here in Florida to his work back home. Last night the group attended my advisory committee meeting to see how we agents interact and work with our  committee members.

Since fishing is such an important of our economy and culture, I invited the group to go fishing with one of my advisory committee members, Captain Will Geraghy of Grand Slam Charters for a 1/2 day charter trip. I found out that both Riviere and his daughter had never fished from a boat so it made the experience even more memorable. Besides the fishing, it was a chance for Riviere to see Naples from the water and learn about some of the resource issues associated with it. We had a great time and caught some nice fish. The experience also was a great opportunity for us to discuss future collaboration between Florida Sea Grant and his country. Hopefully, I'll have the chance to visit Dominica one of these days!. Enjoy the pictures.

DINNER!!!!!!