Das Boat Episode 3: Cal Goes to Florida

Wildlife refuges aren’t always well understood, but they represent one of this country’s greatest ideas. Game species are more resilient than we sometimes give them credit for, and populations can survive and rebound from major setbacks if they have the right habitat. Contrary to popular belief, most wildlife refuges do allow fishing and/or hunting.

In this week’s episode, we explore a refuge that’s playing a critical role in gamefish recovery. Das Boat made the long trek from Texas to Florida to catch up with our own director of conservation, Ryan Callaghan (you probably know him as Cal). Cal’s over there with his buddy Ed Anderson, who spent the summer as the artist-in-residence at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. Sanibel, and its surrounding areas, suffered a massive fish kill in 2018 due to what Cal calls “the queen mother of all red tides.” Cal and Ed take Das Boat around the refuge to better understand what caused this fish kill, check out the status of the fishery, and see if they can find anything creeping around the mangroves.