By offshoreworldchampionship.com

Team Caliente takes home first place in the 2018 Quepos Billfish Cup.

Quepos Billfish Cup

Team Caliente took home first place in the 2018 Quepos Billfish Cup.

In total, 12 teams competed in 2018’s 3-day Quepos Billfish Cup, with daily prizes for total billfish releases, as well as largest mahi-mahi and tuna caught during each competitive day of fishing. Top professional and amateur anglers, on some of the most iconic fishing vessels in the country, competed in the world’s richest fishing grounds to crown the winning team. Huge prize money and the coveted invitation to the 2019 Offshore World Championship were on the line.

Quepos Billfish Cup

The morning start to the 2018 Quepos Billfish Cup.

Special guests at this year’s Quepos Billfish Cup were Team Hatteras, led by the CEO of the Hatteras Yachts, Kelly Grindle. Grindle was accompanied by COO Wade Watson and the sales director for the Americas, Troy Hogan. Team Hatteras fished on Sante, Marina Pez Vela’s own Hatteras GT60, and closely missed the final leaderboard. Marina Pez Vela is a dealer for Hatteras Yachts in Costa Rica.

Quepos Billfish Cup

One of the daily tuna winners at the Quepos Billfish Cup.

The final results after three intense days of fishing, with teams jumping in and out of the leaderboard, included 149 releases — 9 blue marlin, 1 black marlin and 138 Pacific sailfish. Team Caliente, led by Captain Keith Banks, took home first place with a total of 19 sailfish releases and 1 marlin during the tournament. Second place went to the team Fish Tank with 20 sailfish releases. Game Plan, an early leader, came in third place with 17 sailfish releases and one marlin.

The Quepos Billfish Cup has two divisions: one for large boats and another for small boats.

The final results:

Large Boat Division

1. Caliente
2. Fish Tank
3. Game Plan

Small Boat Division

1. Shake n Bake
2. Good Day
3. Queen Bee

The Quepos Billfish Cup also recognizes individual excellence. The following individual prizes were awarded:

• Top Captain: Keith Banks
• Top Angler Big Boat Division: Topher Wightman
• Top Angler Small Boat Division: James Brown
• Top Lady Angler: Samantha Mumford

By thebusinessyear.com

JEFF DUCHESNEAU

General Director

Marina Pez Vela

ISABEL VARGAS

President

National Chamber of Tourism of Costa Rica (Canatur)

How do you aim to differentiate your tourism service supply?

JEFF DUCHESNEAU Our amenities and infrastructure distinguish Marina Pez Vela from others. It is a world-class marina including the docks themselves, which are all floating concrete docks and the sign of a high-quality marina. They are more expensive to build, but are safe, secure, and more resistant to wear and tear. The buildings were built by Portafolio Inmobiliario. We have six restaurants on site, an Italian ice-cream shop, and 30 tour operators. We have a yacht yard and the only 200-ton travel lift in all of Central America. It is designed to haul out boats safely so we can take these beautiful private vessels out of the water to be repaired and undergo maintenance. There are very few places in Central America that can do that.

ISABEL VARGAS One differentiator we are trying to develop is wellness tourism. The wellness tourism we want to promote in Costa Rica is not the conventional spa concept. We are not looking at hotels with massage offerings, but a comprehensive service to offer a better quality life experience in contact with nature. We want to include not only the medical component but also activities like mountain hiking, yoga in the forest, picking strawberries, and visiting orchards. This lifestyle experience could be a better healing therapy than traditional pharmaceuticals. We want to offer an authentic experience, where visitors can interact with the people of Costa Rica and nature. This approach is related with a third market niche, which is cultural tourism, the one the chamber wants to work on and promote. Cultural tourism is focused not only on rural tourism but also offering the experience of how we live. Wellness tourism is related to cultural tourism since it is people in contact with other people. It is learning how to live, expand your horizons, and more. We want visitors to open their minds to see and feel differently. We want to sell transformative life experiences.

Why should tourists visit and consider becoming tenants at Marina Pez Vela?

JD 25% of Costa Rica’s economy is driven by tourism, and nautical tourism is an extension of that. Coming to Marina Pez Vela is to experience the 31 different available activities—onshore or offshore fishing, catamaran cruises, snorkeling, scuba diving, or parasailing to name a few. There is an almost endless amount of tours on offer. Few places in the world have such variety. Number two is the authenticity of the marina and the experience of the town of Quepos, which includes its food, people, and culture. We are also just 8km from Costa Rica’s most visited national park, Manuel Antonio. We have different events like the national volleyball tournament, and a boat parade in December in which 6,000 people from all over Costa Rica participate. It has become an amazing water tourism event and, in the span of three years, has been classified as a national cultural event.

Are you more interested in quality or quantity in terms of visitor statistics?

IV Bringing in more tourists to our country means more economic activity is generated, leading to more employment opportunities and greater investment due to larger demand. As we get more visitors, the country will boost its tourism income, economic situation, and social economy. If a new minister changes our development model, this distribution will not happen, and I hope the new minister will maintain the current aspects of the model. We want to have a sustainable tourism model that generates economic and social distribution of wealth. That said, we are not seeking mass tourism. We have more to offer, which is why we have focused our marketing on attracting visitors who stay longer and want to know more about the country. Mobility is relatively easy in Costa Rica.

By thefishingwire.com

Gray FishTag Research is proud to acknowledge the hard, consistent and productive work that is being done by our Research Centers and their crews. The continued efforts are truly helping our initiative in being able to analyze the data coming in from the tagged fish and providing relevant information.

In Costa Rica alone, the four research centers: Marina Pez Vela, Los Sueños Resort and Marina, Crocodile Bay Eco Lodge and Zancudo Lodge have tagged over 1300 fish.

That is an incredible number given the short time period that we have been up and running.  Out of the 1300 tags, Marina Pez Vela hasreached a milestone of 500 tags deployed. The crews on Double Nickel and Good Day have relentlessly been contributing to the program. They have helped perfect the way to interact and inform the charter customers on how to get involved in fisheries science. In return they have gained an engaged and satisfied customer who is more likely to remember their fishing trip and becoming a repeat customer.

The owner, General Manager and entire staff at Marina Pez Vela have all rallied behind this effort. They are providing an office (iFish) for customers and crews to come and log their catch data. Mr. Jeff Duchesneau has led the effort in conjunction with Mr. Alcides Alfaro and Mr. Carter Takacs to spearhead the model with a record number of tags deployed which has resulted in MPV being the top Research Center worldwide at this time.

We are equally humbled and excited about the work being completed by all the crews from AquaWorld (Cancun, MX) and the Pisces Group (Cabo, MX), as well as our research centers Grande Alaska Lodge, and Sunset Marina (Ocean City, Maryland.) There are so many other people to thank as well. We have boats and crews in Fort Lauderdale, Miami and the Florida Keys who all contribute on a daily basis.

The number of fish tagged within a research center is also relevant to when the facility joined Gray FishTag; but, some friendly competition is, of course, always welcomed as it adds an element of additional fun to the activity.  We are continuing to give our tags and applicators for free, so we do value diversity of species over quantity when it comes to fish that we tag. However, getting as many tags in the water will also produce the most accurate and informed data.

We are also glad to see the crews being so involved and taking pride in educating their angling customer while deploying our tags.  Please visit GrayFishTag.org and the Live Tag Feed to see the incredible work being put in by all the charter fishing professionals helping us.

Tagging Highlights

·Double Nickel has tagged and released over 150 fish in 2 years!

·Good Day out of Marina Pez Vela tagged and released several fish via fly fishing! One was a Striped Marlin that was recaptured a few days later by Macusla out of Los Suños Marina.

·Each boat in the Therapy IV fleet recently tagged and recaptured a Greater Amberjack in one weekend.            

For more information please contact us directly at 844.824.8353 or via email at info@GrayFishTag.org

Gray FishTag Research (GFR) is a 501(c)(3) Non-profit organization.  This is an international and fully interactive fish tagging program powered by the world’s largest network of fishing professionals consisting of approximately 10,000 charter boat captains and mates. The program is collecting information in real-time to produce valuable scientific data directly from anglers in every part of the world. We are now able to connect professional fishermen with the scientific community who are desperate for relevant data. Results are providing biologists and scientists with valuable information on migration patterns, fish stocks, growth rates, habitat depths and much more.

Our mission is to support the charter sport fishing industry and overall fishing community while producing valuable data to marine science research. Gray FishTag Research is bridging the gap between professional charter fishermen and the science community in an effort to sustain our fisheries for our future generations.

To join us as a sponsor or for more information, please contact us direct by calling 844.824.8353 or via email at info@GrayFishTag.org.  You can also donate directly online grayfishtagresearch.org.