Why Mangroves Matter

AND SEVEN WAYS TO FISH THEM RIGHT

- Sid Dobrin

In the early mornings along Florida's coasts, you can hear the distinct cavernous pop of snook feeding on silvery finger mullet near the edge of a mangrove stand. The snook, hiding along the tangled knot of roots and branches, use the mangroves as ambush cover. That deep pop is distinct from the splashing of shouldered redfish that shake the mangrove branches as they forage for crabs and shrimp. When the finger mullet come into view, those same redfish will churn the water into thunderous boils. The mullet leap frantically away from the onslaught, darting into the cover of the roots. Whether in Florida, Texas or even Hawaii, mangroves are incredibly productive habitats for targeting many kinds of fish. Anglers who understand mangrove ecologies are better able to develop strategies for fishing these highly productive habitats.

Mangroves are trees that have adapted to high-salinity coastal environments where other trees cannot survive. They are halophytes, saltwater-tolerant plants. Their roots and leaves can filter out as much as 90 percent of the salt from salt water. Mangroves' unique root systems spread widely, giving them added support on wet, unstable ground. Those masses of roots effectively draw nutrients from the coastal soil and sand.

Mangrove roots also serve as natural barriers for shorelines, trapping sediment that functions like an embankment along the coast, staving off coastal erosion. They also store carbon in their leaves, which then fall into the water and trap the carbon in the coastal soil, known as blue carbon. Though they grow on only 0.1 percent of Earth's surface, mangrove forests store nearly 10 times as much carbon per hectare as other land-based trees.